| I will briefly present the University
of London as a case study of the first virtual university. Founded in 1836
with the power to grant degrees, UL had no teaching responsibilities, no
faculty, and no campus until 1900. Yet throughout this period, the UL demanded
physical expression, in terms of location, in terms of specific physical
spaces and in terms of material collections. As academic disciplines were
created in the century, particularly in the sciences, the demand for physical
expression grew ever greater. Finally, the University of London acquired
a campus, a place for scholars and disciplines. This paper argues that scholarly
networks inevitably require physical embodiment and location: the map is
never fully virtual. |