From: Willard McCarty Subject: Happy Birthday Humanist Date: 7 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 1 (1) Humanist was created on this day in May 1987. In our Epimethean way of reckoning, that makes Humanist 2 years old, but the volume number is Promethean, and so says 3. I remember both my (human) children emerging from their terrible twos, but I also remember having some difficulty seeing how the turn of their personal calendars made any difference in their temperament. I think sometime in her third year my daughter, whom a mentor of mine had named Kuan Yin in honour of her remarkable serenity and radiant love for all the world, had to be renamed Boom Boom because she suddenly became the being she has been ever since. (She's now 15!) My son, somewhat younger, had no sudden change. Perhaps these anecdotes (upon which I could proudly enlarge, have no doubt) are just as good as to describe the horoscope, haruspicate or scry, observe disease in signatures, evoke biography from the wrinkles of the palm and tragedy from fingers; release omens by sortilege, or tea leaves, riddle the inevitable with playing cards, fiddle with pentagrams or barbituric acids, or dissect the recurrent image into pre-conscious terrors -- to explore the womb, or tomb, or dreams.... In any case, birthdays, like new years and hallowe'ens, are times when all sorts of strangeness is permitted and larger visions demanded. I am storing up my observations about Humanist for a paper at the MLA next December, so I will let everyone enjoy his or her own reflections about Humanist as it passes into its third year. Let me, in turn, recommend to you all T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets, from which I just quoted, and wish you all as Humanists a happy birthday. Willard McCarty From: Richard Goerwitz Subject: Tartars & Europe in general Date: Sat, 6 May 89 21:14:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 2 (2) Kevin Berland just posted a query concerning Elizabethan knowledge of the Tartars. I don't know what his motive for asking was, but, for whatever reason, I've got a similar query. Lately I've been dabbling with 18th cent. mysticism. One writer makes several obscure references to Great Tartary and to the Tar- tars (not necessarily the same thing!). I've had lots of trouble just locating Great Tartary. Every early modern map I look at seems to have it in a different place. If anyone reading this could point me towards some relevant liter- ature I'd be very grateful. -Richard L. Goerwitz goer@sophist.uchicago.edu rutgers!oddjob!gide!sophist!goer From: Subject: Greek fonts Date: Sat, 6 May 89 15:06 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 3 (3) There is in the public domain a font-printer/formatter for Epson printers called BRADFORD which I know has both Greek and Hebrew fonts. I have used neither. You can pick up the program and the fonts from any bulletin board. I know there is a CP/M version, and there has to be a DOS version too. The program is shareware, so there won't be source code available. But the whole deal costs maybe $10. There is another NLQ font package for Epson printers in the public domain called EPSET. I know very little about it. For the DEC LA50 and compatibles there is a font-editor and formatter in the public domain. The editor is called FEDIT, and although I don't think the author, Chris Hall, has written Greek or Hebrew fonts, they would be trivial to create using FEDIT. FPRINT, the font printer and formatter which goes with FEDIT is excellent, and I use it for everything. Mr. Hall has written some 25 or 30 fonts for it, mostly similar to Mac fonts. The source code (in Aztec C) is in the public domain, and can be easily modified for other printers. (This would probably only involve entering the codes for setting your printer into graphics mode and for firing the individual print elements in the printer head.) I use the CP/M version. Obviously since the source code is available versions for DOS or any other operating system for which a C compiler is available would be easy to make. From: JACKA@PENNDRLS Subject: Date: Saturday, 6 May 1989 1353-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 4 (4) ONLINE NOTES FEBRUARY, 1989 I regret that the Online Notes this semester has not been sent out every month. In the coming weeks, I will be distributing the already written notes for March, April and May. Please accept my apologies. APPLE AND HP PERIPHERALS A weakiness of the Apple Macintosh from a bias perspective is printing. True, the Apple LaserWriter is an excellent 300 dpi. printer, but it's too costly even for a University when you consider that this printer can only functionally serve perhaps seven users at any one time without becoming overloaded with work to do. The IMAGEWRITER LQ does not produce good quality printing for the price of $1,000 for a single user. The standard IMAGEWRITE was o.k. four years ago, but not today. It makes YOU look bad on the page. Well, we have been investigating alternatives to this situation starting with Hewlett-Packard, a company which produce two good and less costly printers, the HPLaserJet Series II and DeskJet. DESKJET: In a recent Penn Printout from the University of Pennsylvania Computer Resource Center, Jeff Seaman, our local Tsar of microcomputer at Penn, praised the DESKJET as a good machine for the price. He feels, and I agree, that this printer threatens the hold of dot-matrix printers for most users. The DESKJET produces good quality printing (300 dpi) when hooked up to a DOS-based machine ($440. retail). The only disadvantage, I see, to the DeskJet is that the ink runs if wet. Jeff's article went on to caution against hooking a DESKJET to an APPLE MACINTOSH which if it worked well would be a really solid idea. The problem is that it works, albeit slowly according to HP (hotline No. 208-323-2551). Two companies produce a software and hardware link with the DESKJET. These links make the DESKJET appear to be an IMAGEWRITER LQ. The problem is the speed of printing: 5-10 minutes per page according to HP, or it is 3 minutes per page according to the Third Party vendors. The Third Party Vendors are: Orange Micro Company (800-223-8029) and Phoenix Technology (800-367-5600). Their software/hardware "solution" costs about $150. By the way, they make available a print spooler for "deep, deep background printing." I think they should at that speed, don't you? Well, it really isn't their fault though. HP should be blamed for their independent format! HP makes good and reliable printers which are generally incompatible for market reasons. The Computer Resource Center and SAS Computer Services tested WORK-AND-PRINT from Insight Development Corporation. The DESKJET's speed was just slower than the IMAGEWRITER, and certainly a lot quieter. It printed about a page every 40 seconds at about 120 cps of Courier typeface. Speed of printing dropped considerably if one chose to print unsupported fonts. The speed then was on the order of 8 cps. The quality was exceptionally good, but did smudge if wetted. The printer itself was silent. A new version of the DESKJET, the DESKJET PLUS, will increase the speed of printing mostly by improving the paper feed. In addition, this new version will support a wider variety of enhancement features (in particular, italics) than the current model. Supposedly the cost of the newer DESKJET PLUS will be identical with the older DESKJET, about $440. By the way, HP heard indirectly what we were up to here, and let us know that they plan to release a version of the DESKJET THAT RUNS EXCLUSIVELY ON THE MACINTOSH. The official announcement is planned for July, 1989. LASERJET : HP has tested hooking an HPLaserJet Series II to a Macintosh, and unlike the DESKJET they report that it does work for an individual machines. The HP hotline Rep. had no idea if it would work on the AppleTalk network. Three vendors can provide the necessary hardware cable and software: Insight Develop Corp (415-376-9500) Orange Micro Company (800-223-8029) Soft Style Inc (808 396-6368) The Computer Resource Center and SAS Computer Services tested the HPLaserJet with Work-and-Print. The LaserJet printed slowly off of a MAC PLUS Printer. Though we would expect better performance on a MAC SE/30 or MAC II (perhaps 40 percent), the HPLaserJet tied to a MAC is too slow to function as a network printer, let alone a printer for an individual user. It took a minute to print each page of a ten page document. Printing was just a little slower if the LaserJet had to shift into a fully graphics mode. We have investigated the other listed products though not tested them. The Grappler from Orange Micro Company cannot function on the AppleTalk network, and printing speed is three minutes per page. Other than that, it works according to the Sales Representation. Oh well, I guess, the LaserWriter remains the machine of choice for network users. From: Alan Rudrum Subject: CONCORDANCES Date: Fri, 5 May 89 20:31:20 PDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 5 (5) Not sure that I agree with Rosanne Potter on the general interest of this reply, but I did a moving little piece once: "Vaughan's *Each*: a review of Imilda Tuttle, *A Concordance to Vaughan's Silex Scintillans*, in Essays in Criticism, Vol.21, No.1 (1971), 86-91. If I recall it correctly, it included a plea to concordance-makers to bear in mind that words that might seem to them too neutral to include might well be of interest to critics with bees in their bonnets. Alan Rudrum, English, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C.,,Canada V5A 1S6; useranth@sfu.bitnet. From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: 18th cent. studies (68) Date: Fri, 5 May 89 23:33:23 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 6 (6) In regard to the recent inquiry concerning eighteenth-century French studies: an excellent source might be Michael Cartwright, of the French Deparment of McGill University, who is an avid eighteenth-century French scholar and an equally avid electronic mailer. Buzz him at CZC7@MCGILLA, or by mail in care of the French Department at McGill University in Montreal. From: FLANNAGA at OUACCVMB Subject: Concordances Date: 8 May 1989, 10:25:42 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 1 (7) I wrote a short review article, "Art, Artists, Galileo and Concordances," for the *Milton Quarterly*, 20.3 (October, 1986): 103-105, that dealt with the use of various kinds of concordances in hard-core scholarship. The article dealt with the use of the index to the Columbia edition of Milton, the Oxford concordance to Milton's poetry, and the MRTS concordance to Milton's English prose, specifically to see what the word "artist" meant to Milton; but I was also concerned with using concordances creatively (but also empirically) in scholarship in general. The computer of course makes generating indexes, alphabetized word-lists, concordances, hypertext strings, etc., much easier. In editing the manuscript of Book I of *Paradise Lost*, for instance, I kept a dictionary of words that deviated from modern spelling, and I was able to alphabetize and even categorize that list quickly, for critical analysis of spelling preferences. From: unh!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield) Subject: CONCORDANCES Date: Mon, 8 May 89 11:06:01 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 2 (8) I echo Alan Rudrum's plea to include everything possible in a concordance. Function words are, in certain studies, just as important as the "strong words." One might examine essays by Etienne Brunet, Pierre Guiraud, Robert F. Allen and Michael Riffaterre to bear this out. --Joel D. Goldfield J_GOLDFI@UNHH.BITNET From: Wilhelm Ott Subject: corrected version of women in medicine Date: Mon, 08 May 89 19:29:48 CET X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 8 (9) [Here is a better version of the bibliography, with the truncated lines properly formatted. Thanks to Wilhelm Ott for taking care to contribute this a second time. -- W.M.] "Women in Medicine": I have forwarded the enquiries about women in medicine to the Director of the Institut fuer Geschichte der Medizin of our university, Prof. Dr. Gerhard Fichtner. Here is a bibliography he supplied. Wilhelm Ott ------------------------------------------------- Literature: "Women in Medicine": Alic, M.: Hypatia's heritage: a history of women in science from antiquity to the late nineteenth century. London: Women's Press 1985. - Pfund 5.95 Chaff, Sandra L.; Haimbach, Ruth; Fenichel, Carol; Woodside, Nina B.: Women in medicine. A bibliography of the literature on women physicians. Metuchen, N. J.: Scarecrow Press; (London: Bailey Bros. & Swinfen) 1977. XII, 1124 S. - Pfund 29.75 Review: Med. Hist. 22(1978), S. 461. Review: Isis 70(1979), S. 295f. (Mandelbaum, Dorothy Rosenthal) Review: Clio Med. 16(1981), S. 155. Davis, Audrey B.: Bibliography on Women: with special emphasis on their roles in science and society. New York: Science History Publications 1974. 50 S. Review: J. Hist. Med. 31(1976), S. 237 (Overmier, Judith). Davis, N. Z.; Conway, J. K.: Society and the sexes: a bibliography of women's history. New York: Garland Publishing 1978. - Doll. 35.00 Donegan, Jane B.: Women and Men Midwives. Medicine, Morality, and Misogyny in Early America. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press 1978. VIII, 316 S., Abb. (Contributions in Medical History, No. 2). - Pfund 12.75 Review: Med. Hist. 24(1980), S. 118. Review: Clio Med. 14(1980), S. 149f. (Morantz, Regina Markell). Review: Bull. Hist. Med. 55(1981), S. 297f. (Leavitt, Judith Walzer). Donnison, Jean: Midwives and medical men. A history of inter-professional rivalries and women's rights. London: Heinemann 1977. VI, 250 S., Abb. - Pfund 6.50 Review: Med. Hist. 22(1978), S. 98. Review: Clio Med. 16(1981), S. 162f. (Donegan, Jane B.). Ehrenreich, B.; English, D.: Witches, Midwives and Nurses. A History of Woman Healers. New York: The Feminist Press 1973. 47 S. - O. Pr. Ehrenreich, Barbara; English, Deirdre: Witches, Midwives and Nurses: A History of Women Healers. London: Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative 1977. - Pfund 0.65 Review: Med. Educ. 11(1977), S. 358-359 (Maclean, Una). Herzenberg, Caroline L.: Women Scientists from Antiquity to the Present: An Index. West Cornwall, Conn.: Locust Hill Press 1986. XXXIX, 200 S. - Doll. 30.00 Review: Isis 78(1987), S. 315f. (Koblitz, Ann Hibner). In Her Own Words: Oral Histories of Woman Physicians. Ed. by Regina Markell Morantz, Cynthia Stodola Pomerleau, Carol Hansen Fenichel. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press 1982 (Contributions in Medical History. Nr. 8.). XIV, 284 S., Abb. - Doll. 29.95 Review: J. Hist. Med. 38(1983), S. 472f. (Olch, Peter D.). Review: Bull. Hist. Med. 57(1983), S. 638f. (Cangi, Ellen C.). Morantz-Sanchez, Regina Markell: Sympathy and Science: Women Physicians in American Medicine. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press 1985. XII, 464 S., Abb. - Doll. 24.95 Review: Isis 77(1986), S. 175f. (Leavitt, Judith W.). Review: J. Hist. Med. 41(1986), S. 352-355 (Cayleff, Susan E.). Review: Bull. Hist. Med. 60(1986), S. 602f. (Reverby, Susan). Review: Hist. Philos. Life Sc. 10(1988), S. 401-403 (Duffin, Jacalyn). Ogilvie, Marilyn Bailey: Women in Science, Antiquity Through the Nineteenth Century: A Biographical Dictionary with Annotated Bibliography. Cambridge, Mass., London: MIT Press 1986. XII, 254 S. - Doll. 25.00 Review: Isis 78(1987), S. 315f. (Koblitz, Ann Hibner). Walsh, Mary Roth: Doctors Wanted: No Women Need Apply: Sexual Barriers in the Medical Profession, 1835-1975. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press 1977. XXIII, 303 S. - Doll. 15.00 Review: J. Hist. Med. 33(1978), S. 104f. (Leavitt, Judith Walzer). Review: Med. Hist. 22(1978), S. 217. Review: Isis 69(1978), S. 105f. (Bullough, Vern L.). Review: Clio Med. 13(1978), S. 84 (Ackerknecht, Erwin H›einz!). Women and Health: The Politics of Sex in Medicine. Ed. by Elizabeth Fee. Farmingdale, New York: Baywood Publishing 1983 (Policy, Politics, Health and Medicine Series. 4.) 263 S. - Doll. 14.50 Review: Bull. Hist. Med. 58(1984), S. 613f. (Golden, Janet). Women and Health in America: Historical Readings. Ed. by Judith Walzer Leavitt. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press 1984. IX, 526 S., Abb. - Doll. 32.50 Review: Isis 76(1985), S. 112f. (Jones, Daniel P.). Review: Med. Hist. 29(1985), S. 113. Review: J. Hist. Med. 40(1985), S. 495f. (Dwork, Deborah). Women Physicians of the World. Autobiographies of Medical Pioneers. Ed. by Leone McGregor Hellstedt. Washington, London: Hemisphere Publishing Corp. 1978. XV, 420 S., Abb. - Doll. 24.50 Review: Bull. Hist. Med. 53(1979), S. 632 (Thibodeau, Doris). From: SUSAN@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK Subject: Machine-readable Solzhenitsyn Date: Mon, 8 MAY 89 11:52:21 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 3 (10) Does anybody have a machine-readable Solzhenitsyn? One of the Oxford Russian lecturers would like to use it in teaching using the Oxford Text Searching System. Susan Hockey From: Mark Olsen Subject: galician-portuguese Date: Mon, 8 May 89 10:19:19 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 4 (11) Does anybody know of the existence of the following in machine-readable form: Cantigas de Santa Maria, Cancioneiro da Vaticana, Cancioneiro da Ajuda, Cancioneiro da Biblioteca Nacional, J. J. Nunes' edition of the cancioneiros. Thanks for the help. Mark From: Jim Cahalan Subject: Shakespeare Date: 08 May 89 09:39:52 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 10 (12) [The following has been forwarded from Jim Cahalan, Graduate Literature English Dept., 111 Leonard, Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana, PA 15705-1094 Phone: (412) 357-2264.] Dear Jim, I have read with great interest your item on the formation of an English Newsgroup. This appeared in the Humanities list and was shown to me last week by Susan Kruse, a colleague at King's College. May I suggest a sort of early test for its effectiveness? There is a crisis in London at the moment because only within the past few weeks archeological work at the site of the 402 year old Rose Theatre has revealed for the first time in modern history substantial foundations of one of London's great open wooden theatres. The Rose stood opposite Shakespeare's Globe and he likely acted on its stage. At the moment it is possible to see the inner yard surface of the playhouse. Two separate foundations for the stage (at different periods) have appeared, the older with a foundation of brick and timbers. The channel made in the yard from rain dripping from the thatched gallery roof is plainly visible. The yard slants downward toward the stage. Developers are scheduled to move onto the site to bury these remains and erect an office building on 15 May! Unfortunately I do not understand the British Law, but I believe that as it stands presently, if English Heritage, the official conservation body, tries to intervene to save the site, it risks legal action in the courts for damages running up to millions of pounds. Noises are beginning to be made in the British press over this potentially tragic loss. Also I understand there has been some coverage in the American press. Perhaps there may be some hope that the site developers who are paying for the Museum of London archeologists to work on the dig might try to incorporate the Rose foundations within the new building if they sensed any public concern. Some members of the House of Commons have begun at this late moment to try to arouse interest in preserving the Rose, but the effort obviously needs all the support it can gather. Any word from overseas might give this hope just the boost it needs. I believe that this unique theatre is a very special case. If any readers of this have an interest in Shakespeare, the English Theatre or English literature in general and think that they could get a letter or brief message of some sort to London before 14 May (the mail might just make it) could I ask them to try? It would be particularly helpful if they mentioned that there is interest in such a site on the part of people living outside Britain. If they could contact the media, either here or in North America (which might gain notice in London) that might help a lot. As few as three letters might make a big difference. The main Members of Parliament to write to sending support are -- (1) Simon Hughes (2) Harriet Harman (3) Gerald Bowden The House of Commons, Palace of Westminister LONDON S.W.1 England. (phone 01-270-3000). Thank you very much, Stephen Miller Postgraduate student, c/o Department of English, King's College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS England. E-MAIL: UDLE031@UK.AC.KCL.CC.OAK From: Subject: Tartary Date: Mon, 8 May 89 00:28 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 5 (13) Eighteenth Century Englishmen would certainly have known about Tartary from Marco Polo. For information about what Europe generally knew about the East, consult Mary Campbell, _The Witness and the Other World: Exotic European Travel Writing 600-1600_ (Cornell, 1988). (This is a terrific book, incidentally, and reads as well for pleasure as for study.) From: Don D. Roberts (Philosophy) Subject: Tartars Date: Mon, 8 May 89 01:29:17 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 6 (14) Richard Goerwitz's note aroused my curiosity, tho no doubt some "professionals" will do better. Webster's 9th Collegiate gives, under "Tatary...or Tartary": an indefinite historical region in Asia & Europe extending from Sea of Japan to the Dnieper. No wonder it is difficult to find on maps. Better was the Century Dictionary: Tatary...more frequently Tartary... A name formerly given to central Asia, on account of the inroads of Tatar [= Tartar] hordes in the middle ages. It was later sometimes divided in part into Chinese Tatary (East Turkestan) and Independent Tatary (Turkestan). The name has also often been extended to include Manchuria, Mongolia, and Europe westward to the Dnieper or Don. Hence the division into European and Asiatic Tatary. Tatary, Chinese. See Tatary. Tatary, Crim. See Crimea. [I didn't bother.] Tatary, Gulf or Sound of. An arm of the sea which separates Saghalin from the mainland of Siberia, north of the Sea of Japan. Tatary, High. A name sometimes given to East Turkestan. Tatary, Independent. See Tatary. Tatary, Little. A name formerly given to the regions in southern Russia occupied by Tatars (Crimea, Kiptchak, etc.). The entry preceding "Tatary" is: Tatars...or Tartars. Probably R.G. has all this and more already, but just in case.... I wonder if it snowed anywhere in Tatary today (yesterday--Sunday) as it did a bit in Waterloo. From: COM3RAE@CLUSTR.TRENT.AC.UK Subject: women in medicine, cont. Date: 8-MAY-1989 12:07:51 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 7 (15) "Ministering Angels", the first of three articles in HISTORY TODAY Vol 39 February 1989 (published by History Today Ltd., 83-84 Berwick Street, London W1V 3PJ ISSN 0018-2735), written by Anne Summers of the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine, looks at the tensions between spiritual and material motivations in Victorian nursing and social reform with particular reference to professional women at work and Florence Nightingale. (With photos and a six book bibliography.) From: "Guy L. Pace" Subject: Revolution Date: Mon, 08 May 89 09:42:02 PLT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 8 (16) In support of Perry, I must point out that the intellectual American Revolution occurred on paper (Declaration of Independence, Federalist Papers). The war conducted by by the fledgling Congress and the Continental Army was more on the level of a civil war (since most of the military actions were fought by militia on both sides). When you get right down to it, it should have been called the First American Civil War resulting from a successful political and intellectual revolution. From a "long-view" perspective, the war was never finally decided one way or the other until the end of the Second American Civil War (1860-1865), which effectively removed British economic and political influence on the United States. As it is, Perry's asbestos skivvies shouldn't be in danger of being put to a test by fire. From: jonathan@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Jonathan Altman) Subject: American Revolution Date: Mon, 8 May 89 22:29:54 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 9 (17) Well, if Perry (sorry, missed the last name) has to worry about flame-proof underwear, I'm going to be in real trouble, but here goes....I will forewarn you that my educational background does not in itself make me qualified to enter this discussion-I've only just completed my Bachelor's degree(I am on this list for my work affiliation)-but I did major in history(concentrating on American, at that). What I've gleaned from my classwork covering Revolutionary American history does not make the American revolution, as Guy Pace, suggests, a civil war between Americans. Rather, it was a war over the issue of what was an appropriate basis for exercising governmental authority: the British system of constitutional government or the American system of contractual government. The conflict occurs in that the concept that the British constitution was made up of the totality of the British governmental system, while the American governmental system was defined for most colonies (the "charter" colonies, especially) on the basis of a contractual agreement between the residents of a particular colony (the charter) and the British government covering what each's responsibilities was supposed to be. The progression towards open conflict from 1763 onward was a result of the tension between the British notion that their actions in the colonies constituted (ignore the pun) reassertion of power granted by the constitution, while the Americans who became the "revolutionaries" were seeking to maintain what they thought a very practical status quo (interesting to find revolutionaries attempting to maintain a "status quo") in the colonies. Well, there it is, flame away on a poor undergraduate (as if the professors among you don't get enough opportunity to do that normally). Jonathan Altman jonathan@eleazar.Dartmouth.edu Database Administrator jonathan.altman@Dartmouth.edu Dartmouth Dante Project From: Subject: Re: 3.11 Tartars, women, and revolutions (104) Date: Mon, 8 May 89 23:26:55 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 10 (18) In re Pace's comments about the American Revolution,several thoughts come to mind immediately. How many revolutions have not been civil wars? That the American Revolution was also a civil war (but not on the scale as has been seen in some societies) does not lessen it as a revolution. As far as when the revolution took place, there is a convincing argument that the cultural revolution took place long before the political debate of the 1760s and 1770s. It took the Imperial Crises of 1763-65 to awaken many loyal Britishers in some of the colonies (after all, not all of the colonies revolted against the Crown) to realize that their idea of the rights of Englishmen was very different from that of the parent country. In time, many colonials decided that they were not English after all. The ideas reflected in the D of I, the state constitutions, the first constitution (otherwise known as the Articles of Confederation), and the second constitution (that of 1787 which will still use today) did not spring forth quickly but reflected, I think, a more subtle and evolutionary change in American thinking. ---------------------------------------------------------------- !Donald J. Mabry !DJMABRY@MSSTATE ! From: L.M.Richmond@vme.glasgow.ac.uk Subject: Re: 2.929: Ph.D.s; revolution (65) Date: Tue, 9 May 89 06:59:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 11 (19) Revolutions What about the Reformation ? From: Itamar Even-Zohar Subject: conference on children's literature Date: 10 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 13 (20) 9TH CONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH SOCIETY FOR CHILDREN'S LITERATURE (IRSCL) 4-8 September, 1989 We are pleased to forward to you the preliminary program of the 9th Conference of the International Research Society for Children's Literature (IRSCL), which will be held in Salamanca from the 4th of September through the 8th, 1989. The subject of the conference will be: Aspects and Issues in the History of Children's Literature. -------------------- [A complete version of this announcement is now available on the file-server, s.v. CHILDLIT CONFRNCE. A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Women/Medicine Archive Date: Monday, 8 May 1989 2358-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 12 (21) I am told by a colleague that the Medical College of Philadelphia, formerly named Women's Medical College, has an extensive archive on (the history of ?) women in medicine. If further information on this resource is of interest, please let me know and I will inquire further. Bob Kraft From: Wujastyk (on GEC 4190 Rim-D at UCL) Subject: Women in Medicine -- History Date: Tue, 9 May 89 13:48 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 13 (22) The Wellcome Institute, in London, recently held a three month exhibition on the subject of women in the history of medicine. It was called "Hygiea's Handmaids", and was accompanied by a printed catalogue which is still available. A conference was held to coincide with the exhibition. For further details, contact Leslie Hall at the Wellcome Institute (address below). Dominik From: David Megginson Subject: Re: 3.7 concordances, cont. (48) Date: Tue, 09 May 89 07:32:34 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 14 (23) The Dictionary of Old English had, perhaps, the best solution to publishing a concordance. They put out the regular microfiche concordance to Old English literature less stop-words, then released the high-frequency concordance which contains only the stop-words. The literary users are happy because they can get at the words they want without having to deal with thousands of 'ic', but the philologists and linguists (can _you_ see the difference?) can get their hands dirty with more 'ic' than they ever dreamed of. Of course, hard-copy (or microfiche) concordances should already be a thing of the past. Even interactive concording programs as simplistic as WordCruncher leave them out in the cold. David Megginson From: Willard McCarty Subject: used concordances, cheap! Date: 9 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 15 (24) I canna resist. Printed concordances are not entirely a thing of the past. Should they be? In theory, perhaps; as a mathematician would say, they've been trivialized. But are we sure we never will want them, even after the glorious day arrives when all is available online? Certainly for the poor slob who now merely hobbles along with his 12MHz AT, to whom multitasking is a distant dream, who simultaneously shudders to think of the work of marking-up the whole of Ovid for WordCruncher or TACT and observes that even on a NeXT (which can't run either) he'd be no better off even if he could afford the future, well..... All he has to do is lean backwards a foot or two and grab the old printed concordance and multitask multimediawise. It is possible to multitask on a large flat table with several good reference books, some of which may be concordances into which a great deal of good thinking has been put. Ok, ok (and what is the etymology of that word, eh?) I know about the virtues of interactive concordance programs and what is to be gained by having all the words available -- e.g., try "in" and variants in the 9th book of Paradise Lost -- but isn't there a serious question here, the answer to which is not obvious? Or am I just being thick? Willard McCarty From: Subject: Electronic Freud Date: Mon, 8 May 89 21:36 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 16 (25) For a project on the development of his clinical style I am interested in machine-readable material from Sigm. Freud's correspondence and clinical writing. Does anyone know of either a commercial or academic source for such virtual Freud material? Douglas Davis Department of Psychology Haverford College From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: Clarification of Item in Cahalan Letter Date: Mon, 08 May 89 22:03:05 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 17 (26) Jim Cahalan's letter (under the "Shakespearians" heading) makes reference to an an "English Newslist" which is apparently an electonic grammo network. I inquired once before about this list but was only referred by a very helpful person to the list ENGLISH, which is primarily for Canadian teachers of English. This issue of a grammo network dedicated to professional activities and discoveries in English literature has come up before, but, apparently, no one remembers anything about it except me. Please prove this last proposition untrue! From: Martin Ryle Subject: RE: 3.1: Happy Birthday (42) Date: Sun, 7 May 89 23:29:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 17 (27) It seems to me appropriate on Birthdays to hoist one high to the parents, or at least to the mid-wife, who in this case must be Willard. Ryle From: HANLY@UOFMCC Subject: angels and pins Date: Wed, 10 May 89 13:49 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 18 (28) Does anyone know the origin of the idea that medieval philosophers discussed how many angels could dance on the head (or point?) of a pin? Ken Hanly Brandon UNiversity From: Martin Ryle Subject: RE: 3.12 revolutions, cont. (91) Date: Wed, 10 May 89 12:20:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 18 (29) T. Kuhn's _Structure of Scientific Revolution_ offers a good model for looking at all sorts of revs., and not merely scientific (he borrowed the concept from Lefebvre and others). The model suggests that the revolution, per se, is a change of paradigm or perception or ideology that gradually permeates the social group in question (whether physicists or citizen/subjects). Subsequently, the change in perception by a significant percentage of the group meets determined opposition from the unpersuaded, and civil war or its equivalent follows. In the scientific community, we may be witnessing such a paradigm shift in the heated controversy over cold fusion. In the political arena, the paradigm shift in the American revolution might be thought virtually complete by the appearance of the correspondence committees or the Boston Tea Party. In the French revolution, Sieyes' What is the Third Estate may have marked the coalescence of the new paradigm--or at least the Tennis Court Oath. In the Russian Rev. a handy point of reference for the shift could be Miliukov's "Is it stupidity or is it treason" speech in the Duma late in 1916. In all these events, the civil war that followed was more nearly a fight between competing ideologies than the revolution itself. Ryle@urvax.urich.edu From: "Guy L. Pace" Subject: Revolutions Date: Wed, 10 May 89 09:16:21 PLT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 19 (30) The attempt of my last message (and I did oversimplify) was to separate the political, social and economic views of the American Revolution from the physical act of war. More often than not, the individual colonial militiaman sighted down the barrel of his squirrel gun and fired at a Tory militiaman. The major actions of the war, and those we read of most in history books, deal with the British military campaign to enforce British economic and political policy. However, little is discussed in standard history texts of the actions which did not directly involve British troops (those carried out by the respective militia). It is from these militia actions (colonial Ame rican against colonial American) that define the war as a civil war. However, this does not preclude the importance of the intellectual, political or economic issues (and I didn't mean to imply that it did). D. J. Mabry's note points out that the cultural revolution (evolution) took place before the actual political involvement. If other social and politial reforms are studied in detail (including the Reformation, Richmond!), I'm sure you will find that the foundations for the reform were established in the culture well before the political act. The Americans, as revolutionaries, as Altman points out, attempted to maintain a status quo--in other words they conducted a conservative revolution, if you will. From a strictly intellectual, political aspect, though, can there be such a thing as a conservative revolution? Where, if anywhere, *is* the revolution? Does the revolution reside, as Mabry suggests, in the cultural evolution? Or does it reside in Jefferson's D of I (which effectively provided official endorsement of a specific humanist philosophy)? Or, are we still struggling to bring the idealism of 1776 into reality? Guy L. Pace From: Wujastyk (on GEC 4190 Rim-D at UCL) Subject: Arabic for TeX Date: Wed, 10 May 89 13:59 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 20 (31) Jacques Goldberg has almost finished Arabic and Persian fonts, designed in METAFONT for use with TeX. He needs to do a little work on the preprocessor, and that's about all, to make the fonts distributable. He said it might take only a matter of hours. But it sounded from his letter as if he has rather lost heart with this project, and feels that no one is at all interested. So why should he make an effort? So, if you have any interest in seeing Arabic and Persian fonts made available for use with TeX, please send and encouraging note to Jacques, who is on Bitnet as GOLWS @ CERNVM . Dominik cc. TeXhax From: JLD1@PHOENIX.CAMBRIDGE.AC.UK Subject: Modern Greek texts Date: Wed, 10 May 89 16:12:46 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 21 (32) Dr Dia Philippides of Boston College, USA, is editing modern Greek texts herself, and would know of most other such work. Her e-mail address as far as I know is: PHILIPPD @ BCVMS John Dawson From: David Subject: Re: 3.15 concordances, cont. (65) Date: Wed, 10 May 89 07:41:44 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 22 (33) I agree with Willard McCarty in his love of printed texts, and like him, I too extend that love to printed concordances. Many of the concordances of the past are more useful than modern concording programs because of the careful research and the degree of lemmatisation which went into them. Nowadays, however, a printed concordance tends just to be a long dot-matrix print-out with truncated lines and illegible index numbers. If a scholar is not willing to put 20 years into making her/ his concordance a work of art, or at least of scholarship, I would far rather have an electronic copy of the text with a good concording program. Cruden's, however, will never be kicked off my shelf. David From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Concording Date: Wednesday, 10 May 1989 0908-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 23 (34) Willard is "thick" on concordances? Probably. Give me the world electronically and a searching package flexible enough to deal with it appropriately (including the things listed in earlier HUMANIST discussions by Hughes, Cover, etc.; IBYCUS is the best I have available right now), and he can have all the hardcopy concordances, indices, etc. Well, maybe I'd like this all in a multiple screen/processor environment. And of course, with excellent convenient print capabilities. And enough speed. And good screen generation of foreign fonts. And..., oh yes, the time to use it! But that is even more of a problem with Willard's thick concordances! Bob [This really was meant for you, Willard; but if you can't resist -- some people just can't seem to say no!] From: Ken Steele Subject: Obsolete Concordances Date: Wed, 10 May 89 11:32:37 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 24 (35) When David Megginson suggested that programs like WordCruncher have made printed concordances a thing of the past, I suspect he had in mind, at least in part, the Shakespeare archive I have demonstrated for him. (It currently contains 55 unedited quarto and folio texts of Shakespeare's plays, and requires about 18 megabytes of storage space with the WordCruncher indexes.) I feel obliged to defend his argument against Willard McCarty's objections. Admittedly the markup process for WordCruncher took several months of weekends (I doubt that Ovid would take much longer), but once completed the interactive concordance can do many things of which printed concordances are simply incapable. (For those who have not yet had the pleasure of its acquaintance, WordCruncher allows searches for lists of words in any combination, for lists of words within a set distance, for lists of words which do NOT occur together, etc etc.) It would doubtless take several shelves of prohibitively-expensive printed concordances to duplicate this resource (and what University library, much less what humble Shakespearean scholar, can afford to spend money needlessly these days?). I recognize the value of "multitasking mediawise" on a wooden desktop, and I admit that I still use the paper compact edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (but this is largely because I cannot afford a CD-ROM drive just now). Yet surely printed concordances, like the typewriter, have been rendered obsolescent by computer technology. I love the feeling of a well-bound book in my hands as much as anyone, and I keep my old IBM Selectric around for sentimental reasons, but "trivialization" cannot be ignored. And although I am one of those unfortunates saddled with a 12-MHz AT, multitasking is not a "distant dream" to me. Obviously, true multitasking is the province of OS/2, the 80386 chip, and their descendants, but programs such as Microsoft Windows or Softlogic Solutions' Software Carousel (my personal favourite) allow me to move between WordPerfect and WordCruncher with at least as much ease and speed as between a notepad and a printed concordance. (And neither program requires true multitasking, simultaneous operation, when immediate alternation is all that this human operator is capable of anyway.) As for the etymology of "OK," the tiny print of my OED's supplement blames it on the Americans: an abbreviation of a misspelling, "oll korrect" in the 15 April 1840 Boston Transcript. Perhaps someone with the CD-ROM edition can supply the most recent theory. From: "James H. Coombs" Subject: printed concordance obsolescent Date: Wed, 10 May 89 13:47:33 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 25 (36) Printed concordances might be obsolescent, but they are certainly not obsolete. Just last weekend I went to the library with a list of about 50 concordances to search---to see how English authors had been using certain words. I have electronic access to perhaps 1% of the works that are concorded in those books. I believe that Willard would argue that printed concordances are not even obsolescent. Publishers are already losing interest in concrdances, however, and we can expect scholars to lose interest as they come to expect electronic access. Side note. I ran across a set of concordances on diskettes in the library. The effort required to try them out on a PC was not justified for my extremely speculative task. I would have used them if they had been printed and, thus, had directly provided the information that I sought. All in all. Print medium has its advantages. Such advantages are probably not sufficient to keep them in production. Just for the record, I have concorded two versions of Wordsworth's *Prelude*. This is a comparative concordance, with cross references between the versions. I can't finish, however, until Cornell publishes the final volume, and that may be a couple of years from now. I doubt very much that Cornell will be interested in publishing this work. There is already an 1850 concordance; they are expensive to produce; the market is small; the comparative concordance is ideal for some people but does not do what others might like. Concording was big when computers first became available to support their development. The excitement was such that we now have multiple concordances for some authors, with no major advantages of one over the other (e.g., Milton). We may have similar activity when we can first make texts available widely with search capabilities. (Well, we can do it now, but I think we are still waiting for media prices to drop into scholarly budgets.) --Jim Dr. James H. Coombs Senior Software Engineer, Research Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship (IRIS) Brown University, Box 1946 Providence, RI 02912 jazbo@brownvm.bitnet From: stoy@prg.oxford.ac.uk Subject: Position Announcement Date: Wed, 10 May 89 09:18:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 22 (37) BALLIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD FIXED-TERM TUTORIAL FELLOWSHIP IN PHILOSOPHY Applications are invited for a fixed-term tutorial Fellowship in Philosophy at Balliol. An ability to teach Greek philosophy is an advantage but not a requirement. The appointment is for three years from October 1989 or January 1990 or some mutually agreeable date. Applications and _curriculum_vitae_ by 31 May to the College Secretary, Balliol College, Oxford OX1 3BJ, England (JANet address: JULIA@UK.AC.OXFORD.BALLIOL ), from whom further details may be obtained. We are, of course, an equal-opportunity employer. From: Don D. Roberts (Philosophy) Subject: 3.19 revolutions, cont. (76) Date: Thu, 11 May 89 17:42:35 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 26 (38) Martin Ryle's idea that in the cold fusion fuss and in one or two other topics we may have examples of Kuhn's paradigm shift is certainly suggestive. I wonder if he could elaborate what two (or more) paradigms might be at issue in the fusion instance and in the others. From: Brian Whittaker Subject: Re: 3.19 revolutions, cont. (76) Date: Thu, 11 May 89 18:20:25 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 27 (39) The American Revolution might well be seen as a civil war between the Tories and the Whigs, with the victorious Whigs sending the Tories into exile in Canada. One consequence of this is that the American political spectrum tends to range from generous liberalism (the Kennedy brothers, for example) to stingy liberalism (Ronald Reagan, for example), with both extremes concerned above all with protecting the rights of the individual from the depredations of society and its institutions. In Canada, until the present decade, there was a dominant conservative tradition in the three major parties, focussing on protecting society from the depredations of the individual; the nationalization of key industries to protect the interests of society characterized federal politics in Canada from the creation of the Canadian National Railways by Borden's conservative government just after the First World War to the creation of Petro Canada by Trudeau's liberal government. As for the possibility of a conservative revolution, Lord Durham, the radical liberal who was sent over by the British government to investigate the rebellions in Upper and Lower Canada saw in the Papineau rebellion in Lower Canada a conservative uprising against the Whig merchants of Montreal and Quebec cities. Brian Whittaker Atkinson College, York University From: Dr Abigail Ann Young Subject: Re: 3.18 angels dancing on pins? (18) Date: Thu, 11 May 89 07:54:45 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 28 (40) According to the learned father who taught the introduction to mediaeval philosophy at the Pontifical Institute in the mid- seventies, he and his colleagues had tried in vain to find such a text. He privately believed it to be a piece of hyperbole used to disparage late scholasticism by an humanistic scholar or one of the reformers, but had no proof. He used to offer a reward to any of his students who could find the text, but no one ever did! I'd be interested to know where the idea comes from myself, though I think it's too late for the reward! Yours faithfully, Abigail ******************************************************************** **Abigail Ann Young (Dr) ** **Research Associate, Records of Early English Drama ** **150 Charles Street W./ Victoria College / University of Toronto ** **Toronto, Ontario / M5S 1K9 / Canada ** **1-416-585-4504 ** **YOUNG@VM.EPAS.UTORONTO.CA or REED@VM.EPAS.UTORONTO.CA ** ******************************************************************** From: WIEBEM@QUCDN Subject: 3.18 angels dancing on pins? (18) Date: Thu, 11 May 89 16:03-0400 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 29 (41) I seem to recall, not having the text at hand, that it occurs in Martinus Scriblerus Ch 7, spoofing Aquinas's angels. Mel Wiebe, Queen's Univ. From: Don D. Roberts (Philosophy) Subject: 3.18 angels dancing on pins? (18) Date: Thu, 11 May 89 17:34:29 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 30 (42) Re: angels dancing on head of pin: Bergen Evans in _Dictionary of Quotations_ (Avenal, 1978) 23-24 quotes Ralph Cudworth's _The True Intellectual System of the Universe III_ (1678): "Some who are far from atheists, may make themselves merry with that conceit of thousands of spirits dancing at once upon a needle's point." Evans adds these remarks (among others): "Cudworth is plainly alluding to some assertion or passage in literature which he assumes is fairly well known. But no one has ever been able to find, in theological discussions, the question of how many angels can 'dance on the point of a pin' (the modern form)." --Don D. Roberts, UWaterloo. From: Oxford Text Archive Subject: electronic freud Date: Thu, 11 May 89 18:39 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 31 (43) John Ruffing at cornell (OMGY @ edu.cornell.ccs.vax5) has a substantial amount of the master's work in electronic form and has offered to deposit it with the oxford text archive when copyright release has been obtained. in haste The Archivist From: Hanna Kassis Subject: 3.20 Arabic for TeX; modern Greek texts Date: Thu, 11 May 89 06:27:48 PDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 32 (44) [deleted quotation]it became evident that the problem is not lack of interest on Goldberg's part but shortage of funds. Understably, his university cannot expend the funds needed to hire the necessary assistant (Goldberg is a physicist). In addition to encouragement, the project needs financial support. Any leads? The project is certainly worthy. From: Espen S. Ore + 47 5 21 29 59 FAFEO at NOBERGEN Subject: Thank you Date: 11 May 89, 11:45:42 EMT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 33 (45) I would just like to thank all of you HUMANISTS who responded to my enquiry about modern Greek texts. All responses pointed to Dia Philippides at Boston College as the person most likely to know something about such texts. From: Robin Smith Subject: Printed concordances Date: Wed, 10 May 89 21:36 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 34 (46) I'll have to second Willard's view that the printed concordance, and its ilk, are not nearly dead yet. The TLG and an Ibycus machine are capable of wonders, but Bonitz had the advantage of actually understanding Greek: there's more in- telligence in many 19th-century indices than is likely to become automated for several decades, at the least. (Of course, I STILL want an Ibycus.) From: JACKA@PENNDRLS Subject: ON CONCORDING Date: Thursday, 11 May 1989 1442-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 35 (47) It is only human nature to duplicate on a new medium, in this case the computer, what one did on an older medium, in that case paper. For me, the real question in concording is whether that is the most efficient use of the new medium. Well, I don't think so, but that does not mean for others who work differently that my view is right for them. For me, the new medium gives me newer and more flexible ways to format a text instantly whether in a concordance or in some other format. My problems with this new medium is that the hardware isn't flexible enough to display exactly what needs to be done. From: unh!