The Irish diaspora is today demonstrating a worldwide information and cultural network that would be the envy of any superpower's secret service.
Expatriates in 18 cities on six continents, from academics and diplomats to pub-owners, have been mobilised to bring to life an unprecedented cultural event: readings from James Joyce's Ulysses relayed live over the Internet.
Christened the Global Jameson Bloomsday, this event was inspired by the following quote from Ulysses: "Early morning: set off at dawn. Travel round in front of the sun, steal a day's march on him. Keep it up for ever never grow a day older technically."
It was the brainchild of the James Joyce Centre and Irish Distillers, but the technical challenge is being met by The Irish Times on the Web (www.irish-times.com). Visitors to the site will be able to listen to the readings using RealAudio software, which is available on the Web.
Beginning with Chapter One in Melbourne at 8 a.m. Irish time (the time at which Ulysses begins), the reading will move westwards around the globe, with an extract from each of the novel's 18 chapters in each city, finishing with Molly Bloom's soliloquy in Los Angeles at 9 p.m.
Along the way, Bloomsday enthusiasts worldwide will hear the voices of the President, Mrs McAleese (Dublin), Pulitzer prize-winning author Frank McCourt (New York), actor Sinead Cusack (London) and Joycean scholars Fritz Senn (Rome) and David Norris (Dublin). Also reading in Dublin is Edna O'Brien.
In Cape Town the baton will be taken up by South African Minister for Water and Forestry, Kader Asmal, who lived in exile in Ireland for 30 years, where he was a Trinity law professor and founder of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement.
The locations taking part are all major cities, with one exception. Szombathely in Hungary has a particular claim to Bloomsday fame: it is the fictional ancestral family home of Leopold Bloom, the hero of Ulysses.
The readings in Melbourne, Dublin and New York will be available live in video format as well as audio. Recordings of the extracts will be available after the event for those who miss them. The global reading forms part of The Irish Times on the Web's Bloomsday site, Dyoublong, which also includes a virtual Ulysses tour of Dublin; a Joycean discussion forum; a Bloomsday electronic greeting card service; an online edition of The Irish Times of June 16th, 1904; the opportunity to co-write a short story with Brendan Kennelly and numerous features on Ulysses and Joyce.
William Hederman is project editor of the Irish Times Bloomsday site, Dyoublong