The Triangle has long been known as a hotbed of scientific innovation and literary creativity, but there's always been a wall separating the two: this month in Chapel Hill that wall will come tumbling down.

"Collaboration: Humanities, Arts and Technology" (CHAT), which will be held in Memorial Hall and other venues, Feb. 16-20, is a unique event dedicated to exploring the way digital technology is changing and transforming the practices of the arts and the humanities.

Think, for instance, of the Amazon Kindle, a device that is changing the way we read. It's the differing and sometimes passionately conflicting views of a device like this which illustrates the divide that exists between these disciplines.

It's time we all understand each other, and that's what CHAT is all about. Drawing together the prodigious digital resources in our own backyard and from around the country as well, with performances, discussions, exhibitions and workshops, it promises to be both intellectually riveting and emotionally compelling. In other words, a one-of-a-kind experience.

Where else can you pay just $35 ($25 if you volunteer for a few hours!) and get to hear Robert J. Bach, a Carolina alum and a Microsoft president, discuss his work with the Xbox, Games for Windows and the Microsoft TV platform? Steven Hockensmith and Jason Rekulak will explore the changing meaning of "authorship" new technologies have created by examining the "remix and mashup" in literature and art. And where else will you have the opportunity to meet Jesper Juul, an influential theorist in the field of video game studies? Who knew there was such a thing as video game studies?

What makes this all the more worth celebrating is that it's taking place right here, in Chapel Hill.

Everyone with a Facebook page - as well as everyone without one - should be there.

We all need to talk to each other, and there will be no greater opportunity than CHAT.

To register, log on to their Web site: www.chatfestival2010.com/.

Laurie Paolicelli

Executive director

Chapel Hill/Orange County Visitors Bureau.