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield) Subject: Date: Tue, 9 May 89 17:48:31 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 26 (48) Subject: Literary Computing Grants/Fellowships? Could any of you suggest from personal experience sources of funding for U.S. citizens conducting research & writing in the fields of 1) literary computing & literary criticism (esp. 19th-century French fiction) or; 2) computer-assisted language instruction/interactive video, both methodological research & curricular development (French)? I'm particularly interested in funding applicable to a sabbatical year project (1990-91). Which grant organizations do you think would be receptive to work on a content area like 19th-cen. French fiction where an equally important part of the text considers questions like: 1) How may one develop and investigate literary problems with the assistance of the computer? 2) What are the viable methodologies for stylo-statistical analysis? 3) How may one display the results convincingly to fellow humanists? 4) How may the results be smoothly integrated into the prose of literary interpretation and criticism? 5) What are the implications of "computer-assisted literary analysis" acquiring a critical mass of practitioners which would qualify the various applications as a new post-structuralist or a even "holistic" approach to literary criticism? Perhaps you could suggest additional burning questions.... Thanks. --Joel D. Goldfield J_GOLDFI@UNHH.BITNET From: "Joanne M. Badagliacco" Subject: Job Opening Date: Thu, 11 May 89 11:00:22 PDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 27 (49) The following position is open at Pomona College. Manager of Educational Services Description: Responsible for provision of support to students and faculty members for instructional and research computing, including: consultation, technical assistance in the development of instructional and research software and documentation, maintenance of courseware and research software library, supervision of faculty laboratory, supervision of computer support specialists and student assistants, development and offering of workshops. Requirements: Master's degree (doctorage preferred) in an appropriate discipline, or equivalent combination of education and experience. At least five years' experience with instructional and research computing in a higher education setting. At least three years expereience supervisiong academic computing support personnel. Demonstrated administrative skills, excellent verbal and written communication skills. Salary commensurate with qualifications. (Mid $30's) Setting: Seaver Academic Computing Services (SACS) provides support for instructional and reserach computing for the Pomona College community of approximately 1400 students and 140 faculty. SACS currently operates an IBM 4341 mainframe, but will be migrating to a DEC VAX 6310 system during the next academic year. In addition, SACS has numerous IBM and Apple Macintosh microcomputer laboratories and classrooms. The campus is in the process of being networked with fiber optic cabling thereby allowing Pomona to interface with the five other Claremont Colleges running clusters of VAX machines, and the main library. Deadline to apply: May 31, 1989 Send resume, writing sample, and names, addresses and telephone numbers of three reference to: Dr. J. M. Badagliacco Director of Academic Computing Pomona College 640 College Avenue Claremont, CA 91711 Humanists are encouraged to apply! From: D.Mealand@EDINBURGH.AC.UK Subject: Greek Date: 12 May 89 12:07:44 bst X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 36 (50) We have been using Greek texts on cd-rom with an Ibycus here for over a year now and find this facility very useful. Does anyone on this bb have experience of using the Pandora with Mac equivalent or the Lbase with PC equivalent ? It is possible that Edinburgh might wish to get a second system being a split campus and rather than simply double up on Ibycus it might be worth considering having a mac or pc based access to the TLG texts. Please reply to me about this rather than the bb (D.Mealand @edinburgh.ac.uk) Also about discussion on Greek texts. There is an active group of Ibycus users who have a list-serv discussion group. Is there any other sub-group of Humanities people discussing ancient Greek texts on any of the many networks ? David M. [Note that the Ibycus, the program Offload (for getting texts from the CD-ROMs to a PC fixed disk), Pandora, Lbase, and Searcher will all be exhibited at our software and hardware fair here in June. What better way could there be than attending the fair for seeing many, if not most, of the options? --W.M.] From: "John E. Koontz, NIST 713, Boulder" Subject: Ideophone questionnaire Date: Wed, 10 May 89 17:28:59 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 37 (51) PLEASE COPY PLEASE POST AND DISTRIBUTE * * * IDEOPHONES * * * DO THEY OCCUR IN THE LANGUAGES OF WHICH YOU HAVE SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE? I would appreciate any information you care to provide. Use the following as a guide. If a language does not have them, please tell me that too. 1. Name of language 2. Some properties of the ideophones (e.g. from list below, or others) 3. Some examples of the ideophones 4. Is there morphology in the ideophones? 5. Do they show sound symbolism (e.g. vowel height correlating with size) 6. Relation with the rest of the vocabulary (e.g. can ordinary words be derived from ideophones, or vice-versa?) 7. Is usage correlated with age, sex, situation (story-telling, etc.) or other sociolinguistic variable? 8. Comparative information. E.g., It has often been noted that ideophones do not exhibit regular sound-correspondences. 9. Acquisition: any observations on how children learn and use them. 10. Descriptions or collections (published, unpublished, forthcoming)? Ideophones form a special class of words in some languages. (Diffloth uses "expressive", reserving "ideophone" for expressives with phonological symbolism.) The class is often hard to define, though the members are easy to spot. They may exhibit one or more of the following properties: 1. Phonologically somewhat aberrant, e.g. having segments, stress-patterns, or phonotatics not found in the general vocabulary. 2. Grammatically different from other words in the language, e.g. uninflectable when other words are typically inflected, restricted to special constructions, or able to function as complete utterance. 3. Typically having a "meaning" that is hard to pin down, often described as characterizing an entire situation, or describing (usually sense-based) properties in several modalities at once, e.g. color, size, and speed. 4. Rhetorically they provide additional color not available from the general vocabulary. Exx: Japanese "numenume," of a smooth glossy surface having a damp feel, either sticky or slippery. Lao "jojo," of a situation involving movement and something heavy and round, as in carrying a heavy beam on a shoulder. Zulu "chaphasha," of crossing over; "mikithi" of equality. There exist dictionaries of Japanese ideophones, and a collection of Lao ideophones forms part of an unpublished PhD dissertation. Ideophones traditionally have enjoyed great prominence in African linguistics, but tend to be slighted by linguists in other areas. So much so that it is hard to form an idea of how widespread the phenomenon is, let alone how it varies across the world's languages. The best survey still seems to be Samarin's (Word, Aug. 1970, revised in the A.A.Hill Festschrift, 1978), based mostly on published work. I suspect that a wealth of relevant information remains unpublished and inaccessible, or tucked away in works focussed on other subjects. Hence I have decided to canvass specialists directly, particularly non-Africanists. Thank you for your cooperation. I would be glad to send you a summary of the responses. Please indicate if you would like to receive it. Robert Hsu, Linguistics Department, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, 96822 (USA). BITNET: T119920@UHCCMVS From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: Ain't No Horse Can't Be Rode Date: Fri, 12 May 1989 14:03:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 38 (52) I'd appreciate help in locating the author or origin of the following epigram. This item appeared on the illustration for a forthcoming conference on tombstones and grave markers (it is itself a tombstone inscription). The inscription, however, seems to go beyond the capacity of the persons who ordered its incsription, or, at least, it seems to me to have folkloric qualities to it. I have an ulterior motive--I'd like to share this saying with a certain operative in our basketball program. So, here is the epigram. Ain't no horse can't be rode, Ain't no man can't be throwed. The tombstone, incidentally, portrays a bucking bronco. Yours appreciateviely, Kevin L. Cope From: "Thomas W. Stuart" Subject: EIES and BLEND Date: Fri, 12 May 89 17:17:27 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 39 (53) Does anyone know if either of the big experiments in use of electronic publishing and communication to support scholarly communication -- EIES or BLEND -- has had any interface with the BITNET/NETNORTH/EARN/JANET networks? Any info (or leads) on similar projects in the humanities or social sciences -- current or completed/defunct -- would also be welcome. From: Niko Besnier Subject: ANTHRO-L Date: Sat, 13 May 89 11:04:15 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 40 (54) Does anyone have an address for ANTHRO-L, an anthropologists' electronic discussion group which someone mentioned to me recently? Thank you. Niko Besnier Department of Anthropology Yale University UTTANU@YALEVM From: Willard McCarty Subject: concording subsumed Date: 12 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 29 (55) Jack Abercrombie tantalizes us with a hint of a process liberated from the imitation of old models in the new technology. Now, I think, we may be getting somewhere. Concording is a primitive, to be subsumed and transformed as part of a more complex process that exploits the potential of the machine, right? Let us think about what that larger process is. Again, we ask, what do we want computers to do for us? An ordinary concordance, printed or otherwise, is not terribly good for finding all the inflected forms of a word when all you've got, or want to specify, is the lemma. So, the concording function needs a morphological component. Even then, such a tool is exceedingly clumsy when you want to find ideas, themes, and structures but have only got or can specify words. So, we need a component than can act on the basis of synonyms, antonyms, and conventional associations. What else? Willard McCarty From: Subject: revolutions &c. Date: Fri, 12 May 89 07:52:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 41 (56) Yesterday's account of Canadian revolutions omits one curious development during the last two decades -- the canonization of revolutionaries by an essentially conservative culture. Louis Riel, who (with Gabriel Dumont and a goodly portion of the population of Manitoba & Saskatchewan) rebelled & was hanged (the rope was on display at the RCMP museum in Regina as late as 1968, the last time I looked) -- is now a national treasure. There are plays acted every year, books, and all the paraphernalia in the U.S. usually reserved for inventors or presidents. The recognition is official: witness the Louis Riel postage stamp... Mackenzie & Papineau, also armed insurrectionists, are part of main-stream history, as is the Spanish Civil War Brigade that bore their name (The Mackenzie-Papineau Brigade --- also commemorated by a stamp!). And Norman Bethune (China's Canadian medical hero, dead of overwork & cellulitis on the Long March), a convinced communist, is also canonized (visit his shrine-home at Gravenhurst, a National Monument with trilingual literature in French, English, & Chinese)... What is one to make of this acceptance of revolutionaries? That they fit into a tradition which admires people who take action against "the deprada- tions" of mercenary individuals & groups? How does it compare with the treatment of that wonderful, scary man, John Brown, in the U.S. (he, too, was a revolutionary, and like Riel he heard voices...) From: Leslie Subject: Re: 3.23 revolutions; angels (126) Date: Fri, 12 May 89 07:42:54 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 42 (57) There was an article in the NY Times Sunday section about two months ago on a conference at Rome. The subject was angels and they ended (after may had left, evidently) with discussing how many angels could dance on the head of a pin. Perhaps some of our Italian colleagues could tell us the references made? Leslie Morgan Dept. of French and Italian SUNY, Stony Brook, NY 11794-3359 LZMORGAN@SBCCVM (bitnet) From: cbf%faulhaber.Berkeley.EDU@jade.berkeley.edu (Charles Faulhaber) Subject: Re: 3.23 revolutions; angels (126) Date: Fri, 12 May 89 11:01:07 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 43 (58) Somewhere in the back of my head there is dancing a reference to a 16th-c. humanistic work which does indeed attack scholasticism with a title something along the lines of De virorum obscurorum. It does attack the philosophical absurdities of the M.A., but whether it mentions angels and pins I do not know. From: cbf%faulhaber.Berkeley.EDU@jade.berkeley.edu (Charles Faulhaber) Subject: Re: 3.28 various queries (173) Date: Sun, 14 May 89 18:10:01 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 44 (59) In re ideophones, see the following work by David Pharies (Dept. of Spanish, U. of Florida): Pharies, David A. Structure and analogy in the playful lexicon of Spanish Tubingen : M. Niemeyer, 1986. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur romanische Philologie Bd. 210. From: THEALLDF@TrentU.CA Subject: angels Date: Sat, 13 May 89 20:25 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 45 (60) The book which Charles Faulhaber has in mind is the Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum. It is my recollection, though it could be wrong, that in this satire against the Scholastics composed by German humanists, angels dance on pinheads. Pope refers to the Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum in the prose sections of the Dunciad Variorum. It is mentioned in a prose satiric advertisement to the 1742 edition where he thinks of his critics as "obscure men". He associated it with satires of knowledge such as Erasmus' Encomium Moriae. It obviously inspired some of the satire in Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus where as a previous comment suggests there is a satiric use of angels dancing on the head of a pin. From: Oxford Text Archive Subject: snappeshotte Date: Sat, 13 May 89 16:11 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 46 (61) A new edition of the Oxford Text Archive snapshot is now available from the file server, s.v., OXARCHIV SHRTLIST ("Oxford Archive Shortlist"). This contains the same inadequate details of electronic texts stored at Oxford, Cambridge, Pisa, Philadelphia and Provo as the last one, but fewer (or at least different) errors. It has not (yet) been converted to SGML, but the Oxford holdings are comparatively up to date. All delegates to the DYNAMICK TEXT Conference at Toronto next month will be given a smart printed copy, Royal (and Canadian) mails permitting. Lou From: Douglas de Lacey Subject: HUMANIST (accents) Date: Mon, 15 May 89 08:39:02 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 47 (62) I have been asked to offer the following, for anyone interested: WordStar Professional Release 5 supports PostScript. I have written a program which makes it possible to print text including `unusual' accents (macron, breve, dropped and raised dots, double accents such as macron + acute, etc.) in the Times-Roman font -- also open and close quotation marks and the M-dash. If you are interested, mail me (JDS10@UK.AC.CAM.PHX). From: "Eric Johnson DSC, Madison, SD 57042" Subject: ENGLISH POSITION Date: Mon, 15 May 89 16:05:33 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 48 (63) ENGLISH FACULTY POSITION Full-time, Fall Semester, 1989 Dakota State College is seeking a full-time, one-semester leave replacement position teaching American Literature and Composition. - Familiarity with computer applications for writing and literature is important, - Ph.D. in English desired; Master's degree essential. - Rank based on qualifications. Dakota State College is located in Madison, South Dakota, approximately 45 miles northwest of Sioux Falls, in the southern lakes region of the state. Dakota State is dedicated to providing leadership in computer and information systems and the integration of this technology into other academic disciplines. Interested applicants should send a letter of application, vita, and complete dossier to: Eric Johnson Division Head, Liberal Arts Dakota State College Madison, SD 57042 Applications will be received until July 1, 1989, or until the position is filled. DSC is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer. From: RGLYNN@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK Subject: Date: Mon, 15 May 89 06:13:38 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 33 (64) To HUMANIST Discussion [deleted quotation] Subject Transporting computer h/w from USA to Canada Does anyone know of any customs restrictions on shipping computer hardware from the USA to Canada? A colleague at OUP New York wants to ship kit out to the Toronto Software fayre but cannot get any sensible information on how to do this. Can any of the other exhibitors going for the FAyre from the USA advise? Thanks for your help. Ruth From: JLD1@PHOENIX.CAMBRIDGE.AC.UK Subject: Arabic Seminar programme Date: Mon, 15 May 89 09:57:00 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 34 (65) Literary and Linguistic Computing Centre and Centre of Middle Eastern Studies Two-day Seminar on Bilingual Computing in Arabic and English Patron HRH Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud Draft Programme (as at 5.5.89) Wednesday 6 September _____________________ 9.30 - 10.30 Registration and Coffee 10.30 - 11.00 Opening address 11.00 - 12.30 Session 1: COMPUTERS IN ARABIC-ENGLISH LEXICOGRAPHY 11.00 - 11.30 U. Ubaidli: `Construction of an Arabic-based, multilingual thesaurus for indexing' (Al-Fihrist, Academic Research Institute, Cyprus). 11.30 - 12.00 Dr M. Farahat: `Semantic features in a practical Arabic lexical database', (Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research). 12.00 - 12.30 S. Al-Kameshi: `OCR algorithm for printed Arabic text' (Arabic Industrial Development Organization, Iraq). 12.30 - 2.15 Lunch 2.15 - 3.45 Session 2: ARABIC-ENGLISH-ARABIC MACHINE TRANSLATION 2.15 - 2.45 P. Roochnik: `ARABAIN Arabic language parser', (Georgetown University, Washington, U.S.A.). 2.45 - 3.15 I. Osman: `An algorithm for retrieving Arabic names written in English', (University of Khartoum, Sudan). 3.15 - 3.45 Dr C.H. Hsu: `Arabic transliteration, a computer-based system', (National University, Taiwan). 3.45 - 4.15 Tea 4.15 - 6.00 SOFTWARE/HARDWARE MANUFACTURERS' DISPLAYS 6.30 - 7.30 Reception 7.30 Seminar Dinner Thursday 7 September ____________________ 9.15 - 10.45 Session 3: TEACHING ARABIC USING COMPUTERS 9.15 - 9.45 Dr M. Jiyad: `The Proficiency-based Arabic Computer Program on the IBM PC', (University of Massachusetts, U.S.A.). 9.45 - 10.15 Dr D.B. Parkinson: `Using Hypercard to teach Arabic', (Brigham Young University, U.S.A.). 10.15 - 10.45 Dr A. Brockett: `The Leeds/Cambridge Arabic-teaching by computer project', (Leeds University, U.K.). 10.45 - 11.15 Coffee 11.15 - 12.30 SOFTWARE PRODUCERS' PRESENTATIONS 12.30 - 2.15 Lunch 2.15 - 3.45 Session 4: SOFTWARE USERS' EXPERIENCES 2.15 - 2.45 R.A. Kimber: `al-Nashir al-Maktabi in a University Arabic department', (University of St.Andrews, Scotland). 2.45 - 3.15 A. Ubaydli: `Arabizing the Mac', (University of Cambridge). 3.15 - 3.45 Dr S. al-Yamani: `Software Evaluation Schedule', (Arabian Gulf University). 3.45 - 4.15 Tea 4.15 - 6.00 Session 5: TERMINOLOGICAL AND RELATED ISSUES 4.15 - 4.45 Dr D. Abdo: `A study of Arabic computer terms', (International Computer Systems (London) Ltd.). 4.45 - 5.15 Dr S. Abbas: `Arabization of programming languages and text editing systems', (University of Baghdad), (in Arabic). 5.15 - 5.45 M.A. Shallal: `A Small Personal and Educational Engineering Dictionary', (University of Technology, Baghdad). Seminar Convenor: Ahmad Ubaydli c/o Literary & Linguistic Computing Centre Sidgwick Avenue Cambridge CB3 9DA UK Telephone: (UK) 0223-335029 Fax: +44 223 334748 Telex: 81240 CAMSPLG EMail: AU100@UK.AC.CAM.PHX [JANET] AU100@PHX.CAM.AC.UK [EARN/BITNET etc.] From: Willard McCarty Subject: Manfred Thaller, wo sind Sie? Date: 16 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 49 (66) Would anyone who has recently communicated by e-mail with Manfred Thaller (Max Planck Institut fuer Geschichte, Goettingen) let me know if I have a current address for him? I have tried MTHALLE@DGOGWD01 just this evening and have been told that the node-name is incorrect. (This address he gave me last June, when it was very new.) If any Humanist in Germany who knows him would be so kind as to send him a message asking him to write to me, I would be exceedingly grateful. Thank you very much. Willard McCarty From: Steven J. DeRose Subject: Canada and hardware Date: Mon, 15 May 89 18:31:54 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 50 (67) Let me echo the request for info on how to take computer hardware to the Toronto conference -- I want to bring an external drive with lots of data (including the Humanist biographies in HyperCard, for those interested), but don't particularly want to pay duty or other fees on it.... Steve DeRose From: FLANNAGA at OUACCVMB Subject: address needed Date: 14 May 1989, 10:34:14 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 51 (68) I need an e-mail contact point in Botswana (don't remember seeing any central or south African mail on Humanist), and (this one is easy) for Department of Education at U. Manchester: going through my JANET addresses, all the Manchester addresses seem to be computer science or engineering, though I seem to remember some correspondents on Humanist from Manchester. Roy From: Ronen Shapira 03-443090 Subject: historical computing Date: Tue, 16 May 89 22:29:08 IST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 52 (69) Hello. I am rather a new client of Humanist, but I have a question, which may be silly. what is the best, and most economical way of combining a computerized analysis with historical reserach? I am asking because I am on the way to analyse several hundred french pamphlets from mid-19 century, and looking for new ideas. From: Oleske M.A. ; Subject: Concordance of Chinese Texts, Query Date: Tue, 16 May 89 13:37:53 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 53 (70) Humanists, Do any of you or your colleagues maintain a corpus of Chinese texts ? If so, what concordance methods/types of software do you use to manipulate the text ? Responses please to : Peter Nix MUS6PJN@LEEDS.UCS.CMS1 at UK.AC.EARN-RELAY Dept. of Chinese Studies University of LEEDS Leeds LS2 9JT England Thank you for the assistance. Bill Oleske From: Donald Spaeth (0532) 33 3573 Subject: Chinese Character output. Date: Tue, 16 May 89 17:15:35 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 54 (71) I am writing on behalf of a member of our Computing Service who, after an exchange visit to China has become interested in the problems of producing and working with Chinese characters on IBM compatibles. He asks: "We have a copy of CCDOS which outputs Chinese characters on CGA on IBM PCs and clones. What we are keen to get is output on EGA. We would prefer that we use the Chinese national standard 2-byte representation for Chinese characters." Given the recent discussion of the problems involved in producing Pali, I'm sure plenty of you out there have experience with Chinese. Any suggestions on how to solve the other problem (Chinese in EGA) and others would much appreciated. Thanks in advance, Donald Spaeth Arts Computing Development Officer University of Leeds Janet address: d.a.spaeth at cms1.leeds.ac.uk (from EARN/BITNET) d.a.spaeth at uk.ac.leeds.cms1 (from Janet sites) From: "Vicky A. Walsh" Subject: Re: 3.33 hardware from US into Canada? (28) Date: Tue, 16 May 89 13:20:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 55 (72) I don't have any recent experience, but this used to be a problem that could be solved with a deposit at customs to guarantee return, or a special license that businesses get all the time to take things for demos. Sorry I can't be more specific. Good Luck. Vicky Walsh From: David.A.Bantz@mac.Dartmouth.EDU Subject: Re: 3.33 hardware from US into Canada? (28) Date: Tue, 16 May 89 05:03:01 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 56 (73) Your colleague should register the equipment (have serial numbers available) with U.S. Customs on the way out of U.S. to avoid any hassle on returning. I don't know about the Canadian side of the equation. From: THARPOLD@PENNDRLS Subject: Concording... Date: Monday, 15 May 1989 1821-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 57 (74) --Just to add a thought to W. McCarty's addition to J. Abercrombie's message on new forms of the concording process in a computing environment. McCarty points to the need for a morphological component in the concording function, but notes, "even then, such a tool is exceedingly clumsy when you want to find ideas, themes and structures, but have only got or can specify words." This made me think of how nice it would be to have a process for the parsing of the semantic morphology of texts (fuzzy memories of Hjelmslev's Glossematics)--or (if we're now making wish-lists), a process for registering non-linear signifying aspects of text-material, a la Saussure's anagrammes. T. Harpold From: db Subject: Re: 3.29 concording, cont. (29) Date: Tue, 16 May 89 16:19:30 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 58 (75) I think that the model of the text retrieval system at Bar-Ilan is very relevant. It has both the kind of morphological analysis that you speak of and Boolean searches plus within searches etc. The result is a key-word in context search. Everything else sounds like hypertext to me, i.e. one person creates the links and then others can follow them. Boyarin. From: J. K. McDonald Subject: Your HUMANIST item 3.29 concording Date: Tue, 16 May 89 12:50 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 59 (76) Since 1980 at Queen's University we have been developing our VINCI, a CALL system for Italian which gets HAL to generate randomly certain syntactic structures, pre- and post-edited, but quick, flexible, etc. The machine finds appropriate morphological forms from the lemma provided (dictionary form) and avoids semantic bloopers because of the various metonymic fields we have built into the datafiles. Most recently I have sketched out a system of 'trailing filters' to capture about 70 semantic relationships (including your antonyms, hyperonyms, diminutives, register variants, archaisms, etc.) and gave a paper on the scheme last month to the American Association for Italian Studies at Lowell MA. I HAVE ALWAYS THOUGHT VINCI MIGHT REVERSE FROM BEING A CALL SYSTEM TO BEING A HALF INTELLIGENT CONCORDING SYSTEM. I am an older man; literary scholarship has been expected of me, not this kind of thing, whatever it is. So I have retired three years early, to get on with it (Queen's has good pensions). I deplore the litnik-langnik dichotomy (at Berkeley we had philology--Yakov Malkiel--along with our Romance literatures for the Ph.D.). We are spreading VINCI from the old mainframe Italian (with APL) to PC (with C) and my young colleague Greg Lessard of Queen's French will be giving a paper on our system in French at your DYNAMIC TEXT. (I'm working on Spanish and Italian.) I have always been confounded by talk of cleverly marking IN ADVANCE the lemmata of certain themes in concordance systems: how does one ever know in advance what the material will encourage one to winkle out? Surely we want a system that can take an OCR text and check everything in it for everything, as often as we ask it to do it. (E.g., the use in English of the conditional tense instead of the past subjunctive in contrary-to-fact conditions might emerge during our readings as a significant stylistic feature of a given author's 'rifacimento' of an earlier work.) Is it because English is so poor in morphological tags that we haven't taken the effort to get off our lemmata? Is it because we respect absolute logic that we overlook language-specific semantic relationships? Isn't the author's style an idiolect of a superior sort that we want to capture? If the VINCI code (or any other CALL system) can randomly fetch out "Il ragazzo ti ha dato il biglietto?/(Si', me lo ha dato.)" or any extension of plausible subjects, verbs, direct object, etc., and check students' answers one-on-one, why cannot the code be made to recognize 'ragazzaccio', 'glieli', 'daranno', 'le mele' for what they are and report back what it sees in an OCR text? Am I asking the computer to do something it cannot do, or something the computational linguists have not heretofore been asked to make it do, and therefore say it cannot do? (My perennial suspicion is that people like to be asked to do what they know they can do, and tend to go glassy-eyed or even hostile when asked to do something for which they do not see the purpose.) Can you cast around the much larger Toronto pond and find out whether I am asking the impossible? Can VINCI not be of service in the field of stylistic analysis? Jim McDonald MCDOJK@QUCDN.BITNET (613) 372-2071 "An Darach" RR1 Hartington, Ontario K0H 1W0 From: Wujastyk (on GEC 4190 Rim-C at UCL) Subject: Sanskrit character codes Date: Tue, 16 May 89 17:02 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 38 (77) Here is a message forwarded from Dr. Peter Schreiner, SOAS: Though not connected to any network and thus not officially a member of the Humanist group, I have through the kind services of friends and colleagues been able to listen in on the discussion about Sanskrit coding schemes. (I thank in particular Dr. W. Ott, Tubingen, and Dr. D. Wujastyk, London!) I have been encouraged to note down some of my experiences and opinions. It seems, the discussion concerns two different steps in the "processing" of transliteration: a) defining the internal codes for letters with diacritical marks (e.g. s with subscript dot = char(234), or whatever). Clearly, to have generally accepted standards would contribute greatly to the compatibility of software; and from the point of view of a user like myself who does not write his own programs this is of utmost importance. I am quite ready to help working towards an agreement about standards on the occasion of the Vienna World Sanskrit Conference (which might help to activate the ALLC specialist group). b) defining what one does on the keyboard in transliterating Sanskrit. As has been rightly said in the discussion, Sanskritists have agreed long ago on a standard transliteration (retroflex s is an s with subscript dot, "long a" is an a with macron, etc). The primary concern in defining "our" transliteration scheme was typing speed and typing errors. Since the transliteration scheme existed and one was really familiar enough not to have to think about it while typing, the obvious input convention was to type all diacritics in front of the letters. The period being used for subscript dot, the semicolon was an obvious choice for the superscript dot; and we chose the question mark for the tilda. (These conventions are fairly arbitrary, and when changing to U.K. keyboards I chose to replace "'s" by "/s"). The point is that the input code is clearly independent from what happens to the input later on. I change "-a" to "%-a" for printing the macron with TUSTEP (which is what I have been using almost exclusively), to "\=a" for printing it in TeX, to "aa" for printing it with Velthuis' Devanagari-TeX, to "circumflex [overwrite] a" for a word-processor which can do no better, to "02" for sorting purposes (since "long a" is the second character in the alphabet). At most of these transformations I do not ever have to look; and rather than WYTIWYG (T for type) I prefer to be able to control what I am doing (and thus also getting, hopefully). Ideally, points a) and b) will be compatible. My typed "-a" may register in the machine as "char(195)" (acc. to Emmerick) or "char(224)" (in Dominik's scheme); and ideally I shall be able to see the sub- and superscript diacritics on screen (if I choose so), but shall not have to type anything more complicated than an "o" if (e.g.) my "long i" ("-i") turns out to be a typing (or reading) mistake for "o" (which means that I want to be able to see the input coding). Lastly, talking about transliteration, it has been my ambition to collect information about who has been transliterating what and where. May I use this occasion to ask those who have created their own library of transliterated texts to drop me a line!? Peter Schreiner S.O.A.S., Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG, U.K. Replies via: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dominik Wujastyk, | Janet: wujastyk@uk.ac.ucl.euclid Wellcome Institute for | Bitnet/Earn/Ean/Uucp: wujastyk@euclid.ucl.ac.uk the History of Medicine, | Internet/Arpa/Csnet: dow@wjh12.harvard.edu 183 Euston Road, | or: wujastyk%euclid@nsfnet-relay.ac.uk London NW1 2BP, England. | Phone: London 387-4477 ext.3013 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Note that as of May 1989 the Janet-Internet gateway address has changed from "nss.cs.ucl.ac.uk" to "nsfnet-relay.ac.uk"] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: lois atwood Subject: angels Date: Tue, 16 May 89 15:58:56 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 60 (78) Didn't St. Anselm talk about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin, in Cur Deus Homo? From: Brian Whittaker Subject: Re: 3.30 revolutions and angels, cont. (73) Date: Tue, 16 May 89 18:01:40 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 61 (79) Pursuing the topic of an essentially conservative Canada canonizing old revolutionaries: Some of the revolutionaries mentioned might be seen as operating within that conservative tradition of protecting society rather than the eccentric individual. Louis Riel was the democratically elected head of a provisional government in what is now Manitoba. This government was formed after the free-booting Hudson's Bay Company sold the Northwest Territory to the government of Canada; the Hudson's Bay Company pulled out its private law enforcement system and the federal government was not yet ready to supply a replacement. Thus Riel's goverment was not at all revolutionary, but simply an attempt to maintain order in the temporary lapse of authority. The action that prompted Ottawa to charge Riel with treason and to send in the troops, as well as prompting the Ontario government to put a bounty on his head, was the execution of a rowdy individual, a murderer with a record of drinking and brawling... in short, a kind of wild west figure. Thus Riel would fall into the category of the defenders of the security of society, and the convicted murderer whom he executed would be the individual run amok. The second "rebellion" with which Riel's name is associated was in part a separatist movement reacting against a distant federal government that was both unresponsive to and largely unaware of what was needed to maintain the security of the prairie society. The issue is complicated in this instance by Riel's own complex character. By this time his diaries indicate that not only was he hearing voices, but they were telling him that God had named him Pope of North America. I don't think the modern "canonization" of Riel has picked up on this issue... Winipeg: the new Avignon. I have already suggested that, in Durham's eyes at least, the Papineau uprising was a conservative rebellion against the anglo whig merchants of Montreal and Quebec City (a group that had moved in from New England). Norman Bethune's rebellious gestures of establishing mobile field hospitals, first for the socialists in Spain and later for Mao's Communists in China, like his criticism of poor health care in North America for the poor (death from tuberculosis as a poor person's death, for example) reflect a total rejection of liberalism's laissez faire combined with a feeling that conservatism and corporatism protected some sectors of society better than others. Socialism in Canada has generally been closer to conservatism than to liberalism, whether in the Regina Manifesto or more recently in the influence of the consrvative philosopher George Grant on the NDP. From: cbf%faulhaber.Berkeley.EDU@jade.berkeley.edu (Charles Faulhaber) Subject: Re: 3.35 queries (134) Date: Wed, 17 May 89 13:02:01 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 40 (80) In re Chinese on the PC: The Research Library Group has just announced a "multi-language workstation" specifically for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean which is compatible with Am. Library Association standards. It is essentially an AT with a special keyboard. They are marketing it as a turnkey system for $6066: system unit, ASCII keyboard, CJK keyboard, CJK rom board, software and Epson LQ850 printer. For more information: RLIN Information Center Research Libraries Group 1200 Villa Street Mountain View, CA. 94041-1100 (800)-537-7546 Connie Gould of RLG (bl.ccg@rlg.bitnet) can probably offer more information. [Watch out for Brushwriter (on Macs and PCs) at our software and hardware fair, Tools for Humanists, this June in Toronto. --W.M.] From: Connie Gould (BL.CCG@RLG.Bitnet) Subject: Internet access to RLIN Date: May 17, 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 62 (81) I thought Humanists would be interested in the following press release announcing internet access to RLIN for faculty, students, and researchers. Since it is rather long, I imagine you would want to put it on the file server. Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks in advance for your assistance. RLIN DATA BASES ACCESSIBLE ON THE NATIONAL INTERNET TO INDIVIDUAL SCHOLARS AND RESEARCHERS May 15, 1989 -- The Research Libraries Group is now able to offer university faculty, students, and researchers special search access to its Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) via the national "Internet" -- a network of computer networks that links research institutions throughout the United States. Professor Emeritus Georg N. Knauer, recently retired as head of the Department of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, welcomed the news that RLIN would be more widely available, and he encourages faculty to consider it seriously as a first-line bibliographic research tool. "RLIN offers solutions to all sorts of research problems, particularly for those of us in the humanities. We're all heavy library users -- I rely on a marvelous reference department here at Penn -- but RLIN is the best kind of catalog you can imagine, and the freedom to use it at home as I do, at work, or on the road should make it indispensible." He added, "My colleagues need to find out more about this system, so that we can provide our own perspectives on what future changes will make it increasingly useful." The ease and speed of the Internet connection to RLIN are attested to by Catharine Murray-Rust and Lynne Personius, whose staff in Cornell University's Olin Library have already tested the Internet RLIN connection. "All we have to do is log on to Cornell's campus network, select RLG's address from the menu provided, and type 'connect,'" said Personius, Director of the Library Automation Project in Cornell Library's Systems Office. "Almost immediately we see the 'Welcome to RLG' message and the system prompts for using RLIN." Murray-Rust, Assistant University Librarian, added, "Everyone who has used the new connection has remarked on the quickness of system response to search requests once they're in RLIN; it's really a pleasure." The RLIN system is accessible via Stanford University's SUNet campus-wide network, which in turn is part of the Bay Area Regional Research Network (BARRNET), one of thirteen mid-level networks covering geographic areas within the U.S. that are linked by the NSFNET communications backbone. In addition to the NSFNET and its regional networks, the Internet includes such networks as Arpanet/MILNET. The total number of networks connected directly to NSFNET and thus able to reach RLIN is over 400. (The total aggregation of "reachable" networks for mail transfer or news, such as BITNET, is over 600 -- but these cannot interact with the RLIN system.) Who can reach RLIN this way, what does it cost, and what will they find? Individuals who are affiliated with a university, or who are members of a scholarly association, such as the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies, are encouraged to consider adding RLIN data bases to their information resources. For $119, the user has ten hours of terminal connect time to search files of bibliographic citations and location information for the holdings of a wide range of university libraries, independent research institutions, art museum libraries, historical societies, state archives, the Library of Congress, the National Library of Medicine, and the British Library. RLIN's files for books, serials, archival materials, musical scores, sound recordings, maps and other visual materials, and computer files contain information about items from videotapes to photographs to oral histories. Subject-oriented RLIN files ("special data bases") contain entries for articles in art and architectural periodicals (the Avery Index); eighteenth-century English-language publications (the "ESTC" or Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue); art sales catalogs dating from the 1500s to the present, and articles in the humanities accepted for publication within the next two years (Research-in-Progress). At present, individuals connecting to RLIN via the Internet incur no communications charges. Individuals who do NOT have the option of using the Internet can still take advantage of RLG's "research access" offering by using the public packet network, GTE/Telenet. Their total cost for ten hours of searching is then $219.00. Martha Girard, RLG Manager of Library Services, whose staff will handle inquiries, account set-up, and user support, is pleased at the prospect. "This new connection brings an invaluable research tool to the scholar's desk top -- RLIN's on-line catalog of many of the nation's greatest libraries, archival repositories, and other unique information resources." For information about establishing an individual RLIN research access account, please contact the RLIN Information Center, 1200 Villa Street, Mountain View, California 94041-1100. Call 800-537-RLIN toll-free; or address BL.RIC@RLG.BITNET or BL.RIC@RLG.STANFORD.EDU for electronic mail correspondence. NOTE: The steps for connecting to the RLG computer over the Internet can vary depending on how each institution has set up its hardware and software to make this possible for campus network users. To find out about local access to the RLG-RLIN host, check with your university library systems office or the networking or data communications department of your computing center. * * * The Research Libraries Group (RLG) is a not-for-profit enterprise of major universities and research institutions in the United States. Its members collaborate in operating a set of ongoing programs and developing new initiatives to enhance access to research information. RLG's programs and technical resources focus on collecting, organizing, preserving, and providing information necessary to education and scholarship. The Research Libraries Information Network (RLIN) is an international information management and retrieval system. It supports the program objectives of RLG; serves the materials processing and public services requirements of RLG's members and many non-member institutions; and offers new information resources to individual researchers and scholars. * * * The new NSFNET communications backbone that supports the Internet represents a cooperative effort between the federal government, industry, and universities. Merit, Inc., a computer network consortium of eight state-supported universities in Michigan, developed the backbone jointly with IBM Corporation and MCI Telecommunications Corporation, with funding from the National Science Foundation and the state of Michigan. Merit is the center for engineering, management and operations, and information services for the NSFNET backbone project. Further information can be obtained from: Merit Computer Network, 1075 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-2112; call 800-66-MERIT toll-free, or address NSFNET-info@MERIT.EDU with electronic mail. To: HUMANIST@UTORONTO.BITNET From: Marion Gunn Subject: Gaelic Mailing List Date: Tue, 16 May 89 21:23 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 63 (82) MGUNN@IRLEARN Original Complete Announcement as Received at New-List: ************************************************************************* **************************** N E W ********************************* M U L T I - D I S C I P L I N A R Y B U L L E T I N B O A R D ************************************************************************* F O R I R I S H / S C O T S G A E L I C U S E R S ************************************************************************* ************************************************************************* A cha/irde in imige/in (agus i gco/ngar baile) : L/a Bealtaine, 1989 a tha/inig an LISTSERV nua GAELIC-L ar an saol. I dteanga[cha] na nGael a bhi/onn a/r gcomhra/ (cuma ce/n t-a/bhar). Fa/ilte roimh eolas i dtaobh altanna i dtre/imhseacha/in, scoileanna samhraidh, imeachtai/ eile. Fa/ilte is fiche roimh eolas a ghabhann le la/imhsea/il teanga (si/nte fada agus mar sin de) ar na co/rais e/agsu/la ri/omhaireachta ata/ ag imeacht anois. Mi/le fa/ilte roimh sce/ala uait, ach e/ a chur chuig an seoladh thi/os. Beannachtai/, Marion Gunn MGUNN@IRLEARN (no/ta pearsanta - fe/ach thi/os an fo/gra poibli/) ************************************************************************* GAELIC-L : An open, multi-disciplinary discussion list set up to facilitate exchange of news, views, information in Irish/Scots Gaelic. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fa/ilte go dti/ an liosta comhraidh GAELIC-L. Cuir do theachtaireachtai/ chuig GAELIC-L@IRLEARN o/ EARN no/ BITNET no/ GAELIC-L@EARN.IRLEARN o/ JANET no/ GAELIC-L@IRLEARN.UCD.IE o/ ghre/asa/n eile Ta/ se/ fosgailte do achan duine teachtaireacht a chur isteach chuig an liosta, ach i/ a bheith i nGaeilge na hE/ireann no/ i nGai\dhlig na hAlban. Ni/ ga/ imni/ a bheith ort ma/ ta/ do chuid Gaeilge lapach. Cuirfear fa/ilte roimh do theachtaireacht cibe/ ar bith. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fa\ilte dhan liost comhraidh GAELIC-L. Cuir do bhrathan gu GAELIC-L@IRLEARN bho EARN no BITNET no GAELIC-L@EARN.IRLEARN bho JANET no GAELIC-L@IRLEARN.UCD.IE bho li\on eile Tha e fosgailte dhan a huile duine brath a chur a-steach dhan a liost, fad's a bhios e sgriobhte an Gaeilge na h-E/ireann no Ga\idhlig na h-Alban. Chan eil feum a bhith iomaganach ma bhios do Gha\idhlig lapach. Bidh fa\ilte roimh do bhrath co-dhiu\. _________________________________________________________________________ ----- M O D H C L A/ R A I T H E ----- Cuirtear an teachtaireacht SUBSCRIBE GAELIC-L ainm an tsi/ntiu/so/ra chuig LISTSERV le TELL (VM) no/ le SEND (VAX/VMS) no/ fo/s le MAIL. Ma/ chuirtear tri/ MAIL e/, seoltar an MAIL chuig LISTSERV@IRLEARN (o/ EARN, BITNET, srl) chuig LISTSERV@EARN.IRLEARN ((?) o/ JANET) chuig LISTSERV@IRLEARN.UCD.IE (i ngach ca/s eile) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Willard McCarty Subject: Manfred Thaller found Date: 17 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 64 (83) Mea culpa. My colleague Ian Lancashire pointed out to me this morning that I had Thaller's address wrong by one character: the node is DGOGWDG1, not DGOGWD01. Please forgive me for any trouble you may already have taken. If Manfred is stirred as a result of your efforts, however, I will be most grateful for that trouble. Willard McCarty From: JACKA@PENNDRLS Subject: Date: Wednesday, 17 May 1989 1026-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 65 (84) Subject: ONLINE NOTES MARCH, 1989 VIDEO DISC PROJECT (UPDATE) THE MOVIEMAKERS Description of the CINEMA PROJECT University of Pennsylvania -------------------- [A complete version of this announcement is now available on the file-server, s.v. ONLINE NOTE0389. A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: cbf%faulhaber.Berkeley.EDU@jade.berkeley.edu (Charles Faulhaber) Subject: Re: 3.37 concording, cont. (109) Date: Wed, 17 May 89 12:52:50 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 66 (85) Berkeley still has a Romance Lang & Lit. degree with a philology component. And Yakov Malkiel is going strong and about to go to Oxford for an honorary D.Litt. From: Subject: Re: 3.35 queries (134) Date: Tue, 16 May 89 21:42:40 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 67 (86) Don't have any userids but here are some non-science nodes at Manchester. One could always use postmast as a userid. MANCHESTER.ac.uk MANCHESTER-BUSINESS-SCHOOL.ac.uk MANCHESTER.PSYCHOLOGY-A.ac.uk !Donald J. Mabry !DJMABRY@MSSTATE ! From: Wujastyk (on GEC 4190 Rim-C at UCL) Subject: Ideophones Date: Wed, 17 May 89 09:16 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 68 (87) John Koontz's four-point definition of an ideophone pretty well describes the Indian concept of mantra. There is a large literature on mantra--mostly in Sanskrit and Hindi. I can supply some bibliographical and personal references if anyone wants to follow this up. Dominik From: Dr Abigail Ann Young Subject: hardware into Canada Date: Wed, 17 May 89 06:47:47 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 69 (88) Not meaning to be a wet blanket, but surely Canada Customs, and the US Customs office, would be the appropriate place to seek this information. The Canadian Consulate nearest you could probably either answer the question or direct you to the correct source of information.... From: Subject: Re: 3.35 queries (134) Date: Tue, 16 May 89 21:31:09 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 70 (89) In re analysis of historical data with computers, contact JHAUG@MSSTATE, who works both in French history and with computers. Also contact Richard Jensen (campbelld@IUBACS); Jensen is a leader in computer analysis of historical documents. In re Botswana, I hope whoever replies posts it on Humanist. !Donald J. Mabry !DJMABRY@MSSTATE ! From: Donald Spaeth (0532) 33 3573 Subject: Greek--Pandora and LBase Date: Wed, 17 May 89 09:47:55 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 44 (90) David Mealand asks for experience about using Pandora as an alternative to Ibycus, and suggests that replies be sent directly to him not Humanist. I hope that people will ignore this and send their replies to Humanist, as I'd like to see the answers as well. It is all too common to read interesting questions and never see any answers, because these are sent directly to the questioner, who has no time to lodge them with Humanist. Donald Spaeth Arts Computing Development Officer University of Leeds Email: d.a.spaeth at uk.ac.leeds.cms1 (JANET) d.a.spaeth at cms1.leeds.ac.uk (EARN/BITNET) From: Steve Dill Subject: A Pool of Experts Date: Thu, 18 May 89 09:23:03 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 71 (91) The Modern Language Association has issued the following request in the Summer, 1989, issue of MLA Newsletter, p. 2. MLA would like to expand its publications and other programs that deal with software and technology. It Will need to call on members with expertise in such areas is instructional research-oriented software, electronic networks, and bibliographic and informational data bases. The MLA staff would like to maintain a file of members qualified to evaluate software, prorposals for electronic data-base or informatin- sharing projects, and proposals for scholarly and instructional projects .... Members who would like to share their expertise with the association should... write to Carol Zuses, Office of the Executive Director, MLA, 10 AStor Pl. New York, NY 10003-6981, for information...and application forms. From: Steve Dill Subject: Text Encoding Initiative Date: Thu, 18 May 89 09:33:28 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 72 (92) The Modern Language Association has issued a call (in the Summer, 1989, Newsletter, p. 18) for members to serve on working committees of the international Text Encoding Initiative sponsored by the Assocaition for Computers and the Humanities, the Association for Computational Linguistics, and the Associatin for Literary and Linguistic Computing. Four central committees are described: on text documentation, text representation, text analysis and interpretation, and syntax and metalanguage issues. See the Newsletter for further information and then contact either Randall Jones (JONES@BYUADMIN.BITNET) or Nancy Ide (IDE@VASSAR.BITNET) From: walker@flash.bellcore.com (Donald E Walker) Subject: 15 June new deadline for IJCAI-89 Travel Grant applications Date: Thu, 18 May 89 13:03:11 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 73 (93) TRAVEL GRANTS FOR IJCAI-89 IJCAII has established a program to provide travel support for participants attending IJCAI-89 in Detroit, Michigan. The amounts awarded will vary depending on location and on the number of persons applying. Priority will be given to younger members of the AI community who are presenting papers or are on panels and who would not otherwise be able to attend because of limited travel funds. Applications should be received no later than 15 June 1989. They should briefly identify the expected form of conference participation; describe benefits that would result from attendance; specify current sources of research funding; and list travel support from other sources. A brief resume should be attached, and students should include a letter of recommendation from a faculty member. Five copies of the application should be sent to: Priscilla Rasmussen, IJCAI-89 Travel Grants Laboratory for Computer Science Research Hill Center, Busch Campus Rutgers, the State University New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA (+1-201)932-2768 internet: rasmussen@aramis.rutgers.edu From: Peter D. Junger Subject: Hypertext on the IBM PC Date: Thu, 18 May 89 20:38 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 74 (94) In the issue of Computer Language for May, 1989, at page 97 there is a "Public Domain Software Review" of a program called Black Magic. The key passage in the review reads as follows: "Hypertext has slowly migrated to the DOS world, but a recent shareware release has made DOS versions as complete as those in other operating systems and hardware. Released by Ntergaid, Black Magic v. 1.3 provides hypertext capabilities in a good package at reasonable cost." The program can, according to the review, be obtained [in an unregistered evaluation copy without technical support) for $15.95 from Ntergaid Inc., 2490 Black Rock Turnpike, Fairfield, Conn. 06430. A registered copy costs $39.95 without printed documentation and $79.95 with it. The evaluation copy is supposedly also available from BBS's. I have never been very interested in Hypertext, but at those prices, especially if one can find a free source of the evaluation version, it might be worth the investment. Peter D. Junger--CWRU Law School--Cleveland, OH--bitnet: JUNGER@CWRu From: Peter D. Junger Subject: Problems with Software Patents Date: Thu, 18 May 89 20:17 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 46 (95) In the New York Times for Friday, May 12, 1989, there is a first page article by Lawrence M. Fisher entitled "Software Industry in Uproar Over Recent Rush of Patents" that may be of interest to many Humanists. I am, therefore, going to quote some of the 'juicier' passages. Suppose someone were granted a patent for the opening four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Any composer who used that short sequence of notes would probably have to pay a royalty, and the music world would be in turmoil. But that is roughly what is going on in the world of computer software, and many people who write programs, or sequences of instructions that tell computers what to do, are in an uproar. They fear that their creative freedom is about to be stifled and that technological innovation using computers will suffer. The concern is over a recent rash of new patents and patent applications for some basic programs that are fixtures in the world of computers. These programs have been widely regarded as being in the public domain, just as a sequence of a few musical notes is public property. But fear is mounting among software companies and programmers that the patents are about to start a flood of lawsuits that will maintain that many current programs have violated patents held by others. .... The problem is best illustrated by a common feature found in many personal computer programs: the ability to display several documents at once, with each tucked into its own corner of the computer screen. In the lexicon of programmers, each document appears in a ''window'' on the screen, and the technique of creating them is known as ''windowing.'' Most programmers believe that writing a program so that it displays data in windows is so common a technique that it belongs to everyone. But last month Quarterdeck Office Systems, a tiny software company in Santa Monica, Calif., received a patent for its technology that allows a computer to run several programs so that they appear simultaneously on a computer screen using windows. While the extent of the patent's relevance to other windowing programs is unclear, one analyst said it had the potential to "shatter the industry." [Quarterdeck is the "publisher" of Desqview, which may well be the best windows program for the IBM PC and compatibles, including the newer 286 and 386 machines. Even if the patent does not apply to all windowing programs, it might still be infringed by Microsoft's Windows and perhaps all those word processors that we are so fond of, like Notabene, that have windowing systems. But this is pure speculation. PDJ] In another case, Paul Heckel, a software developer in Los Altos, Calif., received a patent last year that could have an impact on many of the people who use the popular computers manufactured by Apple Computer Inc. The company has a program called Hypercard that is used to store and manage data. The data are displayed on the screen as if they appeared on overlapping file cards. Mr. Heckel contends that anyone using Hypercard is infringing his patent. Rather than take on Apple in the courts, though, he has started advertising and sending press releases asking Hypercard developers and users to adopt his standards - and buy a copy of his program for $100. .... Software producers have traditionally depended on copyrights to protect their intellectual property, just as authors or composers do. But patents are a stronger, broader protection, which can apply to ideas rather than the specific expressions of those ideas covered by copyright. .... Although there has been little litigation of software patents yet, lawyers expect an onslaught of suits that could dwarf the copyright disputes now being heard between software companies.... .... Because patent applications are confidential, pending applications represent a hidden threat to software developers. No patents were issued on software before 1980, when the Supreme Court ruled that the use of a computer program did not prevent patenting a process. [Actually the date was 1981; the case was Diamond v. Diehr, 450 U.S. 175 (1981). PDJ] Since all software is part of a process run on a machine, nearly any program or some portion of it is patentable, lawyers say. .... It is as if ''you could patent four musical notes in a row,'' said Pete Petersen, executive vice president of the Wordperfect Corporation in Orem, Utah. ''You would then force every composer to look up every four-note combination to make sure the piece didn't infringe.'' Because the software industry builds on existing ideas, ''there is no way around certain things; you're stuck, forced to infringe,'' Mr. Petersen said. Wordperfect itself, meanwhile, is applying for patents on its software as a defensive move. The company gets one letter a month from patent holders who say they have been infringed, and it anticipates more. ''We're going to apply for patents; we're going to have our satchel full so we have something to bargain with when somebody gives us a hard time,'' Mr. Petersen said. ''We don't see any way around it.'' .... [L]awyers say it will be the patents that do not come up in searches that will cause problems. Obtaining a software patent typically takes nearly three years, during which time there is no published information. .... If this trend continues, there may be great difficulty in obtaining scholarly--that is, unprofitable--software. The larger companies will not be interested in producing it, but, if you write it yourself, you may be sued for patent violation. One would hope that the patent holders would simply ignore such minor patent violations, but the trouble is that many of these patents may be invalid. In such cases it is in the interest of the patent holders to go after the little guys, who cannot protect themselves, in order to build up their patents creditability. And lots of us will be unhappy if we can't use Windows on 80x86 machines or Hypercard [or its public domain variants on Macintoshes. I hope that Lawrence M. Fisher and I are overreacting to these developments. Peter D. Junger--CWRU Law School--Cleveland, OH--bitnet: JUNGER@CWRU From: "stephen r.l.clark" Subject: angels and Cudworth Date: Thu, 18 May 89 10:00:23 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 75 (96) I spent an hour yesterday skimming rapidly through Cudworth's True Intellectual System in search of spirits on pins. Understandably, I didn't locate them. But I came away with a suspicion that there is indeed such a reference, and that it is *not* a satire on scholastics (it would after all be a very bad satire), but part of an argument with Cudworth's contemporaries about whether spirits have a local habitation, an 'airy' body and so on. I'm not sure what conclusion Cudworth draws, though he does insist both that spirits are essentially incorporeal and that they do not exist except in conjunction with some sort of body. If there's a Cudworth expert on line, I'd be delighted to converse on the subject. Best wishes, Stephen From: Joseph Raben Subject: Re: 3.39 angels and revolutions, cont. (73) Date: Thu, 18 May 89 14:57:18 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 76 (97) As I understand "angels dancing on the point of a pin," the phrase was an attempt to concretize a major philosophic debate, namely whether immaterial objects existed. If so, they would not occupy space, i.e., more than one could occupy a single spot. Angels were the most obvious type of immateri- ality and the point of a pin the most obvious non-dimensional point. From: Maurizio Lana Subject: Guide's users anywhere? Date: Thu, 18 May 1989 10:19 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 77 (98) I'm searching, on behalf of my friend professor Guido Carboni, if the re are Guide's (formerly distributed by OWL International hypertext syst em) users in Berkeley, or any place near. Guido Carboni, in his next jou rney would like to meet some of them. Thank you. Any response could be a ddressed directly to me, U245@ITOCSIP. Maurizio Lana From: Maurizio Lana Subject: a print bug in WordCruncher**new version (4.3)** Date: Thu, 18 May 1989 10:24 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 78 (99) In WC,when I try to print concordance from option 3 of main menu, I get every headline (printed in bold, containing the headword) printed over b y the first next line of context. This happens, really, with any line co ntainig bold characters. I tried changing printer dip-switches setting, changing predefined printer commands for bold in s-F4 (print options), b ut none of these changed *anything*. Anyone could help me? You can address your replies directly to me, U245@ITOCSIP, if you like . Thank you. Maurizio From: Maurizio Lana Subject: electronic Walt Whitman Date: Thu, 18 May 1989 10:52 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 79 (100) Does anyone know of a machine-readable editions of the W. Whitman? You could address your messages directly to me, if you want. Thank you. Maurizio (u245@itocsip) From: RKennr@CONU1 Subject: Chinese in EGA,VGA Date: Thu, 18 May 89 08:39:03 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 49 (101) Donald Spaeth should contact a company called Asiacom (2761 McColl Place, Victoria, BC, CANADA V8N-5Y8) which markets a product called TianMa2, which purports to present Chinese characters in EGA or VGA display modes (and also supports LaserPrinter output at 300 dpi) Roger Kenner, Concordia Univ. Montreal From: "Patrick W. Conner" Subject: 3.48 Guide? bug in WC? e-Whitman? (57) Date: Thu, 18 May 89 22:20:11 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 80 (102) My department has just purchased GUIDE to help make courseware materials for literature courses. I, too, would like to know if there are any GUIDE experts out there, since I'm the fellow who will have to make the courseware, and I'd like to know where the bridges over these troubled waters may lay, just in case my arms get tired. Thanks. From: Subject: Query: Fractal generated Music ? Date: Fri, 19 May 89 07:42:34 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 81 (103) I would welcome any information concerning the generation of music from fractals or identification of any suitable person to contact to discuss same. Bill Oleske From: Robin Smith Subject: Address for C. W. Hieatt Date: Fri, 19 May 89 11:01 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 82 (104) A colleague of mine would like an e-mail address for C. W. Hieatt at Cambridge Polytechnic. (Please send replies directly to RSMITH@KSUVM.KSU.EDU). From: Willard McCarty Subject: Walking Tour, and other matters Date: 19 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 83 (105) Those of you who have registered for our conference, The Dynamic Text, will have been told about a trip on Saturday, 10 June, to Niagara Falls, where a great volume of water tumbles a considerable distance and makes much noise and mist. I am planning a counter-cultural event to complement this most excellent tour, and also to compete with it. It is designed for those of you with more humble, pedestrian desires. It is a Walking Tour of our city. The Walk will begin at the University reasonably early on Saturday morning. We will stroll south through some interesting neighborhoods, and after approximately an hour will arrive at St. Lawrence Market, where we will eat breakfast at one of the most entertaining places I know of. (St. Lawrence Market is, I am told, like what the Covered Market in Oxford used to be before it was boutique-ified and thus ruined.) After eating and watching people and listening to music, we'll walk over to the ferry docks and take one of the boats across to Toronto Island. We'll then make our way across the Island (about another hour's walk, or longer if we decide to rest) to the opposite end, where further refreshments can be obtained from a charming restaurant that will remind some of you of your foolish youth. Then we'll take another ferry back to the docks on the mainland, from which we can walk back to the university along another route. If you are interested, bring a good pair of walking shoes, a bit of money for the food and ferry passage, and whatever gear you are accustomed to have along on a jaunt. The Island is a wonderful place to take photos, as is the Market. Do not expect a terribly learned tour. I have a guidebook to our urban architecture but will not have memorized its contents in time. A sign-up sheet will be available at the registration desk. Toronto is now pleasantly warm, ca. 20-25 degrees C. By early June it should be quite warm and humid, perhaps even hot. If the weather turns suddenly, I will post a notice here. Willard McCarty From: "Nancy J. Frishberg" Subject: IBM Supercomputing Competition Date: 18 May 89 09:35:42 ET X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 84 (106) CALL FOR PAPERS 1989 IBM 3090 SUPERCOMPUTING COMPETITION ________________________________________________________________________ Cash Awards for Outstanding Work in Large Scale Computer Analysis and Modeling ________________________________________________________________________ The IBM Corporation and IBM Canada Ltd. are sponsoring the 1989 IBM 3090 Supercomputing Competition IBM invites authors from industry, research and academia to submit papers in competition for major cash awards. The competition will be for First, Second and Third Prizes in each of four divisions: The divisions are: 1) Physical Science and Mathematics 2) Engineering 3) Life and Health Sciences 4) Social Sciences, Humanities and Fine Arts The prizes in each division are: First Prize - $25,000 US Second Prize - 15,000 US Third Prize - 10,000 US An additional $10,000 will be awarded to universities that provide substantial assistance to 1st Prize papers. All papers must describe analysis and modeling work done using an IBM 3090 Supercomputer as the primary computational system. Judging will be by panels of noted non-IBM experts in each division. Winning and other selected papers will be published in IBM's PROCEEDINGS: 1989 IBM 3090 Supercomputing Competition To enter the competition, authors must submit an abstract by October 2, 1989. All necessary information is provided in the General Information Brochure which may be obtained from your local IBM Branch Office or by contacting one of the Competition Administrators: In the United States: IBM Corporation Dept 72/BNG 44 S. Broadway White Plains, NY 10601-4495 (914) 686-6318 In Canada: IBM Canada Ltd. Dept 2/645 245 Consumers Road North York, Ontario M2J1S2 (416) 758-4136 A preliminary abstract and registration must be postmarked by October 2, 1989. Final papers must be received by January 15, 1990. Results of the competition will be announced by March 1, 1990. ________________________________________________________________________ 1989 IBM 3090 SUPERCOMPUTING COMPETITION -Please Post This Notice- From: db Subject: Re: 3.35 queries (134) Date: Fri, 19 May 89 02:27:04 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 85 (107) For Ronen Shapira, itamar even zohar can send you to a fellow named sandy whom i think will be able to help you alot. daniel boyarin From: Subject: Angels on pins Date: Fri, 19 May 89 17:40 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 86 (108) Poe's mad treatise _Eureka_ in addition to its strange pre-vision of the Big Bang, also has a lot of discussion about whether immaterial spirits can exist. Poe thinks not, but he also thinks that there are further phases of matter which are to gas what gas is to liquid, and that if you imagine an infinite sequence of such phases the vanishing point of them is what _he_ calls spirit, which he thinks of as material refined to the point of immateriality but not beyond. I've never made much sense of Poe's conception--Poe not only writes about gas but is sometimes full of gas--but I have sometimes wondered whether it might resemble Shroedinger's picture of elementary particles not as hard spheres but as probability distributions in space. From: Maurizio Lana Subject: possibly lost e-mail Date: Mon, 22 May 1989 11:28 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 87 (109) I sent some days ago three messages to Humanist. None of them I ever read between the mail received; still, I received direct, personal messages concerning one of my enquiries (about Guide users). So, if someone of you wrote something to me, could you re-write (I do not say re-send, but it would be the same, it seems...)? I hope that in the meanwhile ICNUCEVM, the node sending Humanist mail to me, would be fully running without glitches. Thank you. Maurizio (u245@itocsip) From: Charles Ess Subject: theory/praxis Date: Mon, 22 May 89 12:33:16 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 88 (110) As part of a self-study project, I have been asked to convene a committee of faculty to address a stated goal of "integrating theoretical and practical knowledge." This goal is seen as one avenue for better integrating traditional liberal arts education with "professional" preparation education in such fields as business, communications, and architecture. More specifically, we are to develop "a theoretical foundation which recognizes the connectedness of all disciplines and achieves a more substantive integration of learning for our students" -- whether they are architecture or philosophy majors. Do HUMANIST readers have any suggestions along these lines -- especially regarding readings which might be helpful for starting our study and discussion? I've begun by pulling some passages from Aristotle on the nature of theoretical and practical knowledge which I find helpful starting points. Any additional suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Charles Ess Philosophy and Religion Drury College 900 N. Benton Ave. Springfield, MO 65802 (417) 865-8731 From: Willard McCarty Subject: more on the Walking Tour Date: 21 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 89 (111) A few of you have written asking if it would be possible to participate in the walking tour and make a 12 noon or 2 p.m. plane. The answer is no. My guess is that we will not return from the tour until mid to late afternoon, perhaps later, depending on the wishes of the group. My wife has suggested that we have a picnic on the Island. Indeed, the Market is a very good place to load up on supplies for a picnic. The counter-cultural cafe I mentioned on the Island can still be visited for a cup of espresso, but a picnic would be much better all around. There are very fine sites for such things on the Island. The success of this tour depends, of course, on the weather. Today I made an exploratory trip to the Island, just to refresh a memory dimmed by time. It was splendid, as always. I should say, for the benefit of those who know Toronto Island, that I am certainly not referring to the amusement park that occupies one portion of the place (this I avoid like the plague that it is), rather to the relatively deserted western portion (Hanlan's Point) and to the eastern portion (Ward's Island), where an interesting community of people have held out against developers and their political allies for several years. So, I urge those of you who are interested to arrange your schedules accordingly. All day Saturday should be allotted to the tour. The total cost should be no more than $10 to $15 (CAN) each, and that's mostly for the food. Willard McCarty From: N.J.Morgan@vme.glasgow.ac.uk Subject: Re: 3.51 walking tour; supercomputing (133) Date: Mon, 22 May 89 10:37:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 90 (112) As a near native of Oxford I spring to the defence of Oxford market, where I have spent (and still occasionally spend) many a happy hour shopping. To be sure, the market is not as it was; however it still retains much of the atmosphere of a traditional indoor market hall, which it would take more than a few denim or designer boutiques to destroy. And after all such stalls only reflect a natural shift in retail habits - remember the process of the past is change. Oxford market is a fine place to purchase foodstuffs, particularly (for those with a carnivorous disposition) sausages from the many very traditional butchers' stalls. At a time when many town and city market halls dating from the nineteenth century are being destroyed throughout England by neglect, design, or act of God (and here I think all three apply to Lancaster's fire damaged and speculator-threatened hall, home of possibly the finest cheese in England) we should actually cherish what we have, whether it be at Oxford, Halifax, Stafford, Stoke or Bath (to name but a few that I am familiar with). Recant McCarty !!!!!!! Nicholas Morgan Department of Scottish History University of Glasgow [Perhaps a debate between N.M. and the person who filled my head with nostalgia for the Oxford Market That Once Was would solve the problem. If I have unjustly slandered Oxford's Market I do indeed readily recant! Perhaps local pride has influenced me. In any case, those of you who take the Tour will see for yourselves how fine a Market we have. Actually there are two on Saturdays, one for the farmers (where carnivores will delight in wonderful sausages and other meats with no preservatives, and everyone in the vegetables and breads), the other for those who have permanent food stalls. -- W.M.] From: Willard McCarty Subject: more topical collections Date: 22 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 91 (113) The following topical collections are now available on the file-server. As always, you are directed to the Guide to Humanist for instructions on how to fetch them. EMAIL TOPIC-1 on the nature of electronic mail E-TEXTS TOPIC-2 on electronic texts HUMCOMP TOPIC-2 on through humanities HUMCOMP TOPIC-3 computing MARKUP TOPIC-4 on textual markup, with through some concentration on MARKUP TOPIC-6 Sanskrit SCANNERS TOPIC-4 on optical character through recognition SCANNERS TOPIC-5 devices Willard McCarty From: Willard McCarty Subject: biographies Date: 22 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 92 (114) My computer is now safely holding a large backlog of biographies of recent Humanists. Unfortunately, preparations for the conference here in June have left me no time to edit these into shape. Please accept my apologies for not circulating them in a more timely fashion. If you are one of those being thus held in obscurity and wish to provoke a discussion, please feel free to restate your interests directly to the group. Willard McCarty From: "stephen r.l.clark" Subject: angels Date: Mon, 22 May 89 11:53:47 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 56 (115) G.M.Ross, 'Angels' (PHILOSOPHY 60.1985 P.495) reveals the following: 14th century Swester Katrei (cited by Philip Howard *Words fail me* 1983, 20-5) refers to a thousand souls in heaven sitting on the point of a pin. Angels dancing first appear in Isaac D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature (1791), as a joke, and not (as is supposed) citing Martinus Scriblerus. Nothing about dancing or needles in Scriblerus (published 1742, written before 1714). Aquinas ST q52 art 3 asks if many angels can exist in same place. Anselm, Cur Deus Homo? does not seem to be concerned with this. I recommend G.M.Ross's article. Stephen. From: psl@yquem Subject: Re: 3.50 fractal music? Date: Sat, 20 May 89 02:49:31 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 93 (116) Although many different things may be meant by "fractal generated music", I know somehing about some of them... Peter Langston psl@bellcore.com From: unh!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield) Subject: Guide hypertext Date: Sat, 20 May 89 16:56:38 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 94 (117) GUIDE hypertext In reply to Patrick Conner's recent query, the best users of Guide whom I've corresponded with or met in the past few months are either in the Education Dept. at Cornell University or in Romance Languages at the U. of Toledo. Although the names of the presenters at CALICO '89 are not available to me at the moment, they have used Guide either alone or in combination (!) with Hypercard to produce software for a German and a Spanish disc they produced. Perhaps one of our HUMANIST members at Cornell could help out here. The other person I can recommend is Joseph Feustle at the U. of Toledo (Ohio), who has just had published in _Hispania_ an article on hypertext. His wonderfully mnemonic BITNET address is: fac0395@uoft01.BITNET :-> I'm testing out version 2.0 for the PC and interactive video. Perhaps the 3.48 version Patrick mentions is the Mac version.... --Joel D. Goldfield J_GOLDFI@UNHH From: "Wayne Tosh / English--SCSU / St Cloud, MN 56301" Subject: Hypertext for IBM PC and Black Magic Date: Sat, 20 May 89 17:51:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 95 (118) There's another hypertext program available from PC-SIG. It's called Hytext and is their disk no. 1234. PC-SIG 1030D East Duane Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 1-800-245-6717 1-800-222-2996 (CA only) 1-408-730-2107 (FAX) From: amsler@flash.bellcore.com (Robert A Amsler) Subject: Whew... reunification of everything Date: Mon, 22 May 89 23:33:33 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 96 (119) Quite an ambitious task. Let me see if I can even approach it. A problem I see in some liberal arts education is that it has allowed itself to identify the media of the past with the messages which were communicated in those media. Today I believe we are displacing media faster than ever before in history. This has placed great strain on everyone, professionals and liberal arts majors ALIKE. It isn't JUST that computers can generate graphical images of architecture so real you can walk around inside them before they are ever constructed, even as mere models, but that this capability has come upon us so suddenly that it becomes really hard to adjust one's views of what tools of the trade are needed to become an architect. While there have been revolutions in literary media in the past, such as paper replacing clay, or sheets of loose paper bound together replacing scrolls, these came relatively slowly. Becoming skilled in the creation of literary or artistic achievement has always depended in part on mastering the medium in which one works. If the medium changes, the skills needed to `speak' in that medium change as well. Thus, we are faced with new challenges in mass media, in electronic personal media, and in answering real questions as to what it is currently appropriate to teach students about the media of the past. I believe the answer will have to lie along two paths. One is that mastery of media MUST be an integral part of preparation for the future. Whether one wants to be a business major or a novelist, one may need to know how to edit writing with a word processor. Whether one wants to be a architect or a fashion designer, one may need to master color graphics on a computer. These are the skills of the trade of the future. Compromise on their mastery and one loses. But just as importantly, the past needs to be taught in the context of its media being the products of the engineering, science and technology of their times. The skill of the artists and writers in expressing universals of the human experience in those media MUST NOT blind one to the reasons they selected the media in which they worked. They selected them because they were at a given point in history when those media were technologically possible and perhaps even futuristic in their presentation potential. The future will be different because older media often lose their edge in competition with modern media. (Think about a trying to write a novel on scrolls or clay tablets!). Trying to teach students to revere an older medium because one knows the merit of the ideas that were presented in that medium may involve false transference. Business, just as literary development, changed in response to the media available to conduct business. The same media used to write great novels were used to generate ledgers and bookkeeping. The typewriter changed things for BOTH great writers and business correspondence. The electronic computer with word processing has done the same today. If your literature and journalism majors aren't using the same tools as their business student counterparts, they aren't acting as their contemporaries. If literature majors cannot perform the same access tasks as law students in their respective literatures, then this is symptomatic of an underappreciation of the merits of the ideas in literature to lawyers and an underappreciation of the needs of literature majors to be able to access their discipline's heritage. So... what are my unifying principles. (1) Master the media of the times in which you live. This should be done regardless of the your field of work. (2) Revere the accomplishments of the past, but do not confuse the media in which those accomplishments were made and the nature of the accomplishments themselves. (Likewise, from the `professional' side, do not see the progress made in the advancement of theory as having come along through sheer feats of mental brilliance. The people who made those theoretical advances struggled against the limitations of the media of communication, presentation and creation available to them in their times.) A successful education prepares one to use the media of one's time to say something worth saying. Lacking media skills, one must gain them before one can make a contribution; lacking a knowledge of the ideas known in the past, one is controlled by the medium rather than its controller. The shallow technologist who brilliantly manipulates the computer medium, but fails to understand why breaking into other people's computers and destroying data is wrong, is no less a problem than the liberal arts major who understands this but then directs tirades against an unjust society that excludes humanists because they are computer illiterate and takes refuge in the media of the past. Both are failures of education which we must revise the educational system to prevent. From: "Tom Benson 814-238-5277" Subject: Re: 3.53 theory/praxis Date: Tue, 23 May 89 08:52:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 97 (120) Charles Ess asks about materials to support an inquiry into theory/praxis in the liberal arts. I suggest contacting Bob Craig at Temple University; he has written an interesting and influential essay from the point of his discipline--communication/rhetoric--called "Communication as a Practical Discipline." In addition, Bob was co-chair of the 1989 Temple Conference on Discourse Analysis, this year devoted specifically to the issue of theory/praxis in communication studies. Though this work was grounded in the field of communication studies and rhetoric, it might well be useful as a model for liberal arts in general. The field of rhetorical studies has wrestled with this question for 2000 years. Bob is (BITNET). I hope you and your committee will report on your findings to HUMANIST. Tom Benson (T3B@PSUVM) Penn State University From: Anthony Aristar Subject: Inquiry Date: Tue 23 May 89 09:36:56-CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 59 (121) It looks like my wife and I may be going to the University of Western Australia next year. Does anyone have any contacts at Perth? My wife is in English/Text linguistics, and I'm in linguistics. From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: