In an arena including digital and traditional artists' publishing formats - what will be the canon for the artist's book in the 21st Century?

The American critic and book artist Johanna Drucker, recently wrote of the need for a canon for artists' books, to provide a descriptive vocabulary and critical terminology, in order to stimulate academic discussion and artistic practice within the field.
This is a time of flux in the history of the artists' book. Advances in digital media have entered the field, which has led to critical arguments over the understanding and appreciation of what constitutes an artist's book in the 21st Century. Artists have always utilised new processes as they enter the mainstream, from letterpress printing and screenprint, to desktop publishing, and more recently, the newer technologies of CD ROMS, online file sharing and podcasting.
This research project intends to take the proposal further in the light of emerging media, by extending Drucker's argument into an open and responsive debate for an international audience of artists, academics, presses, publishers, curators, dealers and collectors involved in the field. It is necessary for the historical understanding and future growth of the field to uphold both traditional values of the 'artisan' produced book and to include new formats of 'interdisciplinarian' artists' publishing.
Our aim is to extend and sustain critical debate of what constitutes an artist's book in the 21st Century - to publish a manifesto for a canon which would include both 'old' and 'new' formats of artists' books publishing - in order to propose an inclusive structure for the academic study, artistic practice and historical appreciation of the artist's book.
We intend to offer a series of examples of concepts and formats of artists' publishing - to encourage artists and academics to take the opportunity of discussing how they would fit in the canon through a range of online and paper feedback. The debate will be extended through continual monitoring of the responses and the publishing of regular updates and arising issues online, and through hosting two seminars and a conference exploring new and existing forms of artists' publishing.
We will announce a call for response to the examples, via an international mailing list of 1500, announcements in related journals, newsletters, online book arts discussion forums and related websites.
In parallel, we will interview key commentators in the field to publish a series of critical assessments of contemporary practice. We will also interview artists working with both 'old' and 'new' technologies, to produce a series of 30+ case studies, to illustrate working structures and concepts for academic study. We will also explore and assess the potential impact of emerging digital media such as podcasting and electronic paper on the future of artists' publications. We will also run five free, 1-day surgeries for artists on utilising available publishing formats.
We will also survey artists, publishers, studios and presses on which traditional and new processes they use; to build a cross-reference sheet for artists and academics to engage in future contact, collaboration, discussion and appreciation of artists' publishing formats. We will select artworks during this survey for an exhibition with free public access, to show examples of concepts and formats in the manifesto.
We will publish the resulting manifesto for a canon alongside interviews, case studies and edited texts from the seminars and conference as free download e-books through our website at www.bookarts.uwe.ac.uk. We will also publish a cross-reference download sheet on our website for artists and academics to engage in discussion and future collaborations. We will also exhibit examples of artworks from the survey in a public exhibition, to give a visual explanation of historical and emerging concepts and formats of artists' publishing.
This will allow maximum access to the field, as an attempt to promote a better understanding and appreciation of what constitutes an artist's book in the 21st Century.