Fractal Tunes Date: Tue, 23 May 89 08:30:40 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 60 (122) Could Mr. Langston (sic--sorry) be persuaded to disclose, publicly, the little bit he knows about fractal-generated music? Why the secrecy? Many of us humanist voyeurs like to hear these things, een when we don't have anything to add on the subject. From: Knut Hofland +47 5 212954/55/56 FAFKH at NOBERGEN Subject: Survey of Machine Readable Language Corpora Date: 20 May 89, 19:52:04 EMT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 61 (123) Geoffrey Leech and Lita Taylor at the University of Lancaster have started a survey of machine readable language corpora. The preliminary report from this survey is available from the ICAME (International Computer Archive of Modern English) file server in Bergen. To get the report: send a note to FAFSRV@NOBERGEN.BITNET with Subject: SEND SURVEY CORPORA The report is also available in print from the address below. The file SURVEY CORPORA is also made available on Humanist's file-server, s.v. SURVEY CORPORA Knut Hofland The Norwegian Computing Centre for the Humanities Street adr: Harald Haarfagres gt. 31 Post adr: P.O. Box 53, University N-5027 Bergen Norway Tel: +47 5 212954/5/6 Fax: +47 5 322656 From: Oxford Text Archive Subject: RE: 3.54 more on the Tour (92) Date: Wed, 24 May 89 21:56 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 98 (124) ... actually willard, Oxford's market is a terrible mockery of what once it was, now that they've joined it to some awful piece of designer-mediaeval called the Golden Cross, and there's no sawdust on the floor any more, There's a real market in Newport (Gwent) though. And doubtless many other towns equally off the tourist track. Lou From: Willard McCarty Subject: schedule for the Walking Tour Date: 24 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 99 (125) The schedule for our Walking Tour on Saturday, 10 June, after the conclusion of The Dynamic Text conference is as follows: *** 8 a.m. leave from the steps of the Medical Sciences building, 1 King's College Circle. *** 9 to 9:30 a.m. arrive at St. Lawrence Market (be envious, Oxonians!) to eat breakfast and buy provisions for the picnic lunch. *** 10 to 10:30 a.m. depart from the Market to the ferry docks. *** 12 noon arrive at Hanlan's Point (Western extremity of Toronto Island). *** 12:30 to 1 p.m. hold glorious picnic somewhere near Hanlan's. *** 2 p.m. depart for Ward's Island. *** 2:30 p.m. arrive at Ward's Island (actually continuous with the rest of the Island) and drink coffee or other substance at the local cafe. *** 3 to 3:30 depart for the mainland. *** 4 p.m. arrive at the mainland ferry docks and (a) walk back to the university or (b) take the subway or bus, as the stamina of the individual dictates. The Tour should thus be over by 5 p.m. All times are grossly approximate. The route will be determined by the inspiration of the moment. The Conference will pay for the ferry ride but not all the other expenses (to a total of ca. $10 or less). Good walking shoes are a must. A light anorak (waterproof jacket) would be a good idea, as would a backpack. Willard McCarty Tour Guide From: Grace Logan Subject: Black Magic Date: Tue, 23 May 89 20:58:32 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 100 (126) I recently spent a part of two weeks evaluating Black Magic for our department. I know that its developers spent a lot of time and effort trying to make it perform as many hyptertext functions as possible and their enthusiasm and good will is everywhere evident. However, I was forced to conclude that the package provided too little too soon. I am very reluctant to use HUMANIST as a forum for fault-finding, especially since I felt that the originators were clever and eager to provide something useful and good. Still, if anyone is contemplating the purchase of the package, I'd be willing to send him/her a copy of my findings. From: "John K. Baima" Subject: Canadian Customs Date: Wed, 24 May 89 09:24 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 101 (127) The Canadian Consulate here in Dallas gave me the number of the Canadian Customs for Ontario [(416) 973-8350]. They said that there was a form to fill out (Form # E29B, I think) when temporarily importing goods like computer equipment for the Software Fair. There is the possibility that Canadian Customs will require a deposit of perhaps 10% of the market value of the equipment. This deposit would be returned when leaving the country with the equipment. Items can go in for free, but it is totally at the discretion of the customs agent when you enter Canada. Thus, anyone bringing computer equipment into Canada should be prepared to pay a 10% deposit. I am also planning on bringing proof of purchase. john baima d024jkb@utarlg From: Oxford Text Archive Subject: RE: 3.53 theory/praxis? (62) Date: Wed, 24 May 89 21:50 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 102 (128) Isn't "self-study" a little solipsistic? From: Subject: fractal music Date: Wed, 24 May 89 11:30 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 103 (129) There has been a good deal of discussion on this subject on the FRAC-L mailing list. You can subscribe at FRAC-L@GITVM1 From: N.J.Morgan@vme.glasgow.ac.uk Subject: Re: 3.57 fractal music; PC hypertext (66) Date: Wed, 24 May 89 05:20:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 104 (130) Guide at Glasgow Guide is used by a number of Humanists at Glasgow for teaching. One colleague, Des O'Brien, has produced a hypertext version of Piers Ploughman and may demonstrate this at the Toronto s/w fair on the machine being used for DISH demonstrations. Nicholas Morgan Department of Scottish History University of Glasgow From: Willard McCarty Subject: marble and ivory Date: 23 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 105 (131) This is a request for help that may also be taken as an indirect comment on the continuing need for human filtering in a world increasingly rich in data. I am looking for places in Greek or Latin literature where the metaphorical qualities of marble and ivory are manifested. The specific problem I have is in the interpretation of a passage in Ovid's Metamorphoses (3.418ff), where Narcissus is compared to a statue of Parian marble and his reflection is said to have an ivory neck. Elsewhere in that work, marble is something cold, rigid, and colourless (e.g., those who see the Medusa's head turn into marble), ivory is comparatively soft and is frequently found in erotic contexts (Pygmalion) or is otherwise linked to flesh (Pelops). I would feel much more comfortable in drawing what seems to me the obvious conclusion if I had passages that support such a distinction. Does anyone know where to look? Yes, I have an Ibycus at my fingertips and the TLG and PHI disks, but as the amount of potential evidence is likely to be large and as this is a minor point in a large and long overdue project, some human guidance would be appreciated. Thanks very much. Willard McCarty From: Ellen Germain Subject: Micro applications for scholarly research Date: Wed, 24 May 89 10:43:02 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 106 (132) Someone in my department needs to come up with "computers in the humanities" demos for humanities professors in order to attract them to using computers. We're interested in getting them to use micros. I'd like to hear about applications that people have running (or simply ideas for applications) that are useful for scholars in the humanities. I know about projects such as Perseus and Stanford's Shakespeare/Theatre Project. Most of the micro projects seem to be instructional tools such as those, but I'd also be very interested in hearing about any micro projects or tools that people think would help scholars do their research. Are there such applications? Can micros really help humanities scholars with their research beyond the level of making the act of writing easier by providing word processing capabilities? I know of text analysis tools, but aside from those, what other micro applications exist that would lure scholars into using computers? One reason I'm interested in research tools somewhat more than instructional tools is that they seem rarer, and harder to come up with. Also, sad as it may be, I suspect that professors will be more inclined to use micros if we demonstrate that it can help them do their research, rather than simply presenting them as instructional tools to help with their teaching. Thanks! Ellen Germain Columbia University Bitnet: EJGCU@CUVMB Internet: ellen@cunixc.cc.columbia.edu From: Subject: Catholics and Fascism Date: Wed, 24 May 89 23:34:22 +0300 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 107 (133) Is anyone aware of social-historical research recently done on the relative success of the Nazi party in Catholic areas of Germany,such as Baden and the Black-Forest region? This area seems unique in this respect,due to major Nazi gains in the early 30's,without Hitler ever showing-up there, no effort by the NSDAP's central bodies,and much less success that the party was able to register in other Catholic parts of Germany. Will appreciate any further information beyond the usual treatment in the literature of "Who voted for Hitler",including specific elections analyis. Shlomo Aronson,ARONSA@HBUNOS MAny thanks and regards,Shlomo From: Geoff Rockwell Subject: Re: 3.64 queries (106) Date: Thu, 25 May 89 11:50:14 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 108 (134) I have been experimenting with HyperCard stacks for keeping track of references and research notes (it's a way of not writing my thesis.) These experiments, collectively called the BIB collection, will be shown at the software fair of the Dynamic Text conference for those attending. If you send an e-mail note to me I can try to send you a stuffed and hexed file. (You will need Stuffit and Bin Hex to use the stack.) I say try because this has yet to work. I can also send it by surface mail if you send me a disk and self addressed envelope. This collection is an experiment. I am not convinced that I want to trust my notes (which are now on paper) to a HyperCard stack. I have been impressed by ArchiText and Learning Tool enough to consider them but continue experimenting in HyperCard. I hope that anyone who uses or adapts them will share their thoughts with me. My only request is that those who use or adapt them send me tacky postcards. Surface address: Geoffrey Rockwell University of Toronto Computing Services 4 Bancroft Ave Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A1 Canada E-mail (send mail directly to me, not to Willard) rockwell@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca Yours Geoffrey R From: Willard McCarty Subject: no SURVEY CORPORA Date: 25 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 109 (135) Apparently, contrary to what I announced, SURVEY CORPORA never reached the file-server, which probably means I forgot to put it there despite my statement that it was already there. Then, also apparently, in my pressing need to make space on my disk, I deleted it from my own account. I have requested another copy and will post it to the file-server as soon as I receive it. Many apologies. Willard McCarty From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: E-mail mysteries Date: Thursday, 25 May 1989 1017-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 110 (136) Ever since PENN changed its e-mail routing earlier this year we have experienced considerable difficulty contacting overseas addresses, especially on JANET. The people here are still "looking into it"! Meanwhile, I apologize for any apparent silence on my part -- things have been sent out! Meanwhile, I received a message from the following address which I reproduce exactly from two places on the header. Since there is no "at" sign, I have no idea how to respond. Any ideas from the experts out there? CLAUSS!zedat!#fu-berlin%dbp&de I don't recall ever having seen anything quite like it. I suspect that the recent PENN changes may have created the problem. Everything seemed to work so well "in the old days." Bob From: Oxford Text Archive Subject: electronic hardy Date: Thu, 25 May 89 19:12 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 111 (137) Anyone who knows of the whereabouts of a machine-readable version of the poetry and drama of Thomas Hardy, please report to the oxford text archive. Thanks Lou From: FLANNAGA at OUACCVMB Subject: Computers for Scholarship Date: 25 May 1989, 08:35:23 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 112 (138) It is difficult to convince a colleague who hates machines more complicated than a trowel to love computers, but since I was a convert to computers partly because they help free one to work at home and cultivate one's garden, I have no problems preaching. The global village argument may work, the work-at-home argument may work, the never-having-to-hit-the-typewriter-return-bar argument might work, but there will be a few who will never, never, give in to the new technology of writing because it is new and a technology. +Then+ you might try the automatic-paragraph-reformat argument, the push-the-footnotes-to-the-end-of-the-article argument, the block-move argument. You +might+ talk about the use of other gadgets that can make the scholar's or editor's life easier, such as the scanner, the laser printer, the CD-ROM access to enormous data-bases, the e-mail access to scholars all over the world in less than ten minutes, free. And then you threaten the stay-behinds that if they don't learn how to use computers they will be supplanted by people who do, including their students. Note: the threats don't work either, but if they can see what you can get done in scholarship, database organization, information-retrieval, communication, they may get envious and emulate you. Then they may thank you later, but I doubt it. From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Scholarly Research on Micros Date: Thursday, 25 May 1989 1025-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 113 (139) It is difficult to know where to begin to address Ellen Germain's request concerning research use of microcomputers. The possibilities are so open ended, and the actualities so widespread, but how to demonstrate this (short of something like the Toronto Fair, which will at least scrape the surface) is a real problem. It occurs to me that a major aspect of the problem is that there is the idea that somehow there will or should be generic scholarly research software out there that can work miracles for the wordprocessing scholar who wants more. Some does exist or is being developed -- e.g. in the area of rapid search and retrieval of textual and related materials (IBYCUS, PERSEUS-PANDORA, WordCruncher, LBase, etc.). And the research potential of such tools is only beginning to be tested. A variety of other types of research software (and hardware) has appeared in various other scholarly contexts/fields, as can be seen from the articles published in the "Computers and ..." Journals (CHum, LLC, etc.), or in the section of the Chronicle of Higher Education that lists new software, or in displays at scholarly conferences. But in the long run, individual scholars will need to know how to tailor the software to their particular needs, either by learning more about how to manipulate computers than is necessary for running a wordprocessing package, or by having access to expert consultation (e.g. undergraduate and graduate students, for many of us). And persons developing foundational software for research applications need to consider how to accommodate the need for individual adaptations. I doubt that there can ever be a substitute for the research scholar becoming much more involved in the production and adjustment of the desired tools, any more than the same scholar could operate effectively without knowing how to use (directly or indirectly) the range of pre-computer tools of value (typewriters, photographic and xerographic techniques, chart formats, use of color, indexing and concording techniques, etc.). At very least, knowing the sorts of things a computer can do (theoretically) for a particular type of research is essential for making (or causing to be made) productive use of this vastly underutilized, extremely versitile and powerful, research technology. Every serious research curriculum (especially in "humanities") needs to insure that appropriate introductions to computers and computing are available for its students and staff, if we are to make effective progress in this new world. Don't just look for finished products to acquire. Look to educating the targeted "consumers" to be able to request/demand/produce appropriate products! Bob Kraft (without apology for "preaching") From: jonathan@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Jonathan Altman) Subject: Re: 3.64 {micro apps for research} Date: Thu, 25 May 89 11:05:53 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 114 (140) Because it might be of general interest to those who have not yet heard of what the Dante Project does, I figured I would answer this question directly on Humanist. Sorry to those of you who have seen announcements of our project before. Yes, there are such tools. Currently, the Dante Project has its VAX-based database of commentaries available for access from any computer which can make a phone call or can access the Internet. The Dante Project database is a collection of commentaries to Dante's _Divina Commedia_ which have been fed in to a text-retrieval program, allowing scholars to access the commentary text by searching for various criteria. Although not strictly a pc-based research tool because of this, you can use a PC to access it, and there are free terminal-emulator programs that you could use, kermit being a prime example. The Dante Project and Humanities Computing at Dartmouth College are also developing a Hypercard stack for the Macintosh that presents a slightly easier-to-use interface to the database. The Dante Project will be at the Tools for Humanists show being held at the Dynamic Text conference and we will have both the terminal and hypercard access methods demonstrated. If you want more information, please contact me. Jonathan Altman jonathan@eleazar.Dartmouth.edu Database Administrator jonathan.altman@Dartmouth.edu Dartmouth Dante Project voice: 603-646-2633 301 Bartlett Hall HB 6087 Hanover, NH 03755 PS There are several other intersting projects going on at Dartmouth. I suggest you contact david.bantz@dartmouth.edu for information. David is the Director of Humanities Computing. From: Wujastyk (on GEC 4190 Rim-D at UCL) Subject: Sanskrit coding Date: Thu, 25 May 89 12:23 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 68 (141) [This private contribution on the subject of Sanskrit coding is apparently meant to be overheard by us all. --W.M.] Dear Mathieu, Thank you for your recent message. I am somewhat perplexed that you have decided to adopt my coding scheme, because I can see very little merit in it! Surely a scheme where the characters are at least in Sanskrit alphabetical order would be better? The point that I *do* think is quite good about my scheme is that I only use character positions above 224. This keeps all the French and German characters intact, as well as all the graphics characters. I have no excuse for putting l underdot at position 157 and I can't remember why on earth I did so. what if a Japanese Sanskritist wanted to enquire about the cost of a book about the root k.lp? Perhaps it should be shifted, say to 252? You ask about M underdot and L underdot: the first is already at position 226, and the second could be put in one of the spare positions in the 224--255 sequence, say 250. What about other characters that we may want to add in future? The superscript circle (248) is quite good as a Sanskrit ellipsis sign. The raised large dot (249) could be available for redefinition. The raised small dot (250) could be the L underdot (see above). The square root (251) is quite useful for philologists. The raised n (252) could be the l underdot (see above). But positions 248 and 251 should be used for accented characters if they have to be. For example, although the vocalic l is never long in Sanskrit or Pali, one might want to say so, which would necessitate upper and lower case l underdot macron. I think one can argue that position 254 is a graphic character, like 219--223, and should be preserved too (I can imagine it being used, a bit like 16, as a pointer or marker in a screen menu system). After this, I think the next group of characters that should fall prey to our needs are the graphic characters that combine a single and a double stroke, i.e., 181--184, 189, 190, 198, 199, 207--214, and 216. It seems to me that these are not widely used in character-based graphic screen design. This gives another 17 positions to play with. These could be used for some signs for Hindi, accented Vedic long vowels, anunasika, or whatever. But please give serious thought to arranging the Sanskrit characters in 224-- 255 at least in alphabetical order. Finally, if you need a good screen font editor, I can let you have one. It comes as part of a package with a rather good editor called "E!", although it is a separate program. It allows for editing EGA and VGA fonts. Another program loads these fonts into the EGA or VGA memory. I can give you my actual screen font, if you like. Best wishes, Dominik cc HUMANIST, Bart van Nooten From: CATHERINE@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK Subject: Oxford Market Date: Thu, 25 MAY 89 10:14:26 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 115 (142) I, too, must spring to the defence of the Oxford Market. Although it is perhaps not what it was ( whatever is, alas) it is still a vital thriving everyday market with a large variety of traditional purveyors of the finest quality produce, both mundane and specialist (this last thanks to the high tables of the Oxford Colleges, where one don was recently heard to say, as he cast his eye over the menu, "oh no, grouse again"). And new shops aren't all bad shops -- there is, for example, a good new pasta shop. But the market is under threat. It is being prettied up -- a sure sign of incipient trendiness (the perfectly adequate floors are going to be tiled), there is already a completely useless "medieval" addition with expensive tourist shops, and several stalls are being taken over by fly-by-night tea-shirt and souvenir type stalls. Rents are being raised too high, and soon the tea shirts will drive out the butchers, etc. The greatest threat to most genuine living parts of old towns is prettification. A sign of our times? Sadly, Catherine Griffin From: Subject: solipsism Date: Thu, 25 May 89 10:21:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 116 (143) In a recent note, a Humanist suggested the substance of an earlier note was "a little solipsistic" -- Is not solipsism one of those entities that does not admit comparison? Either it's solipsistic or it isn't. From: Willard McCarty Subject: SURVEY CORPORA Date: 25 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 117 (144) The file SURVEY CORPORA is now available on the file-server, as promised. Many thanks for the vigilance of Humanists who do not allow me to forget what I have said I would do, and unaccountably don't. Willard McCarty From: IDE@VASSAR Subject: Date: Wed, 3 May 89 23:24 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 118 (145) THE TEXT ENCODING INITIATIVE History of the TEI In the fall of 1987, the Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH), under the directorship of Nancy M. Ide, organized a conference at Vassar College from which emerged a set of resolutions upon the necessity and feasibility of defining a set of guidelines to facilitate both the interchange of existing encoded texts and the creation of newly encoded texts. The resolutions stated that the guidelines would specify both what features should be encoded and also how they should be encoded, as well as suggesting ways of describing the resulting encoding scheme and its relationship with pre-existing schemes. Compatibility with existing schemes would be sought where possible, and in particular, ISO standard 8879, Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML), would provide the basic syntax for the guidelines if feasible. -------------------- [A complete version of this description is at last available on the file-server, s.v. TXT_ENCD INITIATV, as promised weeks ago. Apologies for the inexplicable delay! A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: MLAOD@CUVMB.bitnet Subject: Micro applications for scholarly research Date: Fri, 26 May 89 09:55:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 71 (146) Humanities scholars who make heavy use of printed indexes and annual bibliographies might be lured to the microcomputer (modem- equipped) by a demonstration of the various electronic databases available to them. These include the Arts & Humanities Citation Index, Historical Abstracts, Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts, Religion Index, Humanities Index, the MLA Biblio- graphy, and many others. You can get further information about the joys of online access to bibliographic data from your fellow node-mate and Humanist group member Anita Lowry at Columbia's Butler Library. Meanwhile, I wonder if you would be willing to articulate your reasons for wishing to attract humanities professors to com- puters. We all know that there are good reasons indeed, but what do you plan to do with these electronic innocents once you have enticed them to the micros? The answer to that question could help prompt additional suggestions to your request. Daniel Uchitelle Modern Language Association From: D.R.Thornton@DURHAM.AC.UK Subject: Communicating with Pennsylvania Date: Fri, 26 May 89 11:58:36 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 72 (147) Seeing Bob Kraft's message on his problems with communicating with JANET, made me wonder if he had tried to message me or indeed received a message from me. I've had tentative request from the coptic Nag Hammaddi library and was asking Bob for details on how much and how to aquire it. Sorry to use Humanist like this - but we would both see these messages - and we could find out if there is a problem. Dave Thornton University of Durham Computer Centre UK D.R.Thornton @ UK.AC.DURHAM ¤Janet‡ D.R.Thornton @ DURHAM.AC.UK ¤Bitnet‡ From: Willard McCarty Subject: sporadic Humanist Date: 27 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 73 (148) During the summer school and conference (29 May to 16 June), Humanist may not appear as regularly as it normally does. I will try my best -- so please keep the contributions coming -- but I cannot predict how much time or energy I will have for the usual things during this unusual time. For those of you coming to Toronto, a weather report. The sun is shining, the temperature is about 22 degrees C. or so, and there's a gusty wind blowing. It could rain, and in fact rain has been predicted. Sudden changes are possible this time of year. By the time you arrive it could be much warmer, and if so the humidity would be high as well. Other handy information for those coming from a distance. This is an expensive city, so be prepared. At the airport you can take a taxi ($25-30 at least), but the bus to the Chelsea Inn is much cheaper (ca. $8). From the Chelsea to the university residences and the hotels is a short distance by taxi and will likely cost about $4-5. Cheapest of all is the bus to the Islington subway station ($4.50?), then the subway ($1.10) to the St. George or Bay Street stop, both of which are near the residences and hotels. The university's Conference Centre will be open on Sunday, 4 June, and we are arranging to have a person there to help direct those who do not know the city. I will post a notice here giving the exact street address and hours of the Centre. Willard McCarty From: "Michael E. Walsh" Subject: Re: 3.66 e-mysteries? Date: Mon, 29 May 89 07:41:56 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 119 (149) Robert Kraft says: Any ideas from the experts out there? CLAUSS!zedat!#fu-berlin%dbp&de I don't recall ever having seen anything quite like it. This originates from the Federal Republic of Germany. I think the best people to provide an explanation for the form are at DFN in Berlin. I have copied this to them and will post any replies. regards.. Michael. From: Subject: Re: 3.64 queries (106) Date: Tue, 30 May 89 07:51:07 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 120 (150) Aronson has asked for info on research on the Nazi party in Catholic areas of Germany. Since others might be interested in the subject, I'll reply to the list in general. Johnpeter Grill published a book with the University of North Carolina Press in 1982 (more or less) on the Nazi party in Baden. It included an analysis of the socio-economic origins of the party's membership. **************************************************************************** *Donald J. Mabry, Professor, History, Mississippi State University DJMABRY@MSSTATE Mississippi State, MS 39762 (601) 325-7084 Research: Mexico Latin America Origins of Rock'n'Roll *"There is no present, only a past and a future"...Xicholco (7AD) From: bobh@phoenix (Robert Hollander) Subject: Re: 3.59 contacts in Perth, Australia? (16) Date: Mon, 29 May 89 19:07:16 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 121 (151) John Scott, chmn. Italian. He has an e-mail address, but I've not it handy. RH From: David Megginson Subject: Re: 3.64 queries (106) Date: Fri, 26 May 89 19:29:10 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 122 (152) Perhaps the extreme conservatism in Bavaria today should give us a clue to attitudes in the 1930's. How long a sentence did that doctor receive for performing abortions? From: db Subject: Re: 3.54 more on the Tour (92) Date: Tue, 30 May 89 00:47:54 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 123 (153) I love the Oxford Market. For those of a kosher disposition who happen to be spending time in Oxford, it is also a great place to buy fresh fish. From: "Eric Johnson DSC, Madison, SD 57042" Subject: Conference Date: Tue, 30 May 89 10:14:34 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 124 (154) Fourth International Conference on Symbolic and Logical Computing October 5-6, 1989 Madison, SD 57042 U.S.A. The Fourth International Conference on Symbolic and Logical Computing is designed for teachers, scholars, and programmers who want to meet to exchange ideas about non-numeric computing. In addition to a focus on SNOBOL4, SPITBOL, and Icon, the Conference will feature presentations on other dangerously powerful computer languages such as Prolog, LISP, and C. KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Gene Amdahl, principal architect of the IBM 360, founder of Amdahl Corporation, Trilogy, Ltd, and Andor Systems. FEATURED SPEAKERS: Ralph Griswold, one of the creators of SNOBOL4 and the Icon Programming language. James Noblitt, linguist and creator of award- winning software. SCHEDULED TOPICS: Machine Translation, Object Oriented Programming, Expert Systems, Text Generation, Natural Language Processing, Instructional Games, Indexing, Computer-Generated Documents, Computer Code Generators, Processing Texts, Multilingual Word Processing, Text Search Strategies, Plagiarism Detection in Computer Programs, Programming in SNOBOL4, SPITBOL, Icon, Prolog, and C. For more information and registration forms, contact Eric Johnson, 114 Beadle Hall, Dakota State College, Madison, SD 57042 U.S.A. Phone: (605) 256-5270 BITNET address: ERIC@SDNET From: Willard McCarty Subject: update on conference services Date: 30 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 125 (155) For those arriving for The Dynamic Text conference next week: help can be obtained from Conference Services, Sidney Smith Hall Lobby, 100 St. George Street, from 7:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., 7 days/week, (416) 978-8735. They are very well equipped and quite easy to find. I recommend that you pick up a copy of the Toronto Transit Commission's "Ride Guide", which is a useful street-map of the city as well as a guide to the transit system. See you soon. Willard McCarty From: Ellen Germain Subject: micro applications for scholarly research Date: Tue, 30 May 89 16:32:02 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 126 (156) First, my thanks to everyone who has responded to my request for micro applications for scholarly research. I'm also passing the responses on to the person in my dept. who originally asked me about this. [deleted quotation] I think part of the problem (and the reason my question was rather broad and vague) is that no one here really knows what to do with humanities professors once they've been persuaded to use micros. There's a feeling that they *should* be lured towards computers, but there's no direction about what to do next. There's a general feeling that email will be a big attraction once people get started with it; also being able to exchange documents is a big draw. Beyond that, there is general blankness. Bibliographic databases are already available here, and undoubtedly need to be advertised and touted more. Databases of information such as the Medieval and Early Modern DB are very useful, but not enough exist, and professors don't know about them. In the course of trying to figure out what to do with humanities profs and computers, the question "What do humanities scholars do?" was posed to me by a colleague here at the Computer Center. I'm both a systems programmer and a graduate student in the English Department (medieval literature, esp. Arthurian romance), and I sat down and thought about it. I read a lot. I read primary texts, then I read secondary texts, and then I think about the subject, trying to come up with new insights/interpretations/whatever. I do a lot of research. Unlike a scientist, I don't need a computer on which to model things, to analyze large amounts of data, or to control my experiments. (I know, some literary scholars do more quantitative work using programs such as WordCruncher). But I basically use a computer for word-processing and communicating with colleagues. I use online bibliographies, and would love to use other DBs, but it seems that there aren't many. It almost seems that until a critical mass of information has been put online in a format that everyone can access and use, computers can't help me do my research except insofar as word-processing programs help me organize and revise my writing more easily. (And I'm not putting down WP at all -- I can't imagine using a typewriter any more!) I try to push humanities computing in the computer center, and computers in the English Dept., but most of the applications are instructional, not research oriented. There are many opportunites for computers on the instructional side, but I feel there's a certain dearth as far as helping with scholarly research; and that that may be because there really isn't much more computers *can* do to help at this point. What does anyone else think? Ellen J. Germain Columbia University Bitnet: EJGCU@CUVMB Internet: ejgcu@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu ellen@cunixc.cc.columbia.edu From: elli@harvunxw.BITNET (Elli Mylonas) Subject: What is Perseus Date: Tue, 30 May 89 10:37:37 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 127 (157) This is a *very* short note to correct a misunderstanding that was expressed in Ellen Germain's note of Wed, May 24. As one of those who are intimately involved in the design, care and nurturance of the Perseus Project, I would like to say that Perseus is not just an instructional program, but rather is modeled on the library. It will contain primarily well structured data, and also ways to navigate throught it intelligently. It is *not* instructional software that is predestined for any one particular use. Our goal is to create an environment for studying Classical Greek Civilization that will be useful not only to the student but to the scholar, and in which readers, instructors and researchers can make create their own trails and annotations. So, Perseus is not only a research tool, but one that may be used to show students what research is all about. Another goal of Perseus is to bring closer together the software that is used for teaching and research, since those two activities are often two sides of the same coin. --Elli Mylonas, Managing Editor, Perseus Project From: db Subject: Re: 3.63 various answers and comments (95) Date: Tue, 30 May 89 00:53:24 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 128 (158) I would like more info on hypertext version of Piers Plowman. Does it work on a PC? From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: The Final Inch Date: Tue, 30 May 89 10:50:56 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 129 (159) I'd appreciate help in identifying the origin of the following passage, provisionally identified under either the title "The Final Inch" or "The Rule of the Final Inch." I thank you, as does our athletic department, which is seeking to attribute this item to its proper author. THE FINAL INCH And now listen: The Rule of the Final Inch. The work has been almost completed, the goal almost attained--but the quality of the thing is not quite right. In that moment of fatigue and self-satisfaction it is especially tempting to leave the work without having attained the apex of quality. In fact, the Rule of the Final Inch consists in this: not to shirk this critical work, not to postpone it, and not to mind the time spent on it, knowing that one's purpose lies not in completing things faster but in the attainment of perfection. Major achievement in any field cannot be acocmplished without discipline, without pain, without self-denial. having the courage to make choices and abide by them, not to allow them to reign over us. The ability to say NO to ourselves today for the sake of a better tomorrow, the capacity to postpone present gratification for future fulfillment. From: Don Fowler Subject: RE: 3.64 queries (106) Date: Mon, 29 May 89 17:28 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 130 (160) I'm not sure if Willard wanted replies on marble etc to be public or private, but he can always intercept this: on marble at any rate see Nisbet - Hubbard on Horace Odes 1.19.6 and McKeown on Ovid Amores 1.7.51-2. Nothing so good on ivory, but Vergil Aeneid 12.68 with Satius Achilleid 1. 308 and Lyne `Lavinia's Blush' in Further Voices in Vergil's Aeneid is instructive. One of the email oddities for me is that I often get the reply to a question before the query itself. But don't change this even if you can: it's the cheapest hypertext system going! Don Fowler (DPF@uk.ac.ox.vax) From: O MH KATA MHXANHN Subject: marble and ivory Date: Thu, 25 May 89 09:53 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 131 (161) Apart from the obvious sources -- commentaries on the poetry of Ovid and Pease's commentary on book 4 of the Aeneid --, which I will assume you have already pilfered, I would suggest, if you do not know of it already, Viktor Poschl, Bibliographie zur antiken Bildersprache. Al- though it was published in 1964, there are some "leads" in there. I note sets of references under both "Elfenbein" and "Marmor". As I contemplate this further, I find it easy to anger over the fact that L'annee philologique is not yet available in a digitized form. How much that would help you in this instance, and me in so many others! W. McCarthy, in virtuality From: "Patrick W. Conner" Subject: Ivory cheekpiece Date: Thu, 25 May 89 12:48:56 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 132 (162) My favorite extended simile in the Iliad is at the moment which Pandareus ends the single combat between Menelaos & Paris by wounding the former. The blood against the skin is described as purple against a carved ivory cheekpiece in a horse's bridle. If I look it up, I'll have to give you a reference from Lattimore, because I don't read Greek, but I suspect that you'll remember it and have no trouble finding it in your edition, if it's a useful point of comparison for you. --Pat From: Gunhild Viden Subject: Re marble and ivory (3.64) Date: 26 May 89 15:01:32 EDT (Fri) X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 133 (163) I am not sure that you are not overinterpreting the passage in Ovid. To me it seems to be a matter of variatio sermonis: Pario marmore - eburnea - niveo candore. Or why should Narcissus' neck be more sexy than the rest of his body? However, if you do not believe me I suggest that you check with the instances given in Thesaurus Linguae Latinae -- I guess you have not thrown out your paper editions as yet! Gunhild From: Willard McCarty Subject: Dynamic Text conference bulletin Date: 31 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 134 (164) Current registration stands at about 360 people from 16 countries. About 145 are from the United States, 130 from Canada, about 75 from Europe, and the rest from Israel, Japan, China, and Australia. For those unable to attend the conference for more than a day, a one-day registration fee of $85 has been set. This includes all conference books and materials. It is also possible to acquire a pass only to the sessions and to the software and hardware fair, Tools for Humanists, at a still lower cost. Tools for Humanists now has a total of 77 scheduled demonstrations by 61 people on 39 workstations. Since the resulting schedule is wonderfully complex, attendees should take the opportunity to study it as early as possible so that they can plan their movements accordingly. Final schedules for both the conference and the fair will be included in the registration packets. The weather has turned warm and muggy with occasional rain. Anything could happen, although snow is unlikely and a continuation of the present conditions very likely. Ian Lancashire Willard McCarty From: "DAVID CHISHOLM, GERMAN DEPT., (602) Subject: Share taxi from airport June 5 Date: Sun, 28 May 89 23:55 MST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 135 (165) I will arrive at the Toronto airport on June 5 at 19:45 (United Airlines from Chicago). If at least two arrivees wish to share a taxi to the university residences, it would presumably cost us no more than $10. each, instead of $30. Anyone interested? Cordially, David Chisholm From: Lloyd Gerson 926-1300 ex. 3374 GERSON at UTOREPAS Subject: Date: 31 May 1989, 15:14:37 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 136 (166) subject: Antoine Arnauld A colleague asks if anyone knows of the existence of the works of the philosopher Antoine Arnauld in electronically readable form. From: Lloyd Gerson 926-1300 ex. 3374 GERSON at UTOREPAS Subject: Date: 31 May 1989, 15:24:23 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 137 (167) subject: Benedict Spinoza A colleague asks if anyone knows of the existence of all or parts of the works of Benedict Spinoza in electronically readable form. Many thanks. From: Peter D. Junger Subject: Kitty O'Shea and all that Date: Wed, 31 May 89 16:32 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 138 (168) Cheryl Lewis, a librarian here who is working on an advanced degree in history, is writing a paper on Charles Stewart Parnell and the Irish Home Rule movement. I am cross-posting (to HUMANIST and to HISTORY) this message at her request. On December 24, 1899, Parnell was named as a correspondent in a divorce case. The petition for divorce was filed by a Captain William O'Shea against his estranged wife Katherine O'Shea, who had been Parnell's lover for many years. The court returned a verdict against Parnell on November 17, 1890. As a result, he had to resign as leader of the Home Rule Party. If it is possible, I would appreciate any pointers to reports of the divorce and of Parnell's subsequent downfall that may have appeared in any Irish domestic publications (e.g., newspapers) around that time. I understand that Ms. Lewis would be especially interested in locating any transcripts (or less formal reports) of the testimony given at the trial. Peter D. Junger--CWRU Law School--Cleveland, OH--bitnet: JUNGER@CWRU From: "M. R. Sperberg-McQueen " Subject: Style checkers for German Date: 31 May 1989 17:50:35 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 139 (169) I've read with interest the reports on style checkers for English. Does anyone know about ones that have been developed for German? (It occurs to me that, in general, style checkers developed by Germans, the French, Spaniards, etc. for their own languages might be useful tools in advanced foreign language composition classes.) From: "M. R. Sperberg-McQueen " Subject: How long a sentence...for performing abortions Date: 31 May 1989 17:27:47 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 140 (170) I'm coming in late on this discussion; I think the question as to "how long a sentence did that doctor receive for performing abortions" was a rhetorical one, and simply intended as a comment on the continuing conservatism of Bavaria. But, for the record, Horst Theissen was sentenced by a court in Memmingen (Bavaria) to 2 and 1/2 years imprisonment; his license to practice medicine has been suspended for 3 years. Additionally, the women who obtained abortions from him were fined up to DM 3000--and were publicly identified when called as witnesses at his trial. (Ironically, one of the judges of the court had to be disqualified, as he'd helped a woman friend obtain an abortion.) There's a very critical, front page article on the sentence in the Die Zeit of May 19--where, it should perhaps be noted for the context of this discussion, the author sees the division of liberal vs. conservative on this particular issue as a north German vs. south German one, rather than one that splits Bavaria from all the rest of Germany. Bavaria and Baden-Wuerttemberg are both predominately Catholic, whereas much of the north of Germany, with notable exceptions such as Cologne, are Protestant. From: "M. R. Sperberg-McQueen " Subject: "The final inch"--source Date: 31 May 1989 16:32:28 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 141 (171) The passage is from chapter 24 of Solzhenitsyn's The First Circle. From: David Megginson Subject: Re: 3.76 scholarly microcomputing (110) Date: Wed, 31 May 89 07:03:09 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 142 (172) In response to Ellen Germain's discussion on professors and micro- computers, I would like to make a caution. The folk wisdom which goes 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' applies especially to moving tasks over onto a computer. Many businesses buy computers just for the sake of buying them, then spend thousands or tens of thousands more trying to figure out what to do with them. Personally, I love word-processors, but I nearly always write my first draft by hand, even when I am writing a computer program! Small databases like book indexes or recipe files may fit more naturally in a card file than in a complex computer database -- despite over 10 years of computer experience, I am keeping the bibliography for my Ph.D. on index cards. The basic rule is as follows: If you will spend more time figuring out how to use computer programs than you save using them, go back to your old habits. David Megginson From: Willard McCarty Subject: professors and computers Date: 31 May 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 143 (173) There are, I suppose, several possible reasons for the pushing of professors into using computers, and for the sluggishness of their response. Those of us with experience know that some tasks are better done with a machine than without, but perhaps we also know that the real issue isn't "productivity", because the computer does not so much save labour as transform it. Those of us who are pleased with this transformation want to share our enthusiasms, being culturally evangelical as well as tending to be reassured by the similar actions of others. Joy, as well as misery, loves company, and certain anxieties are soothed by it. We are frustrated by the sluggishness I mentioned also because our common concerns will be furthered by greater numbers of participants, the money they bring, and so forth. Perhaps the sluggish responders may be excused not because they are technophobes or are possessed by tenured somnolence but because they are not getting answers from us to important questions. Are we capable of presenting the case for the scholarly use of computers to those who are utterly uncommitted? Preaching to the converted is enjoyable, but it doesn't require as much of many things as being an apostle to the heathen. One essential function of services such as Humanist, it seems to me, is to provide the forum where all us doctors of the church can debate amongst ourselves about fundamental matters, so that when we are asked the what-is-the-meaning-of-life questions we will have some convincing answers. On the other hand, an interesting cause of sluggishness may also be the challenge that computers give us to understand in a precise way what it is that we do, or more accurately, to see what happens when the algorithmic mind attempts to analyze our methodologies. There are many reasons why someone would not want to face such a challenge. So, perhaps the best way to get professors to use computers is to understand much better what it is that we are professing, or want to profess. Willard McCarty From: Donald Spaeth (0532) 33 3573 Subject: Micro applications for scholars Date: Wed, 31 May 89 10:04:08 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 144 (174) I read Ellen Germain's query with interest since I'm paid to attempt to answer it! It is no longer difficult to convince lecturers of the benefits of word-processing. More problematic is answering the question, "where do I go next?". As other respondents have suggested, there is no one answer to this question. But the application likely to be of benefit to most humanists is the textbase, of which Wordcruncher is perhaps the best known, because it comes closest to the "tool" which we all use already, namely the cardbox/file. One further advantage of a textbase is that it requires very little advance preparation to be useful and is easy to use. Texts can be indexed with no markup at all if all that is required is quick direct access to voluminous material. For demonstration purposes, this means that you can quickly demonstrate the benefits of a textbase with the user's own word-processed document. The textbase is not a revolutionary application, in that enables researchers simply to replicate their current research techniques on computer. But that makes it especially likely to be attractive to humanists looking for applications beyond the word-processor. Nor does it exhaust the range of applications of use. But, as with the textbase, lecturers are most likely to benefit from the imaginative use as research tools of applications written for other markets. Donald Spaeth Arts Computing Development Officer University of Leeds email: from Bitnet: d.a.spaeth at cms1.leeds.ac.uk from Janet: d.a.spaeth at uk.ac.leeds.cms1 From: cbf%faulhaber.Berkeley.EDU@jade.berkeley.edu (Charles Faulhaber) Subject: Re: 3.76 scholarly microcomputing (110) Date: Wed, 31 May 89 12:41:43 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 145 (175) We are on the very edge of the massive use of computers in humanities scholarship. For people interested primarily in texts the big stumbling block right now is the lack of primary materials in machine-readable form. Where such materials have become available, they have caused a revolution in the way scholars work in the discipline. The primary example is the TLG. Having these materials available does not change the sorts of things scholars want to do. It will not convert everyone into stylometricians (stylomeretricians?), but it will allow them to explore hunches, to follow up leads that would have been literally impossible before. Take Willard's question about ivory and marble in classical Latin poetry. If we had a machine-readable corpus of Latin texts that question could be solved in an hour. Without such a corpus it becomes an enormously tedious and time-consuming exercise with, ultimately, less than satisfactory results. Besides the texts we also need suitable tools for text analysis. These include not only the standard sorts of searching tools (boolean and contextual) but also thesauri. To take up Willard's problem again, one would like to be able to search on a semantic field which includes the concepts of ivory and marble, regardless of the specific words used to convey those concepts. That is why the text-encoding initiative is so important, so that search software can be standardized in terms of the SGML tags. In this sense I disagree with Bob Kraft. I don't think that the humanities scholar should have to become a computing specialist to do this kind of work, any more than he has had one in order to use a computer for word processing. Charles Faulhaber From: Joe Giampapa Subject: protest against "look and feel" copyright Date: Tue, 30 May 89 20:41 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 83 (176) [excerpted from the CPSR/Boston June '89 newsletter] Programmers and Users Picket Lotus CAMBRIDGE, MA, May 24, 1989 # Chanting anti-litigation slogans, a group of almost 200 computer-science professors and students, software developers, and users, under the League for Programming Freedom banner, picketed Lotus Development Corporation headquarters here today. The demonstration was called to protest lawsuits by Lotus, Apple, and Ashton-Tate, which "threaten to kill the growth of the software industry by trying to create a new kind of legal monopoly: copyright on the `look and feel' of user interfaces," said protest organizer Richard Stallman, a legendary computer hacker and developer of EMACS, a widely used and imitated programming editor. Marching from MIT to Lotus, the group chanted, "Put your lawyers in their place; no one owns the interface;" "Hey, hey, ho, ho, software tyranny has got to go;" and "1-2-3-4, toss the lawyers out the door; 5-6-7-8, innovate don't litigate; 9-A-B-C, 1-2-3 is not for me; D-E-F-O, look and feel have got to go" " the first hexadecimal protest chant " and carried protest signs: "Don't make me wear your suit!" (showing a person in a straightjacket), "Drop the suit, we've got you surrounded," "Creative companies don't need to sue," and #Oh no! Look and feel copyright!" accompanied by a reproduction of the painting, "The Scream," by Muench). The group also distributed leaflets to Lotus employees and others, urging them to boycott products from Lotus, Apple, and Ashton-Tate and refuse to work for these companies. The demonstration was backed by three prominent MIT computer scientists: AI Lab founder Marvin Minsky, AI Lab head Patrick Winston, and professor of electrical engineering Gerald J. Sussman; Stallman, and Guy Steele, author of the book Common Lisp, the standard for the Lisp language, and co-author of C, A Reference Manual. Also present at the demonstration was Bryan Kocher, President of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), a professional organization of computer scientists and programmers. The protests were directed against Lotus, which has sued Paperback Software and Mosiac [sic - does anyone know for sure whether it's really Mosaic?]; Apple Computer, which has sued Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard; and Ashton-Tate, which has sued Fox Software and is extending its claims to a computer programming language, Dbase. According to Stallman, "If these companies are permitted to make law through the courts, the precedent will hobble the software industry. Software will become more expensive. Users will be `locked in' to proprietary interfaces for which there is no real competition, or be encumbered with incompatible new interfaces." Stallman said the League for Programming Freedom is developing a national organization and is looking for volunteer officers. It also plans future protests and lobbying efforts. For further information, write: Richard Stallman, League for Programming Freedom, 545 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139. From: Chanie Luz Subject: LaTeX Fonts Date: Thu, 1 Jun 89 16:00:36 +0200 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 146 (177) If anyone can help me with the following, I would be very grateful. I have LaTeX ruuning on the VAX (UNIX), an ln03 Lazer printer (Postscript). The printer has lots of fonts, and i want to print a paper using one of them - Times-Roman. How can i access the fonts using LaTeX ? for replies - chanie@bimacs.bitnet From: "Wayne Tosh / English--SCSU / St Cloud, MN 56301" Subject: E-mail address query Date: Thu, 1 Jun 89 14:30:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 147 (178) Does anyone have any e-mail addresses for anyone at Jackson State University (Mississippi), preferably in the Department of English and Foreign Languages? Thanks. Wayne Tosh St. Cloud State Universiy WAYNE@MSUS1.bitnet From: Leslie Burkholder Subject: Re: Arnauld, Spinoza Date: Thu, 1 Jun 89 13:29:27 -0400 (EDT) X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 85 (179) I am replying on behalf of the American Philosophical Association's subcommittee on electronic texts. Is Arnauld available in machine-readable form? The following items are available from ARTFL Project, Dept Romance Langs and Lits, Univ Chicago Chicago IL 60637. ARNAULD, A. 1643. De la Frequente Communion. Paris, A. Vi- tre, 1643. [FrCom] ARNAULD, A. et C. LANCELOT. 1660. Grammaire Gen. et Raison- nee. Paris, P. le Petit, 1660. [GraGR] ARNAULD, A. et P. NICOLE. 1662. La Logique ou L'Art de Penser. Paris, Ch. Savreux, 1662. [LogAP] Is Spinoza available in machine-readable form? 1 Philosopher: Baruch Spinoza 2 Work: Tractatus de intellectus emendatione, in Latin 3 Format: ? 4 From whom to obtain on line text: Ist di Linguistica Computazionale, U of Pisa, via della faggiola, Pisa I-56100 Italy 5 LB's contact: Leslie Burkholder From: Johnfox@RCN Subject: RESEARCH - THE WORKPLACE Date: Thu, 1 Jun 89 09:41:47 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 86 (180) My present research interest is the work-place or place of employment as a social and fraternal institution as well as an economic resource. All of my research has been limited to occupations and crafts which were prevalent in New England through the late 1960s. Much of my research has been conducted through oral interviews. In a period of 10 years I have acquired a collection of about 100 interviews with workers and management personnel in the following occupations: railroads (some interviews are with men who were involved with the establishment of an airline by a railroad company), shoe manufacturing, game publishing, fishing, and leather manufacturing. In looking at these interviews as a unit, I have come to be aware that most of the retired and displaced workers tend to look to their past work experience as having been fulfilling. In interviews they stress how happy they were at their job, how rewarding it was, and how well the owners/management treated them. When they touched on times or events that seem to bring the perception into question, they usually found an explanation which did not modify or destroy their images. Most of the workers recognized that their job had had some undesirable elements about it. Yet, as they surveyed their working life, they came to the conclusion that the good outweighed the bad. If these perceptions were limited to one company or one occupation it might be easy to dismiss. But my interviews leads me to conclude that the perception is not unique nor an aberration. This view is strengthened by the fact that Tamara K. Hareven, in her work on the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, uncovered similar perceptions (Family Time and Industrial Time). What may really be unique about this perception, is that it seems at variance with the way workers today view their work experience. My research is not complete enough for me to draw more than tentative conclusions. On the surface, the dichotomy between my interviewees and current workers might be partly explained by the growth since the end of World War II of the impersonal corporation. Most of the interviewees worked in small factories or in occupations which put them in daily contact with the owner. Few changed places of employment or occupations unless forced to by factors outside of their control. For many, the workplace provided not only economic support, but fraternal and social relationships which gave substance and meaning to their lives. I would appreciate others who have or are conducting research in the work-place share their findings or suggestions regarding my research interest and hypothesis. Hopefully, my work will lead to a paper being presented at a professional conference. I will be glad to forward a copy of any papers I deliver to all who would like to receive one. Please send all replies to my e-mail address. JohnFox@taylor.Rcc.Rcn.edu From: Subject: 3.76,3.82 scholarly computing... Date: Thu, 1 Jun 89 09:44 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 148 (181) One major initiative in scholarly computing that HUMANISTs may not be familiar with is the very far reaching long range plan by the National Library of Medicine, a branch of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Dept of Health & Human Services, Bethesda Maryland. There is a 7 volume description of the plan available for asking, which summarizes in very readable text thousands of expert-hours in laying out what access to the total global medical literature should look like over the next 25 years. Much of this is applicable to other areas, including long descriptions of Scholar's Workstations, AI, networking, knowledge representation for instant retrieval, even by the generic vs vendor name of drug (say, rock instead of marble), etc. I highly recommend this for reading. Associated with that is the IAIMS project, "Integrated Academic Information Management Systems", attempting to seed via grant money projects in actually using technology to bring data to decision-makers at all levels. Several sets of proceedings of this work are available: the program officer is Richard T. West. General inquiries can go to (301) 496-6308. The proceedings, as well as proceedings of American Association for Medical Systems & Informatics have hundreds of pages of reasoned discussion about technology transfer barriers to use of computing in academia/medicine, etc. Incidentally, I find almost exactly the same debate going on in CompuServe in the Medical Forum -- what does it take to get people to use computing, how do we teach students/faculty, what really works, etc? As a personal opinion addendum, I think the next big area for "computing" will be groupware that actually makes it easy for multiple authors, distributed geographically, to work on the same research/manuscript, including good ways to redline, annotate, include voice-mail messages (click here for comments) that convey the tones and emotions so relevant to achieve concensus on sensitive issues, etc. For those who want the info, the address and phone numbers are as follows: National Library of Medicine 8600 Rockville Pike Bethesda, Maryland 20894 United States (301) 496-6308 General inquiries/publications (301) 496-6095 Reference Services From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Scholarly Research and Computers Again Date: Thursday, 1 June 1989 1005-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 149 (182) Charles Faulhaber thinks he disagrees with my argument that for the most effective use of computer capabilities in scholarly research, the scholar should have a general knowledge of how computers work and should have, or have access to, expertise that combines knowledge of what the humanities researcher needs with knowledge of what computers can do -- if I ever claimed that "the humanities scholar should have to become a computing specialist" in this context, that is not what I meant to say. I wanted to address the issue of appropriate "computer literacy" and appropriate resources for consulting. I will be surprised if Charles and I really disagree on these matters. His analogy of the use of word-processing is, for me, a case in point. Many scholars use "wordprocessing," but I have met very few who have any real idea of the power and capabilities available in the programs they use, much less of why one program might be better for them than another! Why? Partly because they can't be bothered to master the documentation, but that may be to a large extent because the documentation itself often assumes a level of "computer literacy" that is beyond the present experience of the user. Users who have some idea of what the computer is capable of doing usually can find a way to coerce their wordprocessors into doing much more (including "research" tasks) than other, less "literate" users can/do. And if the researcher knows how (or sits next to someone who knows how) to do even minor modification of source code, there are myriads of programs "out there" that can be tailored to specific research needs very easily, with amazingly effective results. Complaints about lack of appropriate software are sometimes more a problem of the potential user's ability to understand and adjust than of unavailability -- other times, admittedly, the software doesn't exist yet in appropriate forms (I doubt that Willard's question about ivory and marble in classical Latin poetry could be solved "in an hour" even if we had a complete Thesaurus Linguae Latinae CD-ROM and an IBYCUS Scholarly Computer running it; maybe in 3 or 4 hours, with luck; unless, of course, Charles meant an INDEXED TLL, with the right sorts of indices -- more than incidentally, even attempting to discuss this side issue intelligently requires knowledge about the technology [why IBYCUS at this point would be a better choice than IBM] and the software [how to work around the lack of an "and not" choice in IBYCUS searching; or why PANDORA on the Mac might have special advantages for this task], as well as the specific research needs [what sorts of indexing might be most useful for the task at hand]). As for David Megginson's plea not to fix what ain't broke, I don't disagree at one level, but in order to know what that level is, I would need to know how much time it would take to figure out how to do a task on a computer, and how many more times in my life I would want to do the same task. Since usually neither David nor I can answer that one without first trying, I would vote to put in the time moving to the computer approach, since in the long run it will almost certainly pay dividends -- especially when the potential user learns about the potential (and actual) usefulness of the technology. Bob Kraft (CCAT) From: Gerd Willee 0228 - 73 5620 UPK000 at DBNRHRZ1 Subject: Date: 1 June 89, 15:16:25 MEZ X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 88 (183) I've a similar problem as David Chisholm, as it has been distributed today in HUMANIST: How to come from the airport to the conference buildings for a modest fee. Therefore my similar call: Who will arrive on Sunday afternoon(July 4th) in Toronto airport, wishing to share a taxi to the conference buildings? I'll arrive at 16.40 (Lufthansa from Duesseldorf). Interested taxi sharers can address directly to UPK000 at DBNRHRZ1.Bitnet, I'll look in my mailbox on Saturday afternoon (local time) last try. Yours Gerd Willee. From: Willard McCarty Subject: Dynamic Text conference bulletin Date: 3 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 150 (184) For all of you who are planning to stay in the university residences, I recommend that you go first to Conference Services, 100 St. George Street, telephone: 978-8735. The staff there is well equipped to direct you to the right place, which may be difficult to find otherwise. Those who are demonstrating software will want to check in with me on Monday. The room is unlikely to be ready for you until the afternoon, however. The first half of Tuesday can also be used for setting up, but the conference begins on Tuesday morning with two very interesting addresses that you will not want to miss. During the conference I can always be summoned by a request made at the information desk. Again let me remind you that the airport buses (to the Royal York and to the Chelsea Inn) are an excellent means of getting from the airport to downtown Toronto. The Toronto Transit Commission's "Ride Guide", available at the hotels and likely in the airport, provides a serviceable map of the city, and it is free. One is included in each registration packet. The weather continues to be warm and slightly muggy. Rain is likely. Willard McCarty From: Subject: Transportation suggestion Date: Fri, 2 Jun 89 18:43 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 151 (185) How about carrying the Dynamic Text Conference booklet in hand, logo side out, at the airport to identify ourselves to one another as conference attendees who would like to share a taxi? Is anyone taking Air Canada's flight 709 out of NY at 13:03 on Monday the 5th? Estelle Irizarry (Irizarry@GUVAX) From: jonathan@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Jonathan Altman) Subject: Re: 3.86 research on the workplace (66) Date: Fri, 2 Jun 89 11:13:49 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 90 (186) [This direct reply to Fox's note is republished with permission, at least of the sender. --W.M.] In response to: [deleted quotation] How about the dichotomy between people still working and people who no longer work at a job anymore? Your two samples are not well correlated to each other. This would be furthered by your assertion that the difference could result in the change from small, personal companies to impersonal after World War II. I will cite one of your own sources: _Amoskeag_, by Tammy Hareven. Amoskeag was NOT a small mill, although I will allow that the control of the mill by one family (were they overseers? Unfortunately, my copy of Amoskeag was just moved home, and I'm at work) added a personal touch to a very large organization. Nonetheless, Amoskeag was not an intimate setting. I will also point out the film _Rosie the Riveter_ about women's work experience during World War II. Many of the women interviewed worked in very large installations (shipworks, for example) and nonetheless remembered their work experience very favorably. I think you need to examine the subject groups more closely. What is probably more important in the post-World War II era is unionization. It is doubtful that a US Steel worker has much affection for USS, but probably finds the United Steelworkers to have been a rewarding experience. I would look at the replacement of the corporate identification with union identification more closely. The only source I can cite in this is my own evaluation of the work I have done, although I draw the US Steel example from a videotape done by PBS in the early 1980's on the crisis in the Monongahela River area brought on by the collapse of many of the steel companies. What are the socio-economic constraints of your study, by the way? In looking after the World War II period, I would think you'd need to study the effect of rising expectations in terms of education that the G.I. bill brought about. The concept of "commuter colleges" and the increase in people obtaining post-secondary degrees probably has some effect. [deleted quotation] I hope my suggestions help. I always feel a little uncomfortable jumping into scholarly questions on Humanist, because that's not strictly my area of expertise. Your question, however, falls squarely into my area of greatest research and interest. I think that what you are proposing to study is more suited to spending a career evaluating (and I have thought of doing so myself, if I could convince myself to commit to academia). I think a book could be written on each of the issues I have brought up. [deleted quotation] I'd like to hear back from you on my suggestions. Jonathan Altman jonathan@eleazar.Dartmouth.edu Database Consultant jonathan.altman@Dartmouth.edu Dartmouth Dante Project From: D.Mealand@EDINBURGH.AC.UK Subject: Textbase Searches Date: 02 Jun 89 10:55:00 bst X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 152 (187) Finding words or combinations of words in texts is something quite a lot of us do. We use different systems to do it, Ibycus for Greek, Wordcruncher, OCP, AskSam, Xyindex, FY whatever it is, Grep, or just a powerful editor like ECCE. Some of these are concordance programmes, some are classsified as text retrieval packages, others just simple search programmes or editors. We used some years ago to have here a document showing comparative search times for ECCE, Grep, Concord and OCP but these are now well out of date. It might be both interesting and useful to get some kind of bench mark for finding a pair of words in a one megabyte text using various of these software systems on different hardware. I have seen some reviews of some of these items (esp. in Bits and Bytes) but don't recollect ever seeing an attempt at a bench mark. The results might be revealing. I am most interested not in how efficiently the machine is being used, but how much of my or your precious time it takes. So how about some of us trying a simple test for the collocation within one line of two words of about 7 characters each in a text of about one megabyte on different machines with different software ? David Mealand (D.Mealand@uk.ac.Edinburgh) From: HUMM@PENNDRLS Subject: looking for the Quran Date: Friday, 2 June 1989 0941-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 153 (188) Does anyone know where I can obtain an electronic copy of the Quram (in Arabic)? I would also be interested to know if any has or is working on an electronic Arabic Bible. Alan Humm Religious Studies University of Pennsylvania From: hans@leif.mun.ca Subject: TRANSLATION/HYPERTEXT (for distribution) Date: 02 Jun 89 08:01 -0330 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 92 (189) I'm interested in Hypertext applications and am working on some Hypertext systems in the History of Biblical Interpretation. In my wider searches I corresponded with Alex Gross, who is interested in Hypertext for professional translators. He consented to have the following piece re-distributed on the HUMANIST. Maybe some people are interested in the same topic. He does not have a BITNET address but can be reached on CompuServe (71071,1520). His mailing address is: Cross-Cultural Research Projects, P.O. Box 660, Cooper Station, New York, NY 10276. Regards, HANS ROLLMANN (hans@mun.bitnet) -------------------------------------------------------- HYPERTEXT FOR TRANSLATORS: Overhype or Underhype? Now at last there may be a solution for all those translators concerned about being engulfed, devoured, and ultimately replaced by the computer. That solution involves a phenomenon loosely known as "HyperText." Instead of letting them lead you off to a workstation or terminal, you can use HyperText methods to build your own translator's workstation at home and learn more about how it works than your prospective bosses are likely to know. Anyone can do this who can run a word processor and has some notion of what a data base is. The cloud of hype and poor documentation surrounding HyperText is so thick that some are sure to be skeptical. So I intend to take three off-the-shelf HyperText systems without any further ado and show how to start using them to build useful and intriguing tools for translators. The three systems I will be describing are the much advertised IZE and Agenda and the less touted but equally capable HOUDINI and its cousin PC-Hypertext, though as we will see only the last is an example of true "HyperText.". [much deleted] -------------------- [A complete version of this description is now available on the file-server, s.v. HYPRTEXT TRANSLTR. A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: stephen clark Subject: Cudworth on angels Date: Fri, 02 Jun 89 10:57:10 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 93 (190) Courtesy of Nicholas Coleman of Emmanuel, Cambridge: Cudworth True Intellectual History (1678) pp.777f: says that is a misconception to suppose that "thousands of .. incorporeal substances or spirits might dance together at once upon a needles point". He refutes by reference to Plotinus VI 9.6. And goes on: "And to conclude, though some who are far from Atheists, may make themselves merry with that conceit of thousands of spirits dancing at once upon a needles point and though the atheists may endeavour to rogue and ridicule all incorporeal substances in that manner; yet does this run upon a clear mistake of the hypothesis, and make nothing at all against it; for as much as and unextended substance is neither any parvitude as is here supposed (because it hath no magnitude at all) nor hath it any place or site or local mo tion, properly belonging to it; and therefore can neither dance upon a needles point nor any where else". So Cudworth's answer is not, as I had suggested, "infinitely many", but "none". From: walker@flash.bellcore.com (Donald E Walker) Subject: Conference on Dictionaries in the Electronic Age Date: Thu, 1 Jun 89 23:36:13 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 94 (191) DICTIONARIES IN THE ELECTRONIC AGE Fifth Annual Conference of the University of Waterloo Centre for the New OED Jointly presented by Oxford University Press Oxford University Computing Service University of Waterloo St. Catherine's College, Oxford, England -- 18-19 September 1989 (For associated workshops on Dictionary Assessment and Criticism and on Developing Lexical Resources, see below.) "The complete Oxford English Dictionary ... likely to be very manageable indeed when compressed into the electronic microstructure of a chip." - Christopher Evans, "The Mighty Micro", 1979 Once it had become clear that computers could be used in the composition, analysis, and transmission of written texts, it was a natural step to try to yoke them together with dictionaries, the most complex of texts both to compile and to analyse. Pioneering early efforts were made during the 1950s and 1960s, when storage was limited and data entry was by punched card. The first dictionaries actually compiled in the form of a computer database appeared in the late 1970s. By this time professional analysts of language such as linguists and computer scientists had begun to realize that the dictionary was a ready-made mine of language. If it could be electronically analysed they would be freed from much of the labour of collecting or introspecting linguistic patterns. During the 1980s a fruitful symbiosis has grown up between lexicography, computing, and linguistics. Increasingly, dictionaries are designed as computer databases and compiled with the assistance of textual corpora. The lexicographer's desk has been reinterpreted as a multi- functional workstation. Linguists are exploiting the full resources of machine-readable dictionaries in order to build comprehensive models of linguistic data. Computer scientists are able to take over the information network built into the dictionary as a kind of ready-made expert system. In 1984 the "Oxford English Dictionary" became the first large dictionary to be converted from printed format into a machine-readable database. In March this year the second edition of the OED was published, the offspring of a successful marriage of lexicography and computer technology. To mark this achievement this Fifth Annual Conference is being held at Oxford rather than at Waterloo. The publication of the new edition of the OED, together with the development, at the University of Waterloo Centre for the New OED, of programs for the rapid searching of large textual databases like the OED, and the appearance of a CD-ROM version of the first edition of the OED, are pointers towards the fulfilment of Evans's prediction. [Conference programme, fee schedule, etc. deleted] -------------------- [A complete version of this announcement is now available on the file-server, s.v. NEW_OED CONFRNCE. A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: Ian Lancashire Subject: Travel from Toronto airport downtown Date: Sat, 03 Jun 89 08:56:51 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 95 (192) If you aren't burdened by more luggage than you can carry, the best way to get into Toronto from the airport is by bus to the subway system, and then by subway downtown. Buses leave both terminals 1 and 2 to the ISLINGTON subway stop (on the Bloor street line) every 40 minutes. You buy a ticket ($4.50 Canadian) on the arrivals level before getting on. Terminal 1 is quite overcrowded. That is the reason we have not recommended it to you. But as long as you brave the surging crowds and know what you want to do, getting out of Terminal 1 isn't hard. Terminal 2 (Air Canada, Lufthansa, and other airlines) is more spacious and less congested. Once you arrive by bus at the ISLINGTON subway station (Bay no. 5), you proceed to the eastbound train. A ticket or token costs $1.10 Canadian (exact change NOT needed, but Canadian funds ARE needed). Travellers heading to the Park Plaza Hotel, the university residences, and the Westbury Hotel should do as follows: PARK PLAZA: get off at St. George Station (east door, Bedford Road) and walk one block east on Bloor St. to Avenue Road and Bloor St., where the hotel stands. UNIVERSITY RESIDENCES: get off at St. George Station (WEST door, St. George St., and walk about two and a half blocks south to 100 St. George St. (the conference centre, Sidney Smith Hall). Southwards, by the way, is towards the large CN Tower in the distance (left as you exit the Station). WESTBURY: get off at Yonge St. Station and transfer (no additional cost) to Yonge St. train going SOUTH. Proceed several stops to COLLEGE St. Station and exit on the east side of Yonge St., where the hotel stands. Total cost: $5.60. Total time (from departure from airport): 30 minutes to ISLINGTON Station, and another 35-50 minutes to your subway stop. Two kinds of taxis are available from the airport: limousines and ordinary cabs. I would take a cab and expect a fare of about $30-$35. There is also a bus to the Royal York Hotel (opposite the downtown central railway station). From here you would take a cab to your hotel or take the subway north to COLLEGE St. Station or to St. GEORGE St. Station (you have to transfer to the Bloor St. line to get to St. GEORGE). Have a speedy, comfortable, and safe trip. Bon voyage. From: unh!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield) Subject: Date: Sun, 4 Jun 89 17:15:58 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 96 (193) Subject: Scholarly microcomputing Adding to Donald Spaeth's comments about word-processing, I'd like to point out some useful research just published in _CHum_ (23:2, April 1989) entitled: "Initial Effects of Word Processing on Writing Quality and Writing Anxiety of Freshman Writers" (Milton Teichman & Marilyn Poris). The experimental design looks solid. While T & P found that writing quality did not significantly improve, it was certainly not harmed by use of wp. Furthermore, students' attitude toward writing significantly improved, which may, according to the researchers, significantly improve their writing abilities over time. From my experience in teaching a translation course every other year, I concur. Regarding Charles Faulhaber's comment in the same "edition" of HUMANIST, I agree that we sorely need more machine-readable texts for the same reasons. In addition, we need more and better querying tools and literary computing strategies. And the more these become known to our as-yet-non-computing colleagues, the more likely it will be that they will try them out. I just returned from a worthwhile conference organized at the U. of Massachusetts/Amherst by Five Colleges, Inc., and found a general consensus from other CALL R & D colleagues that non-threatening forums (conferences, looking over a colleague's shoulder in an office, departmental meetings, faculty computing centers, etc.) need to be provided for said "ASNC" humanists to judge for themselves. But one of the primary motivations must be that they have a problem to solve that is best facilitated by some form of computing. --Joel D. Goldfield J_GOLDFI@UNHH.bitnet From: unh!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield) Subject: Date: Sun, 4 Jun 89 16:38:18 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 97 (194) Subject: SHARE A TAXI ON JUNE 7th Following David Chisholm's example, I am inquiring if any late-arriving Humanists would like to share a taxi from the Toronto airport on June 7th after 12:30 p.m. (Air Canada from Boston). Please send a message directly to me at J_GOLDFI@UNHH.bitnet before the evening of June 6th. Cordially, Joel D. Goldfield From: jonathan@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU (Jonathan Altman) Subject: Re: 3.91 textbase searches? Date: Sat, 3 Jun 89 11:46:10 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 98 (195) [In response to David Mealand's query about benchmarks for textbase searches] I just did a very quick benchmark on the Dante Project database. For details, here's the stats on our system. Computer is a VAX 11/785 running 4.3 Berkeley Unix with 16 MB of memory (before complaining that I'm using a minicomputer and you want workstation/PC comparisons, note that a VAXStation 3100 has more crunching power than our Vax, as might my mac SE/30 if it had enough memory). CPU load was low. Our software is BRS/Search. The files associated with the Dante Project database total 123 MB approx. The search was for "agostino" in the same sentence as "volonta." Search time was under 2 seconds (I couldn't stop my watch fast enough to get a better reading than that. Sorry.). Note that BRS/Search is a) a very large, expensive text-retrieval system (although it is available in a PC version which I have not seen) and b) designed to keep information in index and dictionary files, so that my search did not actually check the actual texts, but instead the dictionary files. Nonetheless, not bad. I should also note that I could also search for those two words next to each other, close (I can define "close") to each other, and in specific order, should I choose. Jonathan Altman jonathan@eleazar.Dartmouth.edu Database Consultant jonathan.altman@Dartmouth.edu Dartmouth Dante Project From: db Subject: Re: 3.93 Cudworth on dancing angels (31) Date: Sat, 3 Jun 89 15:10:20 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 154 (196) What is "parvitude"? From: Michel Pierssens Subject: dancing tables, raps, mediums etc. in British literature 1848-1920 Date: Sat, 03 Jun 89 15:38:31 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 155 (197) I'm preparing a book on deviant science and literature in England and France 18 48-1920. I'm looking for literary renditions of mediumnistic "seances" and the like in British literature. I'd welcome (and acknowledge) references -- especia lly in machine-readable corpora. Thanks! From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: Lapping it Up Date: Sat, 03 Jun 89 21:13:57 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 156 (198) Here's an inquiry that's sure to generate many responses, so I invite HUMANISTS to write to me directly (if they prefer) rather than clog up the network (unless, of course, your reply is of general interest). I'm wondering whether anyone had experience with DOS-compatible laptop computers. I'd like to know which is most useful for a person working in the humanities. If it's not too much to ask, I'd like to know the reason for your preferences--ease of transport, keyboard, screen quality, suitability to use in a library, etcetera. I'm planning to use this primarily as a notetaking device but also, perhaps, in tandem with a scanner, as a word-processor, and for telecommunications. Thank you for your help! ENCOPE@LSUVM -- Kevin L. Cope. From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: E-mail to Oxford Date: Sat, 03 Jun 89 21:17:53 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 157 (199) I'm planning on a sabbatical stay in Oxford for a good part of the calendar year 1990 and am wondering whether it's possible for a non-Oxford associated scholar to get an account with an appropriate Oxford mainframe device. My purpose is to make use of e-mail. What is the application procedure? Are there any charges? Thank you. From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: Abbreviating the Interaction Date: Sat, 03 Jun 89 21:20:30 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 158 (200) Do any of you telecomputing humanists know a way to shorten the interactive BITNET procedure? Is there any kind of zippy program to bypass typing TELL + ADDRESS before every single line? Thank you. From: NZ101@PHOENIX.CAMBRIDGE.AC.UK Subject: littleness Date: Mon, 5 Jun 89 16:39:01 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 159 (201) Parvitude is what magnitude isn't. From: unh!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield) Subject: Date: Mon, 5 Jun 89 11:04:25 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 160 (202) Subject: Laptop experience & deserted airwaves In response to Kevin Cope's recent query, I've seen a number of laptops and own a Zenith 181. While these laptops easily become "lug-tops" when one adds the transformer, carrying case, diskettes, mouse, etc., they're quite handy for working in libraries and other locations where a "portable" just won't do. I usually do not use just the battery pack: it doesn't last long enough. However, it is important to keep it installed in case the AC power fails: they batteries take over automatically. Laptops are extremely annoying if you like to add all sorts of useful cards (interactive video, another video standard, overlay, etc.), and a hard disk weighs them down, but the latter is almost indispensable when dealing with long manuscripts and machine-readable texts. I will wait at least another year before trading mine in because of recent innovations in LCD color screen and disk drive technology: the prices will fall quickly. At present, it seems that a color screen with a 9" diagonal will set you back at least $1,500 over the monochrome one. Has anyone noticed that many people seem to have disappeared from Humanist to some distant location? I guess the interaction time is much shorter somewhere in Toronto.... See you all Wednesday! --Joel D. Goldfield From: "Robin C. Cover" Subject: RE: HUMM'S QUERY ARABIC BIBLE Date: Sun, 04 Jun 89 18:53:28 CST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 161 (203) The 1981 publication of the Centre: Informatique et Bible (PIB) lists a machine-readable version of the four Gospels, digitized from a manuscript dating to 897 C.E (Manuscript Sinai Arabe 72). This may be the same text referred to in the Oxford snapshot. The Arabic text is said be be dependent upon "Greek," but no further details about textual (af)filiation are given. Maredsous can no doubt supply more information Robin C. Cover zrcc1001@smuvm1.BITNET 3909 Swiss Avenue convex!txsil!robin.UUCP Dallas, TX 75204 killer!dtseap!robin.UUCP 214/296-1783(h), 824-3094(w) killer!utafll!robin.UUCP ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- From: daniel boyarin Subject: dislexic theologian Date: Mon, 05 Jun 89 08:18:31 IST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 162 (204) I want to know if humanists have heard of the <{dislexic theologian who spent his life looking for the meaning of dog? From: Ruth Bamberger Subject: Norway & environmental studies Date: Tue, 06 Jun 89 14:48:58 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 163 (205) I will be traveling to Norway on June 11, staying in Oslo June 12-14, and then traveling through Norway until June 23. I am interested in meeting with social scientists with research interests in environmental issues (solid waste management, acid rain/deforestation, water quality control, etc.) If Humanist readers can suggest contacts in Norway -- or wish to volunteer to meet with me there -- please contact me as soon as possible. Thanks in advance, Dr. Ruth Bamberger Professor of Political Science Drury College Springfield, MO 65802 USA (417) 865-8731 From: Ronen Shapira Subject: Date: Wed, 07 Jun 89 00:54:39 IST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 164 (206) I know this is not the right forum, but i'll appreciate if the chinese members of "humanist" will conact me and send me information about what is going on there. thanks. From: Michel Pierssens Subject: Repression in China Date: Mon, 05 Jun 89 18:20:29 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 165 (207) A petition initiated in the Department of Literary Studies at Universite du Que bec a Montreal is presently being circulated for signature by all those interes ted in showing some solidarity to fellow students and professors in Beijing. He re is how it reads: "Le gouvernement chinois vient de declarer la guerre a ses intellectuels, a ses etudiants et a leurs professeurs. Pour que cesse le massac re, nous, professeurs et etudiants de l'Universite du Quebec a Montreal, nous v oulons aujourd'hui manifester notre solidarite avec tous ceux que frappe la rep ression. Nous exigeons egalement du gouvernement canadien des actes immediats p our faire pression sur le gouvernement chinois de la maniere la plus energique. " It is addressed to the Right Honourable Joe Clark, Secretary of State for Ext ernal Affairs, Commons, East Building, room 165, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6. Sign atures are welcome and dissemination of translations and adaptations of the pet ition is encouraged. From: Alan Bundy Subject: Postdoc Position in Theorem Proving at Edinburgh Date: Tue, 6 Jun 89 16:27:37 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 166 (208) Department of Artificial Intelligence University of Edinburgh RESEARCH FELLOW (Mathematical Reasoning) Applications are invited for an SERC supported post, tenable from 1st November 1989, or on a mutually agreed date. Appointment will be to September 30th 1991, initially, but with a possibility of renewal. The research is to develop proof plans, a technique for guiding the search for a proof in automatic theorem proving. The main application is to the automatic synthesis, verification and transformation of logic programs using constructive logic. The project is led by Professor Alan Bundy and Dr Alan Smaill. Candidates should possess a PhD or have equivalent research or industrial experience. Knowledge of logic is essential and knowledge of artificial intelligence, formal methods in software engineering or logic programming would be an advantage. Salary is on the AR1A scale in the range 9,865-15,720 pounds p.a., according to age, qualifications and experience. Applicants should send a CV and the names of two referees to: Prof. Alan Bundy. Department of Artificial Intelligence, University of Edinburgh, 80 South Bridge, Edinburgh, EH1 1HN. as soon as possible. The closing date for applications is 17th July 1989. Further details may be obtained from Prof. Bundy (at the above address or email to bundy@uk.ac.edinburgh or bundy@rutgers.edu) quoting reference number 5678/E. From: Subject: Urdu Scribes Strike... Date: Mon, 5 Jun 89 09:08:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 103 (209) *Urdu Scribes Strike at India Newspapers* (By Barbara Crossette, NY Times, Sunday, June 4, 1989) NEW DELHI, June 3 -- Several dozen calligraphers went on strike last week along India's newspaper row, reminding the Asian publishing world that there is still one language that has eluded the typesetter: Urdu. Although experimental computer typesetting is being studied here and in Pakistan, where Urdu is the national language, newspapers in both countries still rely on accomplished scribes called katibs to handwrite the news with artists' pens. Urdu, similar to spoken Hindi but written in an Arabic-based Persian script, is considered the literary language of the continent's Muslims, many of whom migrated from India to Pakistan at the partition of British India in 1947. Urdu remains a minority language in both countries, how- ever, passionately defended by poets and storytellers. Newspapers, magazines and books in Urdu, an Indo-Aryan tongue that did not take on distinct written form until as late as the 17th century, are read from back to front and right to left, unlike the Sanskrit-based languages of the region, which also belong to a larger Indo-European family. In Delhi, no more than a handful of Urdu newspapers survive. The katibs at the Daily Pratap could count only eight today. Many of the capital's Muslims are concentrated in the old city nearby, a Mogul town before the British came. Perched on wooden platforms in dingy back rooms, the katibs -- some of them trained in the purest Urdu in schools named for the traditional in- tellectual centers of Lahore or Lucknow -- turn out their handwritten news columns at the rate of about 10 inches an hour. The "type" then goes straight to photocomposition. Mohammed Ikram, a 51-year-old katib at the Daily Pratap, said the calligraphers earn only $30 to $50 a month for long days in uncomfortable surroundings. He is among those who took part in a protest march on May 26 to demand a journalist's basic wage of $35 to $70. "Since 1968, when the court classified us as journalists, we have been cheated by the proprietors," Mr. Ikram said. From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: Appreciations/Laptops/Speedmail Date: Wed, 07 Jun 89 10:09:06 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 167 (210) Owing to the large number of kindresponses that I received, I'd like to extend a general appreciation to all those HUMANISTS who offered suggestions concerning interactive BITNET and laptops computers. One HUMANIST asked me to summarize the results of my laptops inquiry. The most strongly recommended model was the evidently underappreciated DATAVUE SPARK (available from DATAVUE at 405-564-555 owing to its excellent screen, abundant standard features, economy, and a host of other virtues. The next most highly praised device was the TOSHIBA T3100, second only owing to its lack of battery support. Other models drawing praise were the Tandy 100 (good, but short on memory) and the Zenith 181. Again, thanks for all your help. And special thanks to Natalie Maynor for her kind words concerning my style as a grammoteer. From: DEL2@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk Subject: Re: [3.100 parvitude; laptops; Koran (74)] Date: Wed, 7 Jun 89 10:22:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 168 (211) If the laptop is only or primarily for data capture, why insist on DOS? I use a Z88, very cheap and *quiet enough to use in a library*, then download to another machine. In its pricerange, I do think it very impressive machine. Douglas de Lacey From: John Lavagnino Subject: Electronic publishing in the TLS Date: Wed, 7 Jun 89 12:40 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 105 (212) Our area of interest is mentioned briefly in a recent article about the state of academic publishing: John Sutherland, ``The making of codices and careers,'' *Times Literary Supplement*, number 4495, May 26--June 1, 1989, pages 580 and 585. I quote from page 585: The computerization of the academic profession has happened remarkably quickly (particularly if one recalls the same profession's almost century-long resistance to the typewriter). And since the early 1980s, there have been public-domain or low-cost typesetting programs available---notably Donald Knuth's TEX [sic]---which are wholly adaptable to the desk-top computer. Via what are called Device Independent Output Files (DVIs) and laser printers (or phototypesetters if there is one handy), it is now feasible for authors to set their own books and send proofs for examination to the publisher. In this way the academic author can reappropriate many primary editorial and design functions and still have the coveted press imprint on the finished work. In my subject (English literature) I like to think that the scholars who are doing most to unsettle things are not Yale's or Duke's theorists but relatively unknown pioneers of photocomposition like Thomas C. Faulkner, whose *Anatomy of Melancholy* will be published by OUP; Peter Shillingsburg, whose collected works of Thackeray will come from Garland Press; or G. W. Pigman III, who is editing the collected poetry of George Gascoyne for OUP. [Sutherland argues that this is not an innovation but a return to tradition: that nineteenth-century authors were usually involved in those ``primary editorial and design functions,'' and that OUP didn't stop authors from ``going into OUP's printing shop to collaborate daily with `their' compositor'' until the 1940s.] From: UDAA270@ELM.CC.KCL.AC.UK Subject: Rose Theatre update Date: 7-JUN-1989 16:09:12 GMT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 106 (213) Steve Miller, a postgraduate student at King's College London, has been involved from early days in the campaign to save the Elizabethan Rose theatre. An earlier message of his was sent to Humanist, and he asked me to post the following update. Susan Kruse King's College London ************************************************************* 7 June 1989 First let me thank all of those from Canada, the USA, Britain and Sweden who troubled to reply to my first notice about the danger to the Rose Theatre excavation site in early May. The site was not covered, but the grace period ends on Sunday 11 June, so those still concerned may be interested in the following update: Despite press reports that it has been rescued, NO SAFE PLAN TO PRESERVE THE SITE OF THE RECENTLY DISCOVERED ROSE THEATRE IN LONDON HAS YET BEEN GUARANTEED. Imry Merchant Developers who paid for the archaeological dig which discovered the site have submitted a plan to erect their proposed office building on stilts over the theatre, but to do this they need to sink huge shafts about 170 feet deep near or possibly through the structural remains of the Rose itself on its partially excavated site. The urgent need is for the British Government to list the site as a National Monument to protect it before the site has been built upon -- despite possible compensation costs. On Monday, 5 June, Nicholas Ridley, Secretary for the Environment, promised to decide within a week whether to list the site. Anyone wishing to encourage him to list the Rose will need to act soon. His address is -- Nicholas Ridley, MP Secretary of State Department of the Environment Lambeth Bridge House LONDON SE1 7SB England telephone: 01-211-3000 TELEX: 886 598 Alternatively, a direct appeal to the Prime Minister could be addressed to -- The Rt Hon Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister, 10 Downing Street, London SW 1 England telephone: 270-3000. If anyone wishes to send an electronic mail message via me, I will forward it with an explanation that it could not be signed because of its method of transmission. GENTLE READER, may I apologise again for the lateness of these appeals, but as you may imagine this is a very active issue with new announcements almost daily. For academics I realise that early June may not be the best time for answering E-Mail. Could I ask those who notice this message to notify others whom they think might be interested? While I feel certain that those of us in London who claim that there is great international concern for the fate of this first discovery of an Elizabethan playhouse are right, every proof we get of that is essential. Sincerely Stephen Miller, c/o Dept of English, King's College London, The Strand London WC2R 2LS England. E-Mail: UDLE031@ UK.AC.KCL.CC.OAK From: David Megginson Subject: For Humanist: Electronic Orm Date: Wed, 07 Jun 89 08:37:24 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 107 (214) Does anyone out there have or know of an electronic Ormulum? If not, I may work on it myself, but it would be nice if it already exists. From: "DAVID CHISHOLM, GERMAN DEPT., (602) 621-5924/621-7385" Subject: ALLC Report on German Texts Date: Sat, 3 Jun 89 15:00 MST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 108 (215) THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA Tucson, Arizona 85721 College of Arts and Sciences Department of German (602) 621-5924 or 621-7385 Bitnet: chisholm@arizrvax May 19, 1989 Dear ALLC member: As chairman of the ALLC Specialist Group for Post-Renaissance German texts, I am in the process of gathering information about German texts since 1700 in machine-readable form and about computer-assisted projects on post-Renaissance German (including Language, Literature, and Language Pedagogy) initiated or under way since January 1985. Please send me information about the status of your projects if you wish to have them mentioned in the ALLC Journal. It will be helpful if the following information is included: 1) Title and brief description of your project. 2) List of the texts used (include authors, titles, publisher and date of publication), plus any coding information you consider relevant. 3) When was the project started and when do you expect it to be completed? 4) List of publications based on your project. 5) Planned or forthcoming publications based on your project. 6) Information on programs and computers used for your project. If you know of any other projects on post-Renaissance German texts and computer-assisted instruction in German, I would appreciate hearing about them. Please see the questionnaire on the next page. Your prompt reply will be very much appreciated. David Chisholm Professor of German QUESTIONNAIRE 1. A number of institutions now maintain archives of German texts in machine-readable form: the Institut fr deutsche Sprache in Mannheim, the Institut fr Kommunikationsforschung und Phonetik in Bonn, the Oxford University Computing Service, the Humanities Research Center at Brigham Young University in Utah, and the Language Research Center at the University of Arizona. Do you know of any other institutions maintaining computer archives of post-Renaissance German texts? (Please use an extra sheet if necessary.) Institution and address: Type and approximate number of texts: 2. Have you personally prepared German texts in machine-readable form? If so, are you willing to put them at the disposal of other researchers (e.g., by submitting a copy to one of the existing computer archives)? Under what conditions, if any? Texts (specify titles, format, non-textual coding features such as syntax, and other information which you consider relevant): 3. Indicate the type of connection you would like to have with the ALLC specialist group: I am willing to take an active part in the work within the group. I wish to receive information on the work carried out in the group. 4. Comments on how the work in the specialist group should be conducted: 5. Other comments and suggestions: Name: Address: From: Willard McCarty Subject: return to the world Date: 11 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 109 (216) Since I have more or less returned to ordinary time and space, Humanist will now resume its regular schedule of daily publication. Humanists who attended The Dynamic Text conference and the Tools for Humanists software fair are welcome to submit reports, although perhaps only one detailed summary of events is sufficient. What might require discussion and several points of view, however, are comments on the quality of work and the state of the discipline reflected by it. A friend and fellow Humanist remarked to me that the discipline as a whole seems to have taken a decisive turn for the better -- quite independently of how the conference and fair were organized and run. I would like to know, if you agree, what sort of a change has occurred. The coming together of the two major organizations in humanities computing is, I think, significant in this regard. Willard McCarty From: Tom Walker Subject: Kurzweil report Date: Fri, 9 Jun 89 14:28:39 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 169 (217) RECURRING ERRORS IN ICR SCANNING Dott. Cesare Brizio, Galileo Centro Studi, Cento (FE) ABSTRACT : Galileo Centro Studi, an italian Software and Informatics Service House, is involved in a textual data bank project with the Istituto di Studi Rinascimentali (ISR) of Ferrara (Italy): herein the text processing phases (including ICR scanning) are described, along with the problems encountered in scanning and editing. This note will hopefully start an info exchange between all those who are interested in Kurzweil ICR applied to the field of Italian Renaissance literature. -------------------- [A complete version of this report is now available on the file-server, s.v. KURZWEIL REPORT. A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: Gideon Toury Subject: Translation Studies Newsletter, vol. 6 Date: 9 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 170 (218) AN INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER OF TRANSLATION STUDIES NEW SERIES NUMBER SIX / MAY 1989 ISSN 0792-058X _______________________________________________ TRANSST, an international newsletter of translation studies, is published by the M. Bernstein Chair of Translation Theory and the Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics, Tel Aviv University (Israel). It is edited by Gideon Toury, with the help of Jose Lambert (University of Leuven, Belgium). Editorial and administrative address: TRANSST, The M. Bernstein Chair of Translation Theory, Tel Aviv University, P.O. Box 39085, Tel Aviv, Israel. Bitnet: TOURY at TAUNIVM; tel. 03- 5459502. -------------------- [A complete version of this newsletter is now available on the file-server, s.v. TRANSST6 NEWSLETR. A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: Ronit Subject: Middle Iranian Date: Thu, 8 Jun 89 04:49:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 171 (219) If anyone wants to share information about middle persian literature in out and around computers I will be happy to share back. I have some of the manichaean middle-iranian (MPersian, Parthian and some Sogdian) on the computer. Ronit From: GW2@VAXA.YORK.AC.UK Subject: HYPERTEXT Date: 9-JUN-1989 11:25:00 GMT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 172 (220) Re-reading the theoretical discussions of Hypertext from last summer, I'd be very interested to hear what people are actually doing with the system. Could we have brief accounts from the practitioners? From: amsler@flash.bellcore.com (Robert A Amsler) Subject: The development of conventions in the use of paper Date: Fri, 9 Jun 89 11:03:49 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 173 (221) I wonder if humanist's could help me find the best place to track down the introduction of various conventional uses of paper for writing? I am thinking of things such as the first use of books to record plays and their special notational conventions, and similar `innovations' in publishing which have led to our contemporary publishing practices in which many `devices' for communicating information to readers are in use such as indexes, tables of contents, lists of illustrations, page numbering, guide-words for reference works that tell the beginning and last entries on each page of an alphabetically arranged work, etc. I want to document the long historical development of print products with something like a time-line of events and am hoping this theme has been taken up by someone already such that there is a good reference work available? From: Amedeo Quondam / Thomas Walker Subject: Kurzweil scanning of Italian Renaissance texts Date: Thu, 08 Jun 89 22:13:23 ITA X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 112 (222) [The following briefly describes the report on the scanning of Italian Renaissance texts by Kurzweil. As announced in a previous message on Humanist, this report is available from the file-server, s.v. KURZWEIL REPORT. My thanks to Cesare Brizio, Amedeo Quondam, Tom Walker, and their colleagues at the ISR. --W.M.] The Istituto di Studi Rinascimentali (ISR) of Ferrara (Italy) has embarked on a project of creating text data bases using various forms of input including ICR scanning. This has involved an intensive collaboration with Galileo Centro Studi, an Italian software and computer services house located in Cento (province of Ferrara). Dr. Cesare Brizio of Galileo has prepared a fairly extensive report on the subject of "Recurring errors in ICR scanning", which describes the text processing phases, along with the problems encountered in scanning and editing. Among the questions which Dr. Brizio's report considers are the following: the consequences of using personnel not specialized in literature or history; the choice of a final text format; problems intrinsic to ICR technology (contrast, connected characters, thin paper); disturbing factors linked to page structure; the characteristics of a "perfect" page; problems caused by the specific nature of texts of interest to the ISR (unreadable accents; characters not available as keyboard keys; characters not available in the ASCII set such as most Greek letters, subscripts and superscripts; elimination of line numbers and note numbers; elimination of non-textual scanned material); factors of human error (cultural level of the operators; similarities in character shapes); the scanning/editing procedure used to process the text, including prior examination of the material and evaluation techniques; typology and quantification of errors. The work done so far has produced encouraging results and built confidence even in such a problematic environment as Renaissance Italian poses. Both Galileo and the ISR would welcome observations, advice and information from anyone interested in or involved with this field. We would, in particular, be pleased to launch an exchange of information and experiences between those concerned with Kurzweil ICR as applied to the field of Italian Renaissance literature, although certainly many of the questions raised here are of more general applicability. From: "Tom Benson 814-238-5277" Subject: Re: 3.105 electronic publication (43) Date: Thu, 8 Jun 89 08:35:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 113 (223) Thanks for John Lavagnino's comments (forwarded from TLS) on electronic typesetting. I've spent the past month or so, with heroic help from our computer center, typesetting a book that was written in SCRIPT on our IBM mainframe (and in collaboration across bitnet). The process is fascinating, and it provides two big advantages: (1) it's cheaper for the press, which is saving thousands of dollars--this makes the book feasible, and it reduces its selling price; (2) I'm writing about a subjet-in-progress, and so it is possible to change the text up until almost the last minute, when we are ready to prepare camera ready pages at Penn State's printing services department. (Page proofs are made by downloading postscript files to my Mac, and running them through my laser printer). But the disadvantages still remain: I am putting a typographer out of work; I am spending weeks doing keyboard work when I could be more usefully employed writing another book. This may all be a false economy, exciting though it may be to do . . . once. Tom Benson Penn State From: QGHU21@UJVAX.ULSTER.AC.UK Subject: PC-TRANSLATOR Date: 12-JUN-1989 16:57:04 GMT +01:00 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 114 (224) [deleted quotation] University of Ulster, Northern Ireland JANET%UK.AC.ULSTER.UJVAX::QGHU21 Re: Reports on PC-TRANSLATOR from Linguistic Products Texas -------------------------------------------------------------- I've been asked to comment on the above product but the only details i've got are from the suppliers. I would therefore be grateful if fellow HUMANISTS could either direct me to evaluation reports on the product or relay their experiences from using the software. Our Modern Languages Department wish to purchase a translation package to use with 'final year' language students who study a unit on 'machine translation'. All contributions will be most welcome. Thanking you in advance Noel Wilson From: "Patrick W. Conner" Subject: Historial development of print Date: Sun, 11 Jun 89 21:19:25 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 174 (225) Re Robert Amsler on documenting historical development of print products: Many of the conventions you mention were in use in manuscripts long before printed books came on the scene. Before there were modern tables of contents some manuscripts contained an elenchus, or list of works contained in the codex. Other books, e.g., collections of saints' lives, were arranged according to the Church kalendar, which must have aided a reader in finding a desired text. Gospel Books contained canon tables, which concorded the events in Christ's life as presented in the four gospels, so that you could easly examine the same event from the point of view of each writer who included it. Display scripts and various sorts of headlines helped separate, define, and mark the status of segments of many manuscripts. Most of the techniques in use in early printed books were imitated from manuscripts, for the reason that moveable type was not thought to produce a *new* product, but merely to provide a new technology for producing an old product. Some of the Gutenberg Bibles and other early books were printed on parchment, and Leon Gilissen has shown that the process of folding sheets into gatherings after they are printed was adapted from a similar process already in use (but not exclusively in use) for manuscript production. I would suggest that you get Laurel Nicholas Braswell's *Western Manuscripts from Classical Antiquity to the Renaissance: A Handbook* (Garland, 1981) for a bibliography on the conventions you're interested in within their manuscript context, and from there go to Fredson Bowers' *Principles of Bibliographic Description* to begin to assemble a list of your conventions which seem to show up first in printed contexts. A decent thumbnail sketch of the discipline is to be found in William Proctor Williams & Craig S. Abbott's *An Introduction to Bibliographical and Textual Studies* (MLA 1985) There may be a better source for what you're looking for in printed books than Bowers, but I don't do enough work with early printed books to know what it would be. If you ever find yourself in the Jefferson Building at the Library of Congress, compare the Gutenberg Bible on display with the manuscript Bible of Mainz. It is a most dramatic demonstration of the unbroken lineage from manuscript design to book design. Caxton's works similarly imitate, to the degree he could do so, 15th century English manuscripts. --Pat Conner From: Niko Subject: History of the use of paper & print Date: Mon, 12 Jun 89 10:19:24 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 175 (226) In answer to Robert Amsler's request for information on the history of the use of paper: If I understand the request, your interest concerns the use of paper in *print* literacy, as opposed to other types of literacies (about which there is a large body of literature in several disciplines). While browsing in a Paris bookstore last week, I came across a very recent volume which addresses your interests. I like what I have read in it so far, and the reference might be of interest to several Humanists: Henri-Jean Martin. 1989. _Histoire et pouvoirs de l'ecrit_. (Collection Histoire et Decadence.) Paris: Librairie Academique Perrin. Niko Besnier Department of Anthropology Yale University From: munnari!csv.viccol.edu.au!TRELOARAC@uunet.UU.NET Subject: HUMANIST de-registration Date: Mon, 12 Jun 89 23:59:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 176 (227) Willard, It is with *great* regret that I must ask you to remove my name from the HUMANIST list. I have encountered the same barriers that your former New Zealand correspondents found - namely, the high cost of e-mail to this far-flung corner of the world. The computer centre has just advised me that the communications bill for May has come to A$ 155 - an unsustainable amount for my college. I am sorry about this - perhaps I will be able to resume my membership at a later stage. Yours, Andrew Treloar. PS. Do you know of any conferences on USENET that would be of interest to someone involved in the humanities? (We get USENET for free...) From: MLAOD@CUVMB.bitnet Subject: use of the MLA Bibliography? Date: Tue, 13 Jun 89 15:00:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 177 (228) Author's Query We are beginning the process of compiling a guide to the use of the MLA Bibliography in all its formats (print, online, CD-ROM), and all its historical incarnations (1921 to the present). The guide is designed to acquaint humanities scholars and students with techniques that will allow the most effective and complete use of this rather complex reference tool. I would appreciate hearing from anyone who would like to con- tribute examples of searches - successful or otherwise - in the MLA Bibliography, as well as anyone who has used the bibliography extensively who would like to suggest topics for coverage in this guide. Daniel Uchitelle Modern Language Association 10 Astor Place New York, NY 10003 From: David Sitman Subject: Listserv and lists, part 2 Date: Tue, 13 Jun 89 09:37:24 IST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 117 (229) Communicating with Listserv --------------------------- You can send commands to Listserv to join and leave lists, get files, get information on lists and files, and query and change personal options. You can communicate with Listserv by sending mail, a file, or an interactive message. Any user on any electronic mail network anywhere in the world which has access to Bitnet/NetNorth/EARN can send mail to Listserv. You can send more than one command to Listserv in a single mail message; each command must be on a separate line, with no blank lines between commands, starting on the first line of the mail body. Listserv will ignore the "Subject: " line of the header if it exists. Listserv determines your address from your mail. In some cases, e.g., when the mail passes throught several networks, the address that Listserv uses to reply is not successful. Listserv expects that the header lines of your mail ("Date: ", "From: ", etc.) will follow the standard RFC822. If your local mailer does not obey this standard, then Listserv will not process your commands. [deleted quotation]in a plain file. As with mail, you must start on the first line and not skip lines between commands. If you are on Bitnet/NetNorth/EARN and can send interactive messages, then this is the fastest and most efficient way to send commands to Listserv. As always with interactive messages, this will work only when there is an open line between you and the Listserv machine. E.g., if you are on an IBM computer running VM/CMS, and you want to get a list of the HUMANIST files, you can enter: TELL LISTSERV AT UTORONTO INDEX HUMANIST If you are on a Vax VMS system, you may be able to use the following interactive procedure. Enter: SEND/REMOTE UTORONTO LISTSERV you should get the prompt: (UTORVM)LISTSERV: then type the Listserv command, e.g.: INDEX HUMANIST or the following: SEND MESSAGE UTORONTO LISTSERV INDEX HUMANIST Note: there seems to be some difficulty with the name conversion of HUMANIST's host computer from UTORONTO to UTORVM. The two are NOT identical. Interactive messages sent to LISTSERV AT UTORVM don't work for me. ------------------------- Note that David Sitman's articles on ListServ are available on the file-server, s.v. LISTSERV DESCR-1 and LISTSERV DESCR-2. They may be downloaded in the usual manner, for which consult your Guide to Humanist. From: Willard McCarty Subject: education and the universities Date: 13 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 118 (230) In the Times Literary Supplement for 26 May -- 1 June, John Passmore reviews a book of essays by Michael Oakeshott, The Voice of Liberal Learning (Yale U.P.), and in so doing clarifies the threat that our universities now face. He considers in particular British and Australian institutions, but what he says, and what Oakeshott says through him, is nonetheless relevant to those in North America and perhaps elsewhere. In the eyes of government, Passmore declares, "the situation is perfectly plain. Schools, universities, are enterprises designed to turn out a particular kind of product. They should be thought of, in other words, as being of the same order as a driving school. We judge such a school in terms of its capacity to teach us a desirable skill at a level adequate to gain us a licence, at the lowest possible cost. On the now fashionable view, whenever schools or universities seek subsidies their requests should be judged in similar terms, except that the benefits can be of a broader kind. As is particularly insisted upon in England, there is such a thing as being a `good citizen'. It consists in being law abiding, amenable, no kind of troublemaker, never asking inopportune questions, accepting such of the `traditional values' as are not inconsistent with the maximization of wealth. Governments will find it profitable to subsidize teaching institutions which turn out such products." In contrast, Oakeshott talks about "schooling", "a serious and orderly initiation into an intellectual, imaginative, and moral inheritance." Thus, Passmore notes, "a driving school, a riding school, a business school, far from being paradigm cases, do not count as such. They are places for training, for what Oakeshott calls `socialization', not for education." He argues that over the last 50 years educational institutions, Oakeshott's "schools", have allowed themselves to be converted into training institutions. Government subsidization has been accepted by grateful academics without careful inspection of the terms in which it has been offered. "Most academics so welcomed having more money to appoint more staff that they did not realize that they had entered into a Faustian contract. They saw the government as an ever-loving Marguerite rather than as Mephistopheles." Interesting, provocative reading. Comments? Willard McCarty From: Charles Ess Subject: women fliers/publisher Date: Wed, 14 Jun 89 14:08:09 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 178 (231) A colleague is collecting in something of an oral history format recollections of women pilots from WW II. She will be seeking grant funding for editing these materials into publishable form and for publishing the book itself. Can HUMANIST readers suggest: A: additional sources for such recollections? B: possible granting agencies interested in such a project? C: possible publishers interested in the resulting book? As always, thanks in advance. Charles Ess Drury College 900 N. Benton Ave. Springfield, MO 65802 (417) 865-8731 From: Steve Dill Subject: 18C,Bitnet Demonstration Date: Wed, 14 Jun 89 15:07:38 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 179 (232) Anyone who wishes to assist in a demonstration of Bitnet to members of the American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies at the annual convention in Minneapolis in April, 1990, should reply to this message before the end of July. A seminar called "The Bitnet Experience" has been organized specifically to demonstrate Bitnet and to give hands-on experience to those who attend. Whoever participates in a seminar must be a member of ASECS or an official guest of the Society and must register for the convention. Recognition for assisting comes by being listed in the official convention program. Scholars knowledgeable in applications of Bitnet and who are patient with novices are urged to assist. Regards, Steve Dill, Department of English, Univesity of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, 57069 (UGA108 @ SDNET.BITNET) From: Tom Thomson Subject: Laptops Date: Fri, 9 Jun 89 15:03:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 120 (233) I find the Amstrad PPC640 nice; it's a lot cheaper than all those Japanese machines; the Sprint hard disc makes it a lot faster than them too for most purposes (ok, it doubles the price from 18% to 36% of the nearest Toshiba if you take the hard disc); it's a bit clumsy on the lap. From: (Terrence Erdt) Subject: Scanning, OCR, New Products Date: Wed, 14 Jun 89 12:53 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 121 (234) More on the Kurzweil 5100, and the Emerging Scenario for Document Representation and OCR Conversion The new model 5100 should be arriving at U.S. dealers in two to three weeks. It will cost $17,950, and as reported previously on Humanist, it will offer the Kurzweil "Verifier," which allows for trainability. Unlike the model 5000, the new model will also have the capacity to read image files. As I noted in the panel discussion on OCR and scanning at the Dynamic Text conference, the power to read "tif" and other image file formats such as "pcx" constitutes a significant difference between earlier OCR efforts with Kurzweil machines such as the 4000, and newer approaches that incorporate the peripherals associated with desktop publishing. Earlier efforts resulted in a final, or "finished," product, a machine readable, often frustratingly inaccurate version of a book; now, by applying an OCR application to an image file, it is possible to scan the book and in time apply newer and presumably improved OCR programs to the same file, producing better and more accurate machine readable versions. The 5100, like the Calera Truescan, will support this approach. One of the programs that I mentioned at the session on OCR was Ibase's "Irecognize," essentially an enhanced editor for Truescan, that allows for comparing the bitmapped image of the original scanned document with the version resulting from OCR. It seems to me that such a program may signify the direction that OCR and scanning documents will take. As the capacity for inexpensive data storage increases, as through optical disks, and as data compression techniques improve, it is probable, it seems to me, that we will be able to compare a very detailed image of original documents with the machine readable counterpart. Currently, there is already a sizeable industry devoted to scanning (without OCR) documents for companies wanting "paperless" offices; they generally link image files to conventional database programs that contain index terms and so forth; the next step, of linking the machine readable version of a document to the image of the original document, appears not to be, technically, a great one--given sufficient storage. Given such a scenario, the tedious and herculean efforts now being planned by the Text Encoding Initiative may be misplaced or missdirected. With that shot fired, let me just add, returning to the ever changing area of product information, that Kurzweil has just introduced Accutext, a program intended for Macintoshes with 5 mgs. of memory. I hope soon to have more information on the 5100, Accutext, and another new product, Innovative Software from Inovatic, which I shall bring to the attention of Humanists. --Terry Erdt From: grgo@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Greg Goode) Subject: Humanities group on UseNet Date: Wed, 14 Jun 89 12:16:58 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 180 (235) Willard writes, [deleted quotation] I don't know any way to have Humanist mailings automatically go over Usenet, but am looking into it. There is the possibility, however, of *starting* a Humanities group on Usenet. Basically, you propose the formation of a group, discuss it on the newsgroup called news.group for 30 days, and if there are the right number of votes, I think 100, then it's approved. Part of the discussion should be whether the group should be moderated. For further info, look at news.group, and see the articles numbered 9959, 10483, and 10484. Right now, the closest things on Usenet to Humanist are groups about philosophy, books, and culture. There's a definite gap to be filled... --Greg Goode From: Willard McCarty Subject: usenet Humanist Date: 14 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 181 (236) Perhaps some Humanist who knows the ins and outs of usenet would be interested in managing a usenet branch of this group. The only thing about usenet exposure that worries me is the volume of potential inquiries that would, I suspect, come from that very large readership. An intermediary, who would be welcome to pass on Humanist's mail, would solve the problem nicely. Please let me know. Willard McCarty From: "Robin C. Cover" Subject: WRITING ON PAPER IS LATE Date: Wed, 14 Jun 89 03:43:04 CST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 123 (237) Apropos of Robert Amsler's query on "uses of paper for writing," I feel obligated to remind us that writing on paper is quite a late innovation. The cuneiform and hieroglyphic traditions of the third and second millennia (B.C.E.) already employed a wide range of these "devices" in other written media (clay, stone, wax, metal; later on parchment, papyrus, leather and so forth). Most canonical texts had colophons, for example, containing incipits and catch-lines, dates, names of owner(s) and scribe(s), number-of-lines and other cataloging devices. There were conventions for glosses and annotations in bi-lingual texts; several commentary genres; acrostic literature with hidden meanings; inscribed liver models for extispicy; mystical, magical and ceremonial texts with specified layout; annalistic writing on monumental inscriptions where two-dimensional representational art was to be "read" along with cuneiform text; elaborate permutations for syllabaries and (multi-lingual) lexical lists. In short, the genres and writing conventions of high antiquity are as varied and complex as the are in modern times. From: jonathan@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Jonathan Altman) Subject: Re: 3.121 Kurzweil 5100 scanner (70) Date: Thu, 15 Jun 89 12:19:39 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 124 (238) [This is a very long article. If you are not interested in scanning, you may want to skip this as it deals to some extent with the technical side of scanning.] I would like to point out one flaw in Terry Erdt's logic that the ability of new OCR software to save the IMAGE of the page and work on these saved images will allow people to save the images and re-interpret them later with newer, better OCR software when it becomes available. I do NOT wish to state that the ability to save images is useless. It is not. There is some benefit to Terry's scheme. But it is NOT a universal panacea. It addresses the first advancement which OCR has made, in the quality of the software written to interpret scanned images into text. But, it does not address the second advancement in OCR, which is the increasing level of quality of scanned images and the resolution (number of dots-per-inch) which new scanners can produce. By increasing the resolution which scanners can work at, we provide more detailed information about the images on a page. So, Calera Truescan, which is designed to deal with 300 dpi (dot-per-inch) input is feasible only because scanning technology allows an image with the detail of 300 dpi to be produced and interpreted by Truescan. Let's take a state-of-the-art image scanned, say, ten years ago. Considering the first scanners I know of for PC's (the Thunderscan for a Macintosh) worked at 72dpi in 1986, I'd be willing to say that in 1979 scanners offered something less than 300 dpi resolution. The images I might have saved with that scanner in 1979 do not have the level of detail needed to re-interpret with OCR software to any much greater degree of accuracy, because the newer OCR software probably depends on the greater information which 300 dpi offers. Will this be an issue? Isn't 300 dpi certainly high enough resolution? Well, for those who heard Ted Brunner speak at the Dynamic Text conference, 300 dpi is 1989 technology. And 1989 technology will be obsolete and archaic in the future just as teletype machines were outdated once Ted got his Tektronix terminal that could display Greek characters if one wrote the vectors for it. And that Tektronix is certainly out of date now. As an example, let's take a 300 dpi image scanned with Calera Truescan now, and save it to a file. What happens when 400 dpi scanning becomes de-facto standard as 300 dpi is now(and this day is NOT far off. 400 dpi will be it in about 2 years I estimate, since scanners capable of 400 dpi are already relatively common)? What happens is that OCR software will work with 400 dpi images instead of 300 dpi. Since scanned images are two dimensional, meaning that they have height and width, that means that each square inch of page scanned has a 400x400 dot image per square inch because scanner resolution is measured in dots per linear inch. A 1 inch square of text scanned at 400 dpi has 400X400 dots of information, or 160,000 dots of information. At 300 dpi, there are only 90,000 dots of information. So, scanning software that works at 400 dpi will have over 43% (43.75%) MORE information on which to attempt to recognize characters. And without those extra 70,000 dots of information, the new scanning software may have trouble with what is now very granular 300 dpi images. Further, the concept of bitmaps themselves may be archaic soon. Postscript and Bezier curves may be generatable from a scanner in the near future. The fact that these images are represented as numerical functions means that we could have OCR software that could do more advanced numerical modelling of images based on more advanced statistical and mathematical calculations than how well a particular bitmap matches another bitmap in memory. So, keeping images around, even to retouch them later, may not be as big a win in the future as Terry feels it is. This is not to say that it is no win at all. Keeping old scanned images of pages around for later manipulation will have some benefit. I just do not see the benefit being very large, without having to do a great deal of later image-enhancement. Jonathan Altman jonathan@eleazar.Dartmouth.edu Database Consultant jonathan.altman@Dartmouth.edu Dartmouth Dante Project From: "Rodrigo Checa J{dar" Subject: Music and Semantics Date: Thu, 15 Jun 89 13:24:05 HOE X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 182 (239) I am very interested in contact with all the people working on Music and Semantics with the purpose of exchanging opinions, bibliography, studies or research works. My objectives are, at first, the following ones: - Music analysis - Musicology and ethnomusicology - Information retrieval systems for musical scores - Music and Semantics - Western music as universal language Thanking in advance your cooperation Best wishes From: lang@PRC.Unisys.COM Subject: Chaos (a poem) Date: Thu, 15 Jun 89 08:15:05 -0400 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 183 (240) A friend of mine in France recently sent me a longish (~250 lines) poem entitled "Chaos", which is a wonderful parody of English pronunciation. It begins like this: Dearest creature in creation, Studying English pronunciation, I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse. It will keep you, Susy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy; Tear in eye your dress you'll tear, Queer, fair seer, hear, my prayer. and it goes on like that for about 4 pages, filled with all sorts of words that either look like they should rhyme, but don't, or look nothing like each other, but *do* rhyme. Does anyone know of this masterpiece? If someone has it online, I'd appreciate a copy. Otherwise, sometime, I'll eventually type it in and post it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Francois-Michel Lang Paoli Research Center, Unisys Corporation lang@prc.unisys.com (215) 648-7256 Dept of Comp & Info Science, U of PA lang@cis.upenn.edu (215) 898-9511 From: Rebecca More Subject: Bibliography managers Date: Thu, 15 Jun 89 11:30:44 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 184 (241) Seek evaluation of End-Note v. Pro-cite programs for use in history research.Pl ease send all replies to ST902633@brownvm. I will summarise for the list. If this has been debated before, I would be most grateful if the appropriate listing numbers can be sent to me. Thank you. From: cbf%faulhaber.Berkeley.EDU@jade.berkeley.edu (Charles Faulhaber) Subject: MLA bibliography Date: Thu, 15 Jun 89 09:24:16 PDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 126 (242) I originally sent this directly to MLA, with a copy to Randy Jones in his capacity as a member of MLA's hi-tech advisory committee, but it occurred to me that it might be interesting for Humanist as a whole: Let us suppose that an MLA member who has been subscribing religiously to MLA since the middle 60's and has bought the complete bibliography all of those years now wishes to begin work on an article on the devil in medieval Spanish literature. He is in for a rather tedious bit of spadework, regardless of what format he chooses to use. If he turns to his own collection of the bibliography, it will take him several days--at a minimum--to go through the medieval Spanish section on the offchance of finding a relevant title. The only way he'll know if it is relevant is if the word "devil" or something similar is mentioned in the title, at least until he gets to the volumes which have the subject index. He will also want to go through the general literature/thematic section, the medieval Latin section, as well. In order to note the references for retrieval from his library, he will have to (1) write them down or (2) xerox the relevant pages. If he chooses to abandon his 25-years' worth of printed bibliographies, he can have an on-line search conducted by his librarian. Since he's a faculty member, he can probably afford it or find a way for his university to pay for it. If he were a graduate student, he probably couldn't afford it. If he wants to have the search downloaded to a diskette to save re-keying, it will cost more because it will probably take more time. Even if it is downloaded to a diskette, it will have to be re-formatted manually because the format supplied by MLA DOES NOT CONFORM to that required by the MLA Style Manual. He wishes, wistfully, for a program that would download the citations into a bibliographical data base manager for incorporation into his own local bibliographical data base. (He is aware of Pro-Cite, but he needs a UNIX-based version.) If his university should have subscribed to the CD-ROM version, he would go to the main library (since it is highly unlikely that there is more than 1 copy of the disk available) where he would be able to tailor a search strategy to find relevant citations as well as take advantage of serendipity. The problem of downloading into a suitable data base manager would still remain, however. So much for my scenario. That's pretty well the way things stand at present; and to my mind it's a very unsatisfactory state of affairs. I can suggest two proposals that might help: 1. MLA should offer site licenses for the CD-ROM disk at a reasonable price. Any large university would like to be able to make it available in a variety of sites, typically in the various literature departments as well as in the library. At $1495 a site, that isn't going to happen. 2. MLA should offer its members the choice of the complete printed bibliography--which contains only the information for that year--or the CD-ROM disk, with all of the information in the data base, FOR THE SAME PRICE. The only way to build up a market for this product is to make it possible for individuals to buy it. They are not going to do so until it's financially feasible. MLA might also consider cutting a deal with one of the CD-ROM player manufacturers for a reasonably priced CD-ROM drive to make it easier for non- technically-experienced users. In terms of bibliographical data base software--any software--, when MLA adopts a package for a specific task it should ensure that it is the best available one by issuing a "request for quotation" and negotiating a price such that any member can get it more cheaply via MLA than from his own institution. I do not believe that that is currently the case. When issuing an RFQ, the MLA should take advantage of the expertise available in sister organizations (e.g., the Assoc. for Computing in the Humanities) or even work together with such organizations to develop specifications jointly. Charles B. Faulhaber Department of Spanish UC Berkeley CA 94720 bitnet: ked@ucbgarne internet: cbf@faulhaber.berkeley.edu telephone: (415) 642-2107 From: David Megginson Subject: Faust and higher learning Date: Wed, 14 Jun 89 17:38:16 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 185 (243) As graduate students, we sell our souls daily to pay the rent. The universities may have made a deal with the horned guy in the red satin suit, but those who signed are not necessarily those who will pay. From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.118 education and universities (56) Date: Thu, 15 Jun 89 08:40:39 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 186 (244) If Michael Oakeshott is of any more than a passing acquaitance of Yale, who published his book, it should be relatively easy to provide a method for him to join in this discussion. My first contrubution to such a discussion is to relate that the deans at my academic institutions were open enough to tell me that their MAIN PURPOSE IS SOCIALIZATION and even today, I am sure I have not perceived the full impact of that statement. I may also add, however, that this goal is also that of the major portion of the students. From: Brian Whittaker Subject: Re: 3.118 education and universities (56) Date: Thu, 15 Jun 89 09:57:20 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 187 (245) The perception of a new Faustian contract between universities and government may be appropriate in the context of the ancient and heavily endowed institutions like Oxford and Cambridge, which until recently seem to have enjoyed virtual independence from governmental interference and are now experiencing a level of interest that appears quite Californian. In places like Ontario, on the other hand, the less ancient tradition has been for universities to maintain their independence within the context of government funding and chartering, and to experience interference most accutely as a direct consequence of other sources of funding, whether from churches or industry. One thinks of professors at church- affiliated units within a public university being cashiered for heresy (perhaps an anachronistic term, perhaps not) or research grants from industries with Pentagon contracts having either explicit or implicit conditions regarding the nationality of graduate students allowed to work on the project. Less colourfully, one might also worry about university-based research in computer-related areas where the provision of hardware, software or grants by a major software or hardware company may be contingent on guarding the resulting program codes as industrial secrets, a clear contradiction of the academic principle that research is validated by a process that begins by publishing the details of data, methodology and results so that other researchers can repeat the experiment or the analysis. The importance of this principle has been reinforced with the recent fusion experiments in the United States and by the publication here in Canada of a study arguing for a genetic basis for racial superiority. The fusion results have been questioned on the grounds that a detailed repetition of the experiments does not consistently yield the same observations. The paper on racial superiority has been questioned on the grounds that the data is of questionable reliability. One might wonder what the scholarly reaction might have been if the researchers in question had withheld details of their data and methodology on the grounds of industrial secrecy. In our own area of the humanities, I wonder how many humanists would accept a new reading of the Aeneid based on a secret manuscript available only to the author of the article, or a stylistic analysis of Paradise Lost using a grammatical model that could not be disclosed to the public. On the question of the product put out by the universities, the idea that reading the right kind of books and associating with the right kind of people will produce the right kind of citizen may be more firmly entrenched in England than elsewhere... even in the never-ending wake of the Burgess/ Maclean/Philby/ and so on ... saga. This tradition has put its own skew on scholarship. A few years ago I stumbled on the Penguin translation of Plato's -Protagoras_, in which "politike arete", the prowess appropriate to a member of the polis (in contrast to the older "arete" or prowess of the warrior), was translated as "excellence", with a consequent shift of focus from skills to character. Where Plato's _Protagoas_ is an urban epic, with Socrates as an Achilles of debate, the Penguin _Protagoras_ lies somewhere between _Culture and Anarchy_ and _Tom Brown's Schooldays_, with the debate centring on how to produce the right sort of person. I have also encountered an American translation of Machiavelli's _The Prince- which was similarly doctored to turn the original "mirror" of the fall of disastrous princes, including Cesare Borgia as the most disastrous of them all, into a study of realpolitik.(One might have thought that_Le Machiavel_ had been enough of that.) Perhaps as a result of the tradition of pragmatism (both small and capital p) in North America, perhaps as a result of an explicit German influence in the early formation of curriculum, education in Ontario has a history of being explicitly oriented towards skills at the lower levels and methodology at the higher levels. One might speculate on whether the fashion for "general education" courses such as Humanities, Social Science, Natural Science, or simply Great Books, that swept Universities in the late sixties and early seventies, was a move towards the model of producing the "right sort" of citizen, with the emphasis in many of these courses on teaching "values" as content. This is the Jiminy Cricket model of higher education in which the good citizen, in a moment of ethical crisis,asks "What did that Greek guy who got poisoned in the third week of my humanities course say about this sort of thing?" The current move away from this model is interesting, not so much for the dropping of General Education requirements in some universities and faculties, as for justifying their retention in others on the grounds that they teach basic writing skills (better than English courses, presumably), basic reasoning skills (better than logic or philosophy courses, presumably) and basic research skills (better than discipline-oriented courses, presumably). This shift in the stated function of General Education courses, where they have survived, would seem to support my hypothesis that the dominant strain in university education in Ontario has been and still is oriented toward method rather than character. It would be interesting to hear how these issues are perceived elsewhere. I would be particularly interested in hearing from France, Germany, and other non-English speaking countries. The debate over educational theory and prcatice moves quite freely around the English-speaking world, but we have little dialoge with other cultures in these matters. Brian Whittaker Atkinson College, York University Downsview, Ontario From: David Sitman Subject: Listserv and lists, part 3 Date: Thu, 15 Jun 89 15:04:48 IST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 128 (246) Files and filelists In addition to managing discussion lists, Listserv also has fileserver capabilities, i.e., it can send files to users upon request. Willard makes wide use of this capability, and a large number of files of interest to Humanists is available from Toronto's Listserv. To get the listing of the files connected to HUMANIST which are available, send the following command to LISTSERV@UTORONTO (see my previous posting on sending commands to Listserv): INDEX HUMANIST Here are the first few lines of the 'meaty' part of the listing: * rec last - change * filename filetype GET PUT -fm lrecl nrecs date time File description * -------- -------- --- --- --- ----- ----- -------- -------- ---------------- ACH_ALLC MESSAGE ALL OWN V 71 234 87/10/15 15:01:49 ACL CONFRNCE ALL OWN V 80 579 89/04/03 00:04:07 June 1989 ADVANCES JOURNAL ALL OWN V 73 191 88/10/06 07:24:15 E. Nissan AI SYMPOSUM ALL OWN V 80 94 89/01/05 19:05:58 June 1989 The names of the files follow the IBM CMS file naming convention. They consist of two parts (filename and filetype) each of which is from one to eight characters long. The 'GET' column indicates who can request the file from Listserv. ALL means that anyone, Humanists and non-Humanists alike, can get the file. Willard could mark a file as PRV (for private) instead of ALL, and then only HUMANIST list members would be able to get that file. That might be a good idea for the biography files. The 'PUT' column determines who can send a new copy of a file to the filelist. At present only the list owners are able to do this. The next several columns give information on the file. This information is updated automatically by Listserv when it associates the file with the filelist. The length of the file's records (basically, records=lines) can be fixed or variable, lrecl is the length of the records and nrecs is the number of records. Listserv updates the time and date; the owner supplies the file description. Note that the file description goes past column 80. That means that on some systems the description will be cut. The command for requesting that Listserv send you a file is: GET filename filetype name_of_filelist In our case the name_of_filelist is, of course, HUMANIST. The 'filelist' name for a file need not be the 'real' name of the file on the computer. Listserv has a method for associating a name from a filelist with a real name in the computer. When the filelist name and real name are the same, Listserv will be able to find the file even if you do not give the name_of_filelist. E.g., both: GET AI SYMPOSIUM HUMANIST and: GET AI SYMPOSIUM should work. As far as I know, in the Humanist filelist, the filelist name is always the real name. By the way, SEND and SENDME are synonyms of GET. If you send your GET commands as mail, then Listserv will send you the file as mail. If you send commands as a file or interactive message, the file will be sent as a file, using the default format (NETDATA, PUNCH, etc.) for your node. David Sitman Computation Center Tel Aviv University From: Subject: Journal of Unconventional History Date: Tue, 13 Jun 89 22:23:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 188 (247) Read this in American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies Newsletter: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Unconventional historical papers: have you written or are you now considering a historical essay that is so original in concept or treatment that it cannot find publication in mainstream journals? If so, the editors (both historians) of a proposed new _Journal of Unconventional History_ would like to hear from you. Please send one-page abstracts only, with a cover letter explaining why you feel your work is too unusual to get a hearing elsewhere to Editors, Journal of Uncnventional History, 2442 Mont- gomery Avenue, Cardiff, CA 92007. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [sorry -- no e-mail address or names provided... From: J.G.Anderson@VME.GLASGOW.AC.UK Subject: STELLA NEWSLETTER 1 Date: Thu,15 Jun 89 16:48:12 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 189 (248) ------------------------------------------------------------------- GLASGOW UNIVERSITY COMPUTING IN ENGLISH STUDIES NEWSLETTER 1 S T E L L A Software for Teaching English Language and Literature and its Assessment 6 University Gardens, Glasgow University, Glasgow G12 8QQ. Tele: 041 339 8855 ext 4980 * Email: STELLA@UK.AC.GLASGOW.VME Telex: 777070 UNIGLA * FAX: 041 330 4804 Director: D.M.O'Brien BA, BPhil. * Programmer: J.G.Anderson MA. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE STELLA PROJECT Our aim at STELLA is to examine the applications of computers in tertiary-level English teaching and to develop software in the broad area of English Studies. Start-up funding for the project was an award in December 1986 of f90,000 from the Computers in Teaching Initiative (sponsored by the Computer Board and the University Grants Committee), supplemented by funds from the Glasgow University. Three departments are involved in STELLA : English Language, English Literature and Scottish Literature. In the first stage of the project, we have explored the use of computers in the multiplicity of skills involved in these disciplines, seeking to enhance existing courses rather than to start completely new ones. Emphasis has been placed on attractive presentation and on a high level of student-machine interaction, especially in self-instructional packages. THE SUBJECT BASE English Studies encompasses a wide range of types of subjects, demanding different inputs and different skills. The interests of teaching staff involved in the project range from language teaching and linguistics to the formal and conceptual properties of texts in English and Scots, with a special focus on the language and literature of the Renaissance. Hard choices have had to be made between packages which can be produced relatively quickly and transferred to different datasets, and more pioneering work in uncharted areas. For the first two teaching years we have concentrated on the former, while at the same time bringing into use in teaching already existing research databases. TEACHING PACKAGES Language : Not surprisingly, language-based studies have proved most amenable to computer applications. The style of packages used in the teaching of modern languages has been adapted to produce an Old English course which supplements traditional teaching and develops both analytical and creative language skills. Parts of this package are adaptable to the teaching of modern English grammar to both native and foreign students, and courses in Middle English, Older Scots and Old Icelandic are also being developed. The Renaissance : The technicalities of verse-writing have proved equally suitable for computer analysis. The Basics of English Metre introduces students to traditional metrical forms, while Renaissance Sonnets enables them to explore in greater depth the rhyme schemes and imagery of a particularly cohesive group of texts. The relatively long tradition of computer-generated concordances in English Studies has meant that a body of machine-readable texts is available, but for more specialized work datasets have to be created, as in the case of Scots Renaissance Sonnets and 17th Century English Stanza Forms. The language of the Renaissance is examined using resources from the Historical Thesaurus of English database, which records vocabulary innovation at all periods of English. Through the Windows environment, this database is linked to the text of King Lear so that students can examine neologisms and key-words in context. Links can also be made with the Analytical Index to the Short Title Catalogues. Literature and style : Literary texts often require a considerable input of explanatory information, culled by the student from a variety of sources. Our hypertext edition of the medieval poem Piers Plowman embeds the text in a multi-dimensional learning environment, providing contextualisation through a series of inter-related files. Connexions between elements allow freedom of movement for browsing or locating specific references. In other classes, students are introduced to the stylistic analysis of short texts, using the resources of Word and Quest and moving from the established databank to texts of their own choice. Bibliographical skills are developed as students assist in the creation of a bibliography of Scots periodicals. In the longer term, staff research on literary applications is expected to add further dimensions to undergraduate courses. THE WAY AHEAD Our continuing aim is to make the benefits of computer-assisted learning available to increasing numbers of students. In addition to offering new ways of approaching the subject matter, the computing environment enables students to work at their own pace and to develop creativity and independence through project-type assignments. They (and their teachers) gain intrinsically useful skills through familiarity with the machines. Existing packages will therefore be adapted for use in further courses, at the same time as new materials are developed, in, for example, narrative analysis, corpus-based studies, and language teaching. THE COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT Student access is through a laboratory containing a networked cluster of 12 Research Machines Nimbus microcomputers linked to the University mainframe. Further PC's for development work are situated in departments and in the programmer's office. Members of the Computing Service and Computing Science are involved in advising and monitoring the project. As much of the system as possible is menu-driven, and particular attention has been paid to creating user-friendly front-ends for the research-generated materials. Our intention is to transfer all the portable software into an MS Windows environment, thus giving the user immediate and flexible access to the data. From: "Nancy J. Frishberg" Subject: Invitation forwarded from Texas Tech Date: 16 Jun 89 10:14:12 ET X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 130 (249) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [deleted quotation]Subject RE: YKLNK A few of us who are actively engaged in sharing student text between campuses using wide-area networks such as bitnet or internet (or by other means) are joining in what I call a "discussion loop," or an ongoing polylogue about our difficulties and triumphs (few though they may be). The process is simple. Any comments to be made are sent on bitnet to YKLNK@TTACS or on internet to YKLNK@TTACS1.TTU.EDU. That's to one of my accounts here at Texas Tech University. I chop out some unnecessary header information and forward the comment to a multiple address list. By handling things this way the everyday user doesn't have to worry with subconferences or command structures or anything, just a message to the above address (or a REPLY will work). As the address list expands, I simply add more addresses to the address file. Some of the people currently sharing information and making knowledge this way are Trent Batson, Geoff Sirc, Dawn Rodrigues, Wayne Butler, Larry Hunt, Michael Marx, Joel Nydahl, Mark Seiden, Diane Thompson, Janet Eldred, and others, and the schools involved are the University of Texas, Colorado State University, Skidmore, Gallaudet, Texas Tech, Minnesota, Babson, U of Kentucky, etc. We call the discussion loop "CampusLink" and would prefer to keep the guest list down to those who actively are or are planning to work up some kind of intercampus text and syllabus sharing. The ideas shared are potent and occasionally radical. If you are teaching on-line with students either piped into a mainframe or with a local-area network with some kind of connectivity to a mainframe and bitnet or internet, OR planning to do some of this, then give me a call at the above addresses. Fred Kemp Texas Tech University From: Willard McCarty Subject: uses of Humanist Date: 16 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 190 (250) I am very interested in collecting brief stories about how Humanist is used. I am particularly interested in (a) its value for individuals' teaching and research, (b) its use as a resource for advising and other support of humanities computing, (c) the extent to which it leads to fruitful collaboration between people with similar interests, and (d) how it is locally redistributed, either informally or by means of some software. Have I forgotten anything? Just a few lines will do, but longer responses are welcome. I suspect that at many universities Humanist could be used to get information pertaining to research problems of those who do not yet use electronic mail. Is any Humanist thus serving as an intermediary between colleagues without e-mail and our group? If so, please describe how well your service works and whether it has led to any of those colleagues learning how to use e-mail. Demonstrable benefit is a powerful persuader. Thanks very much. Willard McCarty From: GUEDON@CC.UMONTREAL.CA Subject: RE: 3.129 Unconventional History; STELLA (161) Date: Fri, 16 Jun 89 14:06 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 191 (251) First of all, a hearty word of congratulations for the organizers of the Dynamic Text Conference: superbly organized and magnificent content for what I was able to catch within two days and a half. One point seemed to recur from lecture to lecture: we must build large bases of machine-readable texts. Obviously, this is expensive and time consuming. Now a question: would it not be a lot easier to scan braille texts than regularly printed texts. I am speaking from ignorance but if my hypothesis is correct, then the blind associations that have built large collection of braille texts over the last century or so could be tapped for mutual profit: easy (perhaps) scanning for the general public with vision; revenue and texts that can be interpreted through speech synthesis for our blind friends. All this is probably naive, but I am posting it on the off chance that I might have hit an interesting avenue and someone might be able to follow up on it. Jean-Claude Guedon From: Ellen Germain Subject: Mac and IBM freshman composition programs Date: Fri, 16 Jun 1989 17:57:16 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 192 (252) Can anyone send me recommendations for software to be used for freshman composition classes? I'm interested in programs for both Macs and IBM PS/2s. I'd also be interested in people's reviews of/experiences with various programs. If there's interest, I will be happy to post a summary of the responses. Thanks very much. Ellen Germain Columbia University Bitnet: EJGCU@CUVMB Internet: ellen@cunixc.cc.columbia.edu From: NMILLER@TRINCC.BITNET Subject: Date: Fri, 16 Jun 89 18:00:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 132 (253) I enjoyed Brian Whittaker's witty remarks in the matter of general education, but I wonder if he's got it quite right. As one who taught "great books" to undergraduates for many years (including a stint at Chicago in the 1960's), I don't recognize my former colleagues or myself in his description. We/I taught neither "skills" nor-- God forbid--"values". The main goal was never to teach students *how* to think, but simply to ask questions, to wonder. Take the case of the young man in Frost's poem, who "studied Latin like the violin because he liked it". Was he acquiring a skill? The Cunning Artificer seems to imply that even an instrument can be approached non-instrumentally. So too with the Jewish tradition of "torah l'shma", (the study of) Torah for it's own sake. What skills does a Torah scholar seek: do I hear an ability to think clearly? Not in my experience. Is it for that matter different for any of us? Are we not all committed to learning for its own sake, because it's holy? Why then can this not be a teacher's principal, even exclusive, goal? As to values, well. I suppose I would listen more attentively than I do to those who play that tune if they were not all too often the very people whose behavior as colleagues and faculty politicians we find despicable. From: Walter Piovesan Subject: MLA bibliography con't Date: Fri, 16 Jun 89 10:14:04 PDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 133 (254) Re: Charles Faulhaber's comments on the MLA Bibliography. There is a another solution, which I think, would go a long way in addressing the various needs of researchers. And that is for the MLA to provide the product on tape for loading into local database services. This would allow for local distributed access whether by a cash poor student or grant rich researcher. Furthermore having the the product provided on tape would allow installation on a various DBMS, allow for easy access without leaving one's office to trudge to the library to use its CD-ROM versiuon etc. It also offers greater flexibilty over CD-ROM, and does not tie people into expensive specialized hardware. Distributing the MLA in a tape format is something the members may wish to pursue. I have had a number of requests from professors and others to have the MLA available on a local database as the the library has done for ERIC, PyscInfo, Grolier Ency, etc. I would like to see the product so distributed. The MLA has never really offered an explaination as to why it is not made available to universities in such a format. After all it is sold to database vendors such as DIALOG and BRS in such a format. From: D.Mealand@EDINBURGH.AC.UK Subject: Laptop Date: 15 Jun 89 10:33:50 bst X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 193 (255) I find the kaypro 2000+ a good machine because of its ega display. Some laptops are cheap and fuzzy (CGA), others are faster but much more expensive. This kaypro is a good compromise if you want clear display of accents etc but don't need a fast processor. David M. From: N.J.Morgan@vme.glasgow.ac.uk Subject: Re: 3.104 laptops (45) Date: Thu, 15 Jun 89 09:22:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 194 (256) Douglas de Lacey's reference to Sinclair's Z88 "*quiet enough to use in a library*" prompts me to write and ask fellow humanists about problems with access to reading rooms and search rooms for scholars using laptops. In Scotland we have had many problems; the concensus seems to be that "old noise [coughs, sneezes, chatter, sweet/candy wrappings, scratching pencils, distant typewriters] is good noise", whereas "new noise [computer keyboards] is bad noise". So we still have problems with access to the search room of the Scottish Record Office (although the curatorial staff are trying very hard to find a solution to quell the new noise (but not the old)), and have had it indicated that access to other repositories is not guarenteed. Someone did suggest that we could silence the keyboard of our Toshiba (does anyone know how ?); we looked at the Z88 but it was, to quote one colleague, "like typing in wellington boots". Our SRO friends are looking to design a perspex cover to sit over the keyboard and operator's hands. What, if anything, happens elsewhere ? I would be delighted to hear. Nicholas Morgan (Janet) N.J.Morgan@Glasgow.vme (Bitnet)N.J.Morgan@vme.Glasgow.ac.uk And can anyone explain why my Humanist mail arrives in a totally random order, like a Xanaduu [TM] system gone [more] crazy ? From: krovetz@UMass Subject: "Chaos" poem Date: Fri, 16 Jun 89 01:33 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 135 (257) The poem Dr. Lang refers to was apparently written at NATO (or so my copy of it states). The title I have for it is "English is Tough Stuff". Here it is: [the poem is rather long, so it would probably be best to place it on LISTSERV]. ENGLISH IS TOUGH STUFF (Multi-national personnel at North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters near Paris found English to be an easy language ... until they tried to pronounce it. To help them discard an array of accents, the verses below were devised. After trying them, a Frenchman said he'd prefer six months at hard labor to reading six lines aloud. Try them yourself.) Dearest creature in creation, Study English pronunciation. I will teach you in my verse Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse. I will keep you, Suzy, busy, Make your head with heat grow dizzy. Tear in eye, your dress will tear. So shall I! Oh hear my prayer. Just compare heart, beard, and heard, Dies and diet, lord and word, Sword and sward, retain and Britain. (Mind the latter, how it's written.) Now I surely will not plague you With such words as plaque and ague. But be careful how you speak: Say break and steak, but bleak and streak; Cloven, oven, how and low, Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe. Hear me say, devoid of trickery, Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore, Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles, Exiles, similes, and reviles; Scholar, vicar, and cigar, Solar, mica, war and far; One, anemone, Balmoral, Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel; Gertrude, German, wind and mind, Scene, Melpomene, mankind. Billet does not rhyme with ballet, Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet. Blood and flood are not like food, Nor is mould like should and would. Viscous, viscount, load and broad, Toward, to forward, to reward. And your pronunciation's OK When you correctly say croquet, Rounded, wounded, grieve and sleeve, Friend and fiend, alive and live. Ivy, privy, famous; clamour And enamour rhyme with hammer. River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb, Doll and roll and some and home. Stranger does not rhyme with anger, Neither does devour with clangour. Souls but foul, haunt but aunt, Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant, Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger, And then singer, ginger, linger, Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge, Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age. Query does not rhyme with very, Nor does fury sound like bury. Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth. Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath. Though the differences seem little, We say actual but victual. Refer does not rhyme with deafer. Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer. *** Mint, pint, senate and sedate; Dull, bull, and George ate late. Scenic, Arabic, Pacific, Science, conscience, scientific. Liberty, library, heave and heaven, Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven. We say hallowed, but allowed, People, leopard, towed, but vowed. Mark the differences, moreover, Between mover, cover, clover; Leeches, breeches, wise, precise, Chalice, but police and lice; Camel, constable, unstable, Principle, disciple, label. Petal, panel, and canal, Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal. Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair, Senator, spectator, mayor. Tour, but our and succour, four. Gas, alas, and Arkansas. Sea, idea, Korea, area, Psalm, Maria, but malaria. Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean. Doctrine, turpentine, marine. Compare alien with Italian, Dandelion and battalion. Sally with ally, yea, ye, Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key. Say aver, but ever, fever, Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver. Heron, granary, canary. Crevice and device and aerie. Face, but preface, not efface. Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass. Large, but target, gin, give, verging, Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging. Ear, but earn and wear and tear Do not rhyme with here but ere. Seven is right, but so is even, Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen, Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk, Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work. Pronunciation -- think of Psyche! Is a paling stout and spikey? Won't it make you lose your wits, Writing groats and saying grits? It's a dark abyss or tunnel: Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale, Islington and Isle of Wight, Housewife, verdict and indict. Finally, which rhymes with enough -- Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough? Hiccough has the sound of cup. My advice is to give up!!! From: Daniel Boyarin Subject: great book Date: Sun, 18 Jun 89 16:57:59 IST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 136 (258) I wish to highly recommend the following book for humanists, The Politics and Poetics of Transgression, by Peter Stallybrass and Allon White (Methuen 1986) The following quote is an appetizer: Sharing a house together led us, first, to fierce and deeply felt intellectual disagreement about domestic filth (about which we still hold principled and completeley incompatible views) and thence to a wider discussion of the variety and origins of bourgeois disgust. As each of us attempted to legitimate his own spehere of domestic negligence in definace of the bourgeois purity rituals so dear to the other, the net was case wide for supporting argument and evidence. Mikhail Bakhtin's wonderful book on Rabelais and Carnival,...with its wealth of information on the `lower bodily strata' threatened, at one moment, to end the competition unfairly in favour of the first of us to read it. But then the other, countering smartly with Norbert Elias's...was able to demonstrate indisputable cultural precedence for his curious indifference to the abhorrence in which the middling sort seem to hold aspects of their own bodies. From there it was but a small step to Mary Doublas's...and by this time intellecutal curiousity about the production of identity and status through a repudiation of the `low' had roused us to joint authorship." Sorry for the typos. It's one of the great works of cultural history I've read in a long time. It is very sad that Allon White died last year at quite a young age I understand and at the height of his powers. From: Subject: Re: 3.134 laptops, cont. (59) Date: Sat, 17 Jun 89 23:08:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 137 (259) The Folger Shakespeare Library has 2 large reading halls, connected but remote. Those using typewriters (very few now) and computers occupy the new wing; those writing with pencils use the 1920s Elizabethan hall. The rattle of keyboards seems distant. Some libraries have cubicles. I worked last week at the Houghton Library at Harvard, where 2 big projects of some sort were being carried out -- not only was the rattle obtrusive, but one fellow couldn't (wouldn't?) keep his computer from beeping. At the Newberry, the glass wall dividing the special collections hall is moderately successful in muting keyboard sounds. I can testify that the "new noise" is noisier to those not producing it, and hope that three things will develop: quieter keyboards (and user-friendly beep suppressors), a more widely observed decorum among computer users in quiet places, and more separate but equal spaces for new noise. --- Kevin Berland (BCJ@PSUVM) From: Subject: Date: X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 195 (260) DATE: Friday, June 16, 1989, 15:26:02 MST FROM: John J. Hughes SUBJECT: Spell Checking Transliterated Texts Dear HUMANISTs, HELP! I am looking for a spell checker to spell check transliterated words that contain nonalpha characters that represent accents, breathing, and other diacritical marks. Here are some examples of such words: E)STI\N and PRW/TH and *)IHSOU=J. The spell checkers I have tested (MicroSpell, The Word Plus, Word Proof II) only count alpha strings as whole words. They treat contiguous strings that contain nonalpha characters (such as PRW/TH) as two or more words, because they treat the nonalpha characters (e.g., "/") as word delimiters. Although JET:SPELL is supposed to accept nonalpha characters as valid components of words, (1) I cannot get the program to work properly, and (2) the version I have has a 160-character line limit. The files I need to check have 225-character lines. A spell checker that would accept nonalpha characters as valid components of words would allow users to spell check transliterated texts that contain diacritical marks. I assume that such a spell checker would be useful to many HUMANISTs. Does any HUMANIST know of such a spell checker for MS-DOS machines? The files I need to check have 225-character lines, and these lines may not be wrapped. HELP! John J. Hughes From: Willard McCarty Subject: syllabus project Date: 19 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 196 (261) Morgan Tamplin of Trent University has begun a project on behalf of the (Canadian) Consortium for Computers in the Humanities to collect and publish syllabi of courses in humanities computing. It has occurred to me that we might also collect such syllabi through Humanist and keep them for reference purposes on the file-server. A detailed record of what teaching is going on internationally might help us to strengthen our work locally and could furnish precedents for local initiatives. It would be useful to know, for example, what role humanities computing is being given in the curricula of various institutions and what the instructors consider its content to be. The usual things should be indicated (including whether the course is offered for credit and at what level), though no standardized format could be expected or would even be desirable. If you think such a collection is called for and have a syllabus on hand, then please send it to me. If a collection is already available, let us know. If for some reason an exact copy of the syllabus is not available for publication, a summary would suffice, but the more detail that can be provided the better. Willard McCarty From: janus@thor.acc.stolaf.edu (Louis E. Janus) Subject: Date: Sat, 17 Jun 89 23:06:02 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 197 (262) [Please send responses to the author of this query, who by circumstances has been forced to resign from Humanist and so will not see what is sent here. Thanks. --W.M.] Has anyone used PC-Translator, a translation aide piece of software from Linguistics Products, The Woodlands, Texas? A neighbor is interested in ordering it if it indeed would help with technical material from English into Spanish. Any advice? Do you know of any other similar products? Thanks. Louis Janus janus@stolaf.edu From: bobh@phoenix (Robert Hollander) Subject: Re: 3.126 MLA bibliography (101) Date: Sat, 17 Jun 89 16:05:59 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 139 (263) Charles Faulhaber is to be commended for reminding us of the dreadful state of affairs MLA has foisted on us all. Has any other organization been much worse about making valuable data more difficult to come by now that it is (or could be) available online? I confess that I am not surprised. When I gave up my membership a few years ago one reason that I did so was that the majority of material I received from this scholarly association consisted in advertisements for insurance. The day MLA is more interested in scholarship than money may dawn when the computerized data in its possession is made easily available to scholars. I know that's a radical idea, but I can dream, may i not? From: "Vicky A. Walsh" Subject: scrach? Date: Mon, 19 Jun 89 15:31 PDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 198 (264) A new regional ACH group is forming in Southern California with a focus on computing support issues. (Tentative names are SCRACH or SCREACH.) Please contact me if you are in this area and interested in participating. We are looking for corporate support, a central meeting place or alternating campus locations, ideas/volunteers for meeting topics, demos etc. Vicky A. Walsh (bitnet: IMD7VAW@UCLAMVS) From: "Vicky A. Walsh" Subject: ach taskforce Date: Mon, 19 Jun 89 15:30 PDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 199 (265) ACH Taskforce on Computing Support One of the results of the recent conference in Toronto was a new taskforce on humanities computing support. The major purpose of this group is to create a position paper on the essential computing support needs of Humanists. As chair of this group, I am looking for input and taskforce members. I will be calling on many of you over the next months, but volunteers are always welcome. The only criterion for membership on the taskforce is that you have an e-mail address. Please contact me via BITNET at IMD7VAW@UCLAMVS. Even if you do not care to be on the taskforce, you can contact me about what you think are the crucial computing services for humanists. Thanks in advance for your help. Vicky A. Walsh From: Subject: grammar and spelling checkers? Date: 19 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 141 (266) My English Department here at the University of Guelph wants to examine major grammar and punctuation teaching programmes and checkers (preferably checkers which offer students rules for correction) with an eye to putting one or several to use in teaching (site licenses, probably). I would very much appreciate recommendations (with addresses where possible) so we can write for demonstration copies. We have plenty of IBM PCXT hardware and will have a clump of 3 MAC SE's on a LAN by the time we go to choose. From: "A. Ralph Papakhian" Subject: Re: 3.139 MLA bibliography, cont. (24) Date: Sun, 18 Jun 89 22:51:54 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 200 (267) In reply to Hollander's comments on the MLA bibliography: Indeed there is another organization further behind MLA. The Music Index, behind several years in its printed version (though computer produced), provides no access online in any form. It is not available through any of the traditional sources such as Dialog or BRS, nor is it available for local purchase and access. So, you see, it could be worse. N.B. Music Index is not affiliated in any way with the Music Library Association. It is a private concern. Cordially, ***** **** *** **** MUSIC ** *** ** A. Ralph Papakhian, Music Library ** ******* ** LIBRARY Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405 *** (812) 855-2970 ***** From: MLAOD@CUVMB.bitnet Subject: MLA Bibliography Date: Mon, 19 Jun 89 13:50:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 201 (268) I had hoped that mention of the MLA Bibliography on Bitnet might instigate considered criticism of this complex and useful bibliographic tool, and you have not disappointed me. In Charles Faulhaber's communique, he made a number of interesting observations, one of which is that the electronic versions of the MLA Bibliography do not follow the bibliographic style recommended in the MLA Handbook. This is correct. The electronic Bibliography conforms to the data display structures of whichever host system it is residing on: DIALOG, Wilsonline, or Wilsondisc. All three systems permit downloading (technically permit it, that is; there are certain legal limits to downloading which I'd be happy to discuss at another time), and I'm sorry if anyone has experience difficulty in doing so. Please call me if this is the case, and I'll try to help you resolve whatever technical problems you are experiencing. Faulhaber and Walter Piovesan further suggested that the MLA should offer site licenses for the electronic Bibliography. I agree, and I hope that we will soon have a tape version available for use by universities. The question of pricing is a difficult one to address. The Bibliography is expensive to produce, and while it is produced as a service to MLA members and to the scholarly community at large, the MLA must try to recover its costs as best it can. Because we currently distribute the electronic versions of the Bibliography through Dialog Information Systems and the H. W. Wilson Company, rather than distributing it our- selves directly to purchasers, the Association receives only a small per- centage of the total revenue generated by such sales. One way to lower costs might be to distribute the electronic Bibliography directly, as we hope to do with the tape version. As for the suggestion that we "cut a deal" with CD-ROM drive manufac- turers to produce a cheaper, more user-friendly machine, I'm afraid that you overestimate our influence on this industry. Cheaper they are certain to become, in time; user-friendliness is a function of the soft- ware, not the drive itself. I'm sorry that Bob Hollander cannot think of another organization which has been worse about making valuable data available online. The MLA was one of the first humanities databases available online; hence our low DIALOG file number (71) which marks us as pioneers of a sort, and hence some of our current problems which derive from being pioneers in a field which has evolved and improved faster than our ability to conform to the latest improvements. I am always happy to try to address questions con- cerning use of the MLA Bibliography. Believing, as Mae West said, that it is better to be looked over than overlooked, I welcome further Bitnet constructive criticism on this topic. Daniel Uchitelle Modern Language Association (212)475-9500 From: Don Fowler Subject: Spellcheckers for non-alpha words Date: Mon, 19 Jun 89 11:11 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 202 (269) A quick check suggests that the Wordperfect 5.00 spellchecker is happy to add words like est/in* to its supplementart dictionary (which is incidentally very easy to use - its easy to set up e.g. a latin spellchecker with it). Don Fowler, Jesus College, Oxford. From: "M. R. Sperberg-McQueen " Subject: German style ckers; syllabi; computer noise in libraries Date: 19 June 1989 10:50:51 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 203 (270) A while back I inquired whether anyone knew of style checkers for German. There's been no response, so this probably means that they don't exist or aren't well known. But on the off chance that someone's holding back because they think "Oh, probably millions of others have already responded to that query," I'd like to post it once again. (Also: I made the inquiry not long before the Dynamic Text Conference, and I know many of the best minds in the business were preoccupied with that and perhaps not finding time to go through their humanist mail....) I think the idea of syllabi available through humanist is terrific. I gather that the idea initially is to use it for humanities courses with a computing component (or vice versa). It would also be nice simply to have a data base of courses on humanities topics so one could see, for example, how other people teach the seventeenth century (in various national literatures, comparatively, or in history....) Might cover too much material to be feasible, but it sure would be nice. I'm amused by the discussion of the "noise" made by computer keyboards in libraries as a source of irritation. It seems to me that whether or not a particular noise is irritating is as much a function of how one is feeling, whether one's work is going well, and one's attitude to particular human habits and technology as it is something that can be measured objectively. My personal pet peeve is loud phones--you would think that libraries, for crying out loud, would want phones with a soft ring, but such is not the case in a surprising number of libraries. In any case, I hope the librarians and computer users can come to an agreement--not being able to use one's laptop while doing research somewhere where the material cannot be borrowed represents a real obstacle. Half--but not completely--in jest, may I propose that libraries consider simply keeping a large supply of Flent's ear stopples on hand for people with sensitive hearing? From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.137 laptops, cont. (29) Date: Mon, 19 Jun 89 08:55:51 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 204 (271) Noise is noise is noise, and those of us who want to study would do so in a battleship at war if that were the available environment. In fact, I have noted in my travels that more studying seemed to occur in campi under construction than those completed and covered with a layer of acoustic moss. I find that one gets used to whatever environment one is exposed to, and any changes, including increased quietude require some time for adjustment. The only constant in life is change. No change = death (mental, physical, etc) From: PACE@WSUVM1 Subject: Date: Mon, 19 Jun 89 10:00:47 PLT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 205 (272) re: Jean-Claude Guedon's note on braille texts There are articles in the July-August 1989 issue of -Micro Cornucopia- magazine dealing with computers for the physically impaired. One by a gentlebeing who types with a mouth stick, and two by Debee Norling, a blind programmer. Debee discusses generally setting up the computer and software for the blind in one article, and programming for the blind in the other. Dallas Vordahl, the gentlebeing with the mouthstick, writes of his exploration of the computer (quite a feat for him) and the specific problems and solutions he discovered. This is excellent reading and highly recommended for HUMANISTS interested in democratic access to computers. The magazine should be available on newsstands, if not in your local library. From: Martin Ryle Subject: RE: 3.132 education and universities, cont. (35) Date: Mon, 19 Jun 89 02:40:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 144 (273) Perhaps some of my colleagues who profess to teach values are none too ethical themselves, but the observation seems beside the point. We all teach values, willy-nilly, for none of our disciplines exist in a value-free vacuum. The particular values that I would hope my students would absorb include such things as intellectual honesty, curiosity, an eye for detail, a respect for theory, and delight at discovery. Martin Ryle Ryle@urvax.urich.edu From: "Matthew Gilmore, Special Collections GW" Subject: Defining the Humanities Date: Mon, 19 Jun 89 22:18:17 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 206 (274) Recently I have been working on an article with a colleague of mine about scholars in the humanities and their use of electronic technology (which I why I joined HUMANIST with alacrity when I ran across it). My colleague was stressing *resistance* to adopting technology. I may try to shift the focus just a little. Anyway, one of the first stumbling block we had was defining *the humanities*. A number of definitions exist, but chiefly in negative form = not science, not social science. Would anyone care to offer suggestions on what makes an academic discipline *humane*? Are there commonalities between anthropologists, philosophers, art historians, etc.? And while I am at it, does computer technology change what goes on in the humanities? (One thing I might wonder about is concordances-- now no one need devote a lifetime to concording. What does this free them to do?) Has anybody published *the answer* already? Thanks for any suggestions you might be able to offer. Matthew Gilmore LIBRSPE@GWUVM 207 Gelman Library 2130 H St., NW The George Washington University Washington, DC 20052 From: CSMIKE@vax.swansea.ac.uk Subject: HUMANIST: Query from a member to members Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 10:38:26 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 207 (275) A colleague is looking for (public domain?) driver for HP Laserjet series printers for Digital Research GSX graphics. Anyone know where such a driver is obtainable? Mike Farringdon Computer Science University College of Swansea Swansea SA2 8PP U.K. JANET: CSMIKE@UK.AC.SWAN.VAX BITNET: CSMIKE@VAX.SWAN.AC.UK with luck... From: HEBERLEIN@URZ.KU-EICHSTAETT.DBP.DE Subject: machine readable dictionaries italian/frech Date: Thu, 89 0 06:20 CET X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 208 (276) Does anyone know of a machine readable dictionary or lemma-list either of French or Italian like the Latin one of Roberto Busa? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Fritz Heberlein From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.142 MLA bibliography, cont. (97) Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 15:45:20 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 209 (277) Since the subject has expanded to include other electronic texts, I would like to ask for reports, opinions, etc. concerning the Oxford Text Archive, which sells Alice in Wonderland for $30 - $60 and the BYU/WordCruncher library which sells the Riverside Shakespeare with commentaries removed in a format which can only be read by WordCruncher for a total of $600, with a substantial academic discount. I also understand that purchasers of the Oxford Archive files must sign agreements not to pass on any data, even to the point of including works in the public domain (which is true of the WordCruncher library, too, I believe). Alice in Wonderland has been available around here for quite some time for $1 if you provide the disk, $2 if you want one made and shipped. What happened to the stories about the Library of Congress putting all its books on CD-ROM? That way anyone could build a huge library in a single room! From: NMILLER@TRINCC.BITNET Subject: Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 14:44:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 210 (278) 3.144 education and universities (18) Martin Ryle points out that we all teach values willy-nilly and that the ones he hopes to impart to his students are "intellectual honesty, curiosity, an eye for detail, a respect for theory, and delight at discovery". Well said. But off the mark. The values under discussion, I thought, had less to do with personal qualities (virtue) and more to do with social relations (justice). Mr. Ryle's list, with the possible exception of intellectual honesty, is entirely inner-directed. It is also about as controversial as the Boy Scout Oath. If as he says we live in a value-laden world, he has never- less managed to come up with a list of values that would probably be endorsed from Paris to Karachi, y compris la Russie. Norman Miller Trinity College From: Ouden Eimi Subject: teaching values Date: 20 June 1989 13:59:19 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 211 (279) The values mentioned won't cause any debate. The real fight is between the few who still value a liberal education and those who are united by their illiberal ends. Illiberality makes strange and secret bedfellows -- between the remnant of the radical left, which wants to polarize everything into political camps and orthodox "positions", and the ascendant right, which wants to sell the universities to the highest bidder. The situation reminds me of some businesses, which preach competition while doing everything to avoid it. Real discussion about what is involved gets harder and harder. Those on the left have their most rigid orthodoxies, which present a very narrow plan for thinking and value conformity above everything else. Those on the right prejudice the case by taking on a High Moral Tone and say they're working for the common good. After all, we can no longer afford to sit behind ivy-covered walls and sip sherry, can we? Time to get rid of the deadwood and start serving society by training workers, isn't it? Toss out those tenured narcissists and introduce competition! When the ideals can no longer be understood, how can their value be discussed? How can real values be discussed? OE From: PACE@WSUVM1 Subject: grammar and spelling checkers Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 11:42:07 PLT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 212 (280) Re: The request for information on spelling and grammar checkers I use RightWriter exclusively as a grammar checker, in combo with WordPerfect's speller and thesaurus. RightWriter (RW) reads the word processor file, examines the document based on rules of grammar which the user can turn on or off, and writes a marked-up copy of the document to a separate file. Much of the work is performed by AI routines in the program. In a recent magazine review, the writer liked Grammatik III better, but I find RW's flexibility and compatibility with WP more to my taste. I think you will find this type of grammar checker both instructive and useful in the classroom situation. I used almost all the grammar and style rules at first, to identify weak points. Then I turned off rules as the correct form became habit. I leave rules for passive voice and split infinitives on, just to keep me on my toes. I turn off the cliche finder. RW also works well in pointing out punctuation problems, unbalanced parens and things like that. Good Luck, Guy. From: Subject: Date: X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 213 (281) DATE: Tuesday, June 20, 1989, 11:46:30 MST FROM: John J. Hughes SUBJECT: Spell Checkers Dear HUMANISTs, Thank you Don Fowler (DPF@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK--Jesus College, Oxford) for providing an answer to my request for a spell checker that will accept nonalpha symbols as valid word constituents. WordPerfect 5.0's spell checker is the solution. To get this spell checker to accept nonalpha symbols as valid word constituents, you must do one of two things: (1) create a Supplemental Dictionary of such words and load it when you use the spell checker or (2) create a file of such words and use the WP 5.0 SPELL utility to add your file to the main WordPerfect dictionary file WP{WP}US.LEX. Although a WordPerfect technical support person told me that a Supplemental Dictionary should not contain more than 300 words, I used one that contained 860 words. To speed up the spell checking process, I created a test file of 860 words and used the WP 5.0 SPELL utility to add this file to the WP{WP}US.LEX file. Then I spell checked a test file that consisted of transliterated Greek, and the spell checking went without a hitch. I found that the program spell checked faster after I had added the file that contained my words to the Main Dictionary than when I used a Supplemental Dictionary than contained these words. Here is a representative list of the type of "words" I added successfully to WP 5.0's Main Dictionary. *(HMEI=J *(HMERW=N *)/AREION *)/EFESON *)=ASSON *)ADA\M *)EGE/NETO *)ELOGI/SQH *)IA/SONA : : :, :: : : KATAGA/GH!J KATAPI/PTEIN KATA\ KATEFI/LOUN KATENEXQEI\J KATERGAZOME/NOU I have spoken on the phone several times with the personnel at POLYGLOT, a firm in Boulder, Colorado, that markets JET:SPELL, a multilingual spell checker. They have promised to let me know what it would cost to do a custom version of their program, one that would accept any printing character as a valid word constituent. I'll pass this information along when I receive it. Thanks, again, Don! Sincerely, John John J. Hughes From: Ivy Anderson Subject: MLA Bibliography, cont. Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 12:09 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 214 (282) I have followed the discussion of the use of the MLA Bibliography with interest. Those of us in libraries are quite concerned with finding solutions to the issues surrounding access to electronic databases. I agree with the responses to Charles Faulhaber's original statement which suggest an institutional rather than individual solution in the form of networking. It is good to know that MLA is considering direct distribution of the tapes. Presumably, one would still need to supply the search engine (which is what Dialog and Wilson do), and the standard ones such as BRS On Site can still be quite costly, especially for a smaller institution. Some folks are attempting to integrate this type of access with their electronic library catalogs, using the same interface for both -- Arizona State University is doing this with a wide variety of databases, including several Wilson indexes (I don't know if the MLA Bibliography is among them) using software from the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries. As far as CD-ROM goes, this is no longer simply a standalone application. There are at least two networking products which allow you to distribute CD-ROM databases over a PC-based local area network; we have installed one of these at Brandeis. But getting this from the PC LAN to the campus LAN hasn't happened yet, and the database vendors are just starting to develop site licensing fees. Any help that we can get from MLA and other quarters in convincing vendors to keep these prices low would be very beneficial, as many of us are stretching already strapped budgets and resorting to outside funding to support CD-ROM purchases. Institutional solutions can also address the problem of downloading. A number of libraries have fairly well-developed programs to assist users with downloading techniques, and there is some standard software to "massage" citations. At Brandeis we have talked about offering this kind of service, but the demand hasn't been forcefully demostrated. However, it may be a chicken-and-egg type of problem; people don't turn to you for solutions they don't think you can provide. Charles Faulhaber's comments certainly suggest that the need is there: do others agree? The premise here is that the need for access and data manipulation that has been expressed is a very general one, and institutional solutions are an appropriate response. The burgeoning collaborations between libraries and computing centers on academic campuses should bear fruit in this area. From: cbf%faulhaber.Berkeley.EDU@jade.berkeley.edu (Charles Faulhaber) Subject: Re: 3.142 MLA bibliography, cont. (97) Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 13:23:09 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 215 (283) I wasn't suggesting that MLA try to get CD-ROM manufacturers to make a cheaper (or more user-friendly) machine, but rather that some sort of agreement be reached to offer CD-ROM players to MLA members at a discount, i.e., make it a package such that technically naive users can get the whole thing from one source at a reasonably price. From: JACKA@PENNDRLS Subject: The Cinema Project Date: Monday, 19 June 1989 2037-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 216 (284) We invite anyone who is interested in collaborating with us in the CINEMA PROJECT to consider the following proposal. Version 3.0 of CINEMA will be completed by the end of the summer along with video scorings for about 50 hours of films and documentaries. We are willing to share this work with the first ten institutions which are willing to invest time and resources in preparing additional scorings for other movies. Such an investment would include: 1. purchase of a video disc station identical with our configuration (est. list cost $10,000). 2. preparing of five video disc scorings (est. cost $5000 for purchasing discs and student assistants to prepare scorings). We will share with those institution all our work as well as coordinate that institution's work on their own video disc project. In addition, we will share the work of the other nine institutions with that institution. In this way, all institutions will benefit from this collaborative effort that should result in a substantial corpus of video material for use in language and literature. If you are interested in this proposal, please let me know as soon as possible. I plan to announce it later this week at an IBM conference in California. I hope to select the ten institutions by August 1st after reviewing formal proposals for collaboration from all institution which may apply. Thank you. Jack Abercrombie Assistant Dean Computing, University of Pennsylvania JACK @ PENNDRLS From: Willard McCarty Subject: Call for papers Date: 20 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 217 (285) Call for Papers P O E T I C S T O D A Y special issue on the application of computers to cultural studies Abstracts or unpublished manuscripts are solicited for a special issue of the journal _Poetics Today_ to be concerned with the computational study of human culture and its artifacts. Papers on the intellectual or scholarly aspects of such studies rather than their technical means are especially welcome. The subject matter is unrestricted. No particular critical perspective will be favoured, but papers should address an audience of non- specialists. Book reviews as well as essays, poetry, and short fiction may be submitted. In all cases the language should be English. Initial submissions are due by 31 December 1989. They may be sent to the guest editor, Willard McCarty, by the following means: e-mail: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS surface mail: Centre for Computing in the Humanities, University of Toronto, Robarts Library, 130 St. George Street, Toronto, Ont. M5A 4A7 Canada. Please circulate this announcement to anyone who might be interested. Willard McCarty 20 June 1989 From: Terrence Erdt Subject: working abstract: CHum issue on telecommunications Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 12:24 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 218 (286) Special Issue: Telecommunications and the Humanities Editor: T. Erdt The issue will contain articles that introduce the networks and diverse lists available internationally to scholars. It will contain practical information about using Listserv, for example,, as well as about operating lists such as HUMANIST, HUMBUL, PHILOSOP, NOTABENE, and so forth. Additionally, it will contain information about the different online catalogs of research libraries that are available for remote access, and about databases available through remote access to scholars and students around the world. From: Oxford Text Archive Subject: al qur'an database Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 12:53 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 150 (287) [I am catching up with 3 weeks of unwatched Humanist, so apologies for the delay...] Those interested in machine readable Islamic texts might like to get in touch with A.Barkatulla, Islamic Computing Centre, 72 St Thomas's Road, London N4 2QJ (tel. 01-359 6233), who, according to the glossy at my elbow, distributes two databases for IBM pcs, one based on al-Hadith, and the other on Al-Qur'an. They use a fairly well known British text-retrieval package called STATUS, but it doesn't say you need to buy that as well. I quote: AL HADITH DATABASES For the first time full texts of Al-Hadith from SAHIH-al-BUKHARI, MUSLIM, AL-MUWATT, ABU DAWUD, TIRMIZY and NASAI have been made available on computer PC Micros... in the English language... Al Qur'an Database is intended to supplement the abiove by supplying references and full text. [it's not clear whether the Qur'an text is in English or not] They are also working on a thesaurus of Islamic terms. Lou Burnard Oxford Text Archive From: Subject: Re: 3.146 education and universities, cont. (68) Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 19:48:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 219 (288) Perhaps I'm naive in this regard, but, _pace_ N. Miller, the notion of making what appears to be a mutually exclusive division between virtue (as a scheme of personal values) and justice (a scheme of social values) makes me very uncomfortable. Perhaps what I'm trying to say is that my ideal university seeks to combine the two enquiries. -K. Berland From: Geoff Rockwell Subject: Re: 3.146 education and universities, cont. (68) Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 12:49:36 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 220 (289) It seems to me that teaching virtue is unlike other subjects. The problem of what virtue is, and hence the problem of whether it can be taught haunt any teaching of virtue. If Socrates can be said to have taught virtue, something he would have contested, it is by making the teaching of virtue an issue. This is unlike the teaching of WordPerfect, in that no one discusses the possibility that WordPerfect cannot be taught in a WordPerfect course. (Except the poor soul that has to teach it.) While the teachability of WordPerfect is not an issue when WordPerfect is being taught, it is when virtue is being taught. In fact, the Socratic dialogues and our discussion on Humanist suggest that, only by making the nature of virtue and the possibility of its instruction an issue, can it be taught, if at all. (In the "Meno" Socrates ends up by ironically suggesting that virtue can only be aquired by divine inspiration.) Aristotle and the Athenian Stranger in Plato's "Laws" offer a more satisfying answer. Both argue that virtue is a combination of disposition (being disposed to be virtuous if you can understand what it is) and education. The disposition to virtue is trained while the understanding of the virtue is taught. Training takes place at home and in primary schools, when the student is young. A student that is not disposed to be virtuous will not profit from any education later on. Such a student, if ill disposed, may abuse the education (become a sophist or an purveyor of virtue.) I suspect that Aristotle is right, that no amount of education at the college level will teach virtue to someone who is not so disposed. Few students who get to that level, however, will be viciously disposed, so there is hope. (High school teachers have a tendency to flunk students with "bad attitudes.") Is it then possible to teach those who are not vicious? I think Socrates would argue that we have to reverse the question. We have to ask of ourselves, "is it possible to learn to be virtuous?" Taking this question seriously and sharing our concern with our students is the closest we can get. Who wants to claim they know what virtue is, such that they can say whether it can be taught? Yours Geoffrey Rockwell rockwell@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca From: unh!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield) Subject: "Learned journals" Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 10:15:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 221 (290) At the same time that I relish our discussion of values and of how ostensibly extremist positions begin to resemble each other, I'd like not to lose the thread of an intriguing subject: the intellectual (if not ideolo- gical) value/s of our learned journals. Perhaps someone can suggest a publication along the lines of a university's apparently, but not always, superfluous "Committee on Committees." That is to say, is there a forum where we may all discuss the relative and absolute value/s of our journals by discipline? If the subject interests you, I'd relish a comparison of the MLJ, FLAnnals, PMLA, MLN, CALICO Journal, System, and other notable acronyms. --Joel D. Goldfield J_GOLDFI@UNHH.BITNET From: unh!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield) Subject: "MLA Bibliography" Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 10:26:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 152 (291) Looking at the recent comments by Ivy Anderson, Charles Faulhaber and others, the resonant chord seems to indicate that we need as many cost= effective forms of access to CD-ROM and other database media as possible. While I find the CD-ROM, Dialog and other databases or query systems in our library appropriate, especially when I actually have the time to examine the texts or periodicals discovered, being able to conduct similar research from my office would often be just as useful, especially when there are time constraints. Admittedly, this type of networked access would be even more effective if I could also call up the pages, audio or video information of the text, tape, CD-ROM or videodisc on my monitor. Perhaps in the not-so-distant future. How do all are library science experts feel about these possibilities? --Joel D. Goldfield J_GOLDFI@UNHH.BITNET From: David Megginson Subject: Is there anyone out there? Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 08:40:05 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 222 (292) Is there anyone out there who... Uses an Atari ST or Mega computer? Uses it for text analysis? Writes text analysis or concording programs in "C"? LISP? Prolog? (for any machine) Works with early Middle English and computers? I would love to get in touch with other programmers and other Atari users. Reply either through Humanist or directly to me at David Megginson From: Subject: Date: X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 223 (293) DATE: 06/21/89 FROM: Hans Rollmann (hans@mun); Memorial Univ. of Nfld SUBJECT: HyperLink from Neil Larson SUBJECT: HyperLink from Neil Larson ----------------------------------------------------------- I'm in the beginning stages of constructing some Hypertext systems in the areas of Religious and Intellectual History with Neil Larson's HyperLink and Hyperrez software tools. I'd appreciate exchange with anyone who has used this software for developing hypertext applications in the humanities. Please reply to the BITNET address above. Thanks. HANS ROLLMANN. From: Charles Ess Subject: 3rd party hard drives Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 09:07:39 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 224 (294) At the risk of wearing out my welcome among HUMANIST readers -- yet another plea for help and advice. Our Public Relations Department is shifting over to a Macintosh DTP system, and I have been asked for an opinion on third-party hard drives. Because our academic Macintosh installation runs A/UX, we have stayed with Apple drives -- and so I have no opinion to offer. Do HUMANIST readers familiar with the Macintosh world have any recommendations for third-party hard drives? Tales of both positive and negative experiences would be welcome. Proleptic thanks, Charles Ess From: Malcolm Hayward Subject: Machine-readable Texts Date: 21 Jun 89 16:02:03 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 225 (295) Anyone know of machine-readable texts for Coleridge, GM Hopkins, Hart Crane, or Dylan Thomas? Any help would be appreciated. Also, is there anyone doing computer analysis of metrics? It would seem a natural, but I do not remember seeing mention of that on humanist. Thanks. From: John McDaid Subject: checkers Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 20:38 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 154 (296) Re: request for info on spelling and grammar checkers While the advances in AI routines for these packages are quite substantial over their crude ancestors, it should still be an open question -- especially in writing classes -- if we want to submit developing writers to such frankly rule-oriented review. It is not so much *that* there are errors in a student text as the *logic* of these errors, and while this is old news, it is something that no AI routine is yet capable of penetrating. For this reason, I recommend programs like PROSE, rather than any spelling or grammar "checker." PROSE (available in both Macintosh and IBM versions from McGraw-Hill) allows readers to embed comments and flag "errors" in a text PROSE (which stands for Prompted Revision Of Student Essays) was developed at the Cornell writing program. It allows either the instructor or other students to focus on meaning problems (which can arise from grammatical or conceptual bases) rather than on surface features. Reviewers embed markers in the text which open into hypertext-like "windows" in which they can pose questions or insert commentary. PROSE does have a selection of standard "grammatical" markers which come with pre-written descriptions of the error. I feel that focussing on errors in this way, with understanding being the determinant rather than algorithm, is ultimately more respectful of the complexity of a student's (or anyone's, for that matter) text. -John McDaid New York University From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Mail to USCVM Date: Wednesday, 21 June 1989 2359-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 226 (297) To: KRAFT@PENNDRLS USCVM has a service virtual machine called a mailer. They expect incoming electronic mail to be sent to that machine, which forwards it to the user. We have sent mail to the mailer in the past. Every so often a site that runs a mailer switches to an "improved" version of the mailer software that rejects mail from sites which do not have mailers. I have changed our table of mailers so that BITMAIL will send mail directly to individual users at USCVM rather than to the mailer. I think this will fix the problem. Let me know if you have any further trouble. From: R22750@UQAM Subject: Date: 21 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 227 (298) SUBJECT: Montaigne A three-page article in the French newspaper LIBERATION of june 15 about the sensational discovery of what can be construed as the first draft of Montaigne's Essays prompted me to ask Toulouse Humanist R. Gauthier to summarize the find. He himself went directly to his colleague Ithurria and sent me the following, which I believe will be of interest to all Humanists. M. Pierssens ---------------------------------------------------- On May the 20th Mr Ithurria wrote the following announcement for the benefit of his colleagues at Toulouse-le Mirail : A few months ago, I informed you of the discovery of a collection of Apophthegms, dating back to 1560, the margins of which were crammed with handwritten annotations in french, about 5000 notes and citations. I have now completely decyphered it and feel confident that : - The writer's annotations are without doubt from the same period as the edition of the book itself (1560-1580). The book is by Lycosthenes and was recorded by VILLEY, an expert on the sources and evolution of Montaigne's ESSAYS (thesis written in 1908) who has been regrettably forgotten since. Lycosthenes is mentionned in the 1908 Index. - There are many affinities with "Montaigne's Library" such as we know it from the work of specialists, especially concerning his being strongly influenced by Plutarch (Moralia, The Lives , Amyot) and by the italian "Historians", Guicciardini, Machiavelli. -Most of the anecdotes or statements about ancient characters that Montaigne reproduced in his works are pinpointed by the writer with a set of cross-references to the book itself and to other works. Let us be reminded that the LYCOSTHENES contains 6000 apophthegms with more than 800 thematic entries. - The nature of the writer's work closely resembles that of Montaigne as we know it, owing to Andre Tournon's thesis "La Glose et l'Essai" : Montaigne himself tells us that he has no "gardoire" (a note-book in which he could keep all his citations) ; precisely the handwritten annotations are "centrifugal" , they explode into many contradictory points of view on various themes and are full of legal references, the importance of which has been highlighted by Andre Tournon. The latter who is informed of my work, considers that there are already "strong points" which should enable me to identify this writer as Montaigne's spiritual brother, if not as Montaigne himself. - Last, the writer's choice of words is very similar to that of Montaigne, since almost all rare words used by the writer are the same rare words used once or twice in the ESSAYS as they have been listed with the help of a program called LEAKE. There are enough serious arguments to scientifically support what remains an hypothesis and, at least, to prepare the edition of a book which should be fundamental as far as "Cultural practices of the stopeenth century" are concerned. Etienne Ithurria. Toulouse le -Mirail (translated by R. Gauthier@FRCICT81. BITNET) From: Willard McCarty Subject: items from the Times Literary Supplement Date: 21 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 228 (299) Three interesting things from the TLS, no. 655, 16-22 June. 1. A review by Oswyn Murray of books by Eric Havelock, Jack Goody, Ruth Finnegan, Bruno Gentili, and Jasper Svenbro, on orality and literacy. Murray speculates about the crucial role of the pioneers in communications theory. "The communications theorists were prophets before their time, preparing the way of the Computer.... Without their theories, the computer might have developed peacefully as a tool for scientists; it was their claims for the importance of communications technology which made IT the name of the game, and eased the path to money and power for the new computer barons. We are perhaps indeed undergoing another `literate revolution', which has been called into existence by the prophets of the 1960s; but if so we should note the signs that indicate how man in fact remains in control of his destiny, and moulds technology to his own ends. For it was not to be (as they predicted) an age of television: the new technology has in fact been directed away from the image, and back towards the (processed) word. It is the Message that has made the Medium." 2. A tribute to Bruce Chatwin by Hans Magnus Enzensberger. "For the unwillingness -- or incapacity -- to perform according to the invisible rules of the game has by now become a necessary condition for meaningful writing. In a culture where everybody is talented, you need a peculiar sort of immunity to survive. Chatwin never delivered the goods that critics or publishers or the reading public expected. Not fearing to disappoint, he surprised us at every turn of the page. He ignored the mainstream, but neither did he settle for the niche of the anti- novel or bury himself in the chic dead-end of some self- proclaimed avant-garde." 3. A note by Stuart Klawans on the phenomenal success in the U.S. of a book first privately printed by the author and distributed from his home, _Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun_, with endorsements from the executives of half a dozen powerful corporations. "Robert Schuller, pastor to the corporate elite, calls the text `inspiring'. John C. Bahnsen, a bridigier-general in the US Army, testifies that the book's advice has led him to `inward reflection'." Willard McCarty From: Subject: Third-party hard drive for Macintosh Date: Thu, 22 Jun 89 14:05 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 229 (300) In reply to Charles Ess, I used a DataFrame XP20 with my MacPlus for two years. I went at it pretty heavily. It was fast and did not crash even once. The software that came with it was incompatible with my new SE/30, though, so I surrendered it. ---Joel Farber From: Subject: Metrical analysis Date: Thu, 22 Jun 89 14:15 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 230 (301) We have developed a Macintosh program that analyzes the meter of the Iliad and the Odyssey pretty well for the Macintosh. We have two applications that employ it to different ends: one, a tutorial to lead students through the scansion, and the other a research tool that provides for the collection of statistics on several aspects, such as caesura. It runs fast. Of course, Greek meter, being based on a quantitative system, is very different from the stress-based system found in English (and in other aspects of academic life), so I doubt that the principles would carry over. ---Joel Farber From: "Matthew Gilmore, Special Collections GW" Subject: MLA/ remote access Date: Wed, 21 Jun 89 22:07:54 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 157 (302) Dr. Goldfield: The technology for what you would find desirable is coalescing, what is lacking is $$$$$$$$$. Right now plans are underway to mount the Wilson indexes onto the NOTIS online library catalog at some locations. Medline already can be loaded onto NOTIS and at UCLA is available through one of the online catalogs there. Dial-up access to the online library catalog is reality at UCLA and other places too. You need a PC, modem and account. So loading tapes for bibliographic databases into online catalogs is just about here. The problem is computer memory/$$. It takes a big computer to support a big bibliographic system. Tapes cost money, programmers cost money. CD-ROMs can be accessed via LANs too--same thing, dial up from your PC. What needs to happen is faculty need to get the university to invest in the equipment and data. Computer centers and libraries tend to be rather underfunded for what they would like to do. Matthew Gilmore From: Norman Hinton Subject: quoting HUMANIST Date: Thu, 22 Jun 89 09:37:26 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 158 (303) That subject should be "citing HUMANIST". A fellow medievalist and I have completed a concordance to the wroks of Robert Henryson. We used Word Cruncher. A publisher is almost certainly going to bring it out, but he/they want a rather extended discussion of computers and concordances in our Introduction. Of course the job of writing about computers falls to me. The discussion in HUMANIST about concordances---whether they should be published (obviously I agree with you about this), lemmatization, etc, And since we used a Kurzweil to get the Henryson on disc, the Intro should also have discussion of OCR readers. Now, HUMANIST has had interesting discussions of all this material, but in- formally, of course. Can that material be cited ? SHOULD that material be cited ? If so, do you know any established format for citations from electronic conferences/notesfiles/whatever ? From: Subject: education & universities Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 23:12 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 159 (304) So, let me play devil's advocate for a minute. What exactly is it that would be lost if we were to, oh, say, close all the universities? (besides your jobs, of course, but, hey, I didn't see YOU out protesting when 500,000 blue-collar workers were laid off last year, so why should they give a hoot about you?) With life-long learning, on-job-training, "business" spending more dollars on education and training within house than the country spends on higher-education (since, from its view, Higher education doesn't seem to be working), and research for dollars certainly as do-able in a research plant as a "university" -- what's the point? Why keep them around at all eating up dollars that could be spent on social problems that all these university trained PhD's seem to have gotten us into and/or be unable to solve for us anyway? If the university cannot (a) instill values that matter and (b) demonstrate that they matter, then what exactly IS their reason for existence any longer? At some point, some catastrophe event will occur and "people", faced with ever INcreasing social problems on the one hand, and "scientists" on the other who want billions for subnuclear or exo- galactic studies, will simply say "enough -- I don't understand what you're working on, but I'm pretty sure it's not MY problems so why the *&()*& am I paying for it?" [ there, that should stir the waters ] From: Jim McSwain Subject: Gulf Coast Historical Review Date: THU 22 JUN 1989 16:55:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 231 (305) As book rev. editor for the GCHR, I wish to invite HUMANIST members to notify me if they would like to be placed on a list of potential book reviewers for the journal; it appears twice each year and contains reviews of history books, and books from other fields, by Gulf Coast authors or about the history, geography, etc. of the coast. Further, article submissions are welcomed; they should normally include illustrative material from an archive, etc., to enliven you submission. Send your name if interested by E-mail to me at f0a8@usouthal, or an article on standard paper to GCHR, editor, History Department, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL., 36688; 205-460-6210 M-F 8- 5pm CST (daylight). Regards,... James B. McSwain, f0a8@usouthal From: Willard McCarty Subject: biographical supplements 19 and 20; ListServ, part 3 Date: 23 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 232 (306) I have finally been able to edit the accumulated biographies of new, and not so new, Humanists. These have been placed on the file-server as BIOGRAFY 20 and BIOGRAFY 21 and will be sent out on Humanist sometime this weekend. If on looking through these files you discover that your recent biography is not there, and you think it should be, please just send it to me again. During editing I may have inadvertently lost a few (because of the end-of-file characters that tend to get hidden in mainframe files). I say it every time, so I must say it again: we are a very motley crew of the most interesting kind. Welcome to all you new ones, and not so new ones! The third part of David Sitman's description of ListServ and its ways, known as LISTSERV DESCR-3 on the file-server, has just been updated. I will soon be incorporating all three parts into the Guide to Humanist, which will be sent you when it is done. For this reason I am not circulating part 3, revised, on Humanist immediately. My thanks to David for his work, very necessary and very well done. Willard McCarty From: db Subject: Re: 3.151 education and universities, cont.; journals (94) Date: Thu, 22 Jun 89 22:20:51 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 233 (307) It seems to me that one significant way that we can legitimately teach values (which for me includes a significant commitment to the full humanization of all reified people--women, Orientals etc.) is by demonstrating the constructedness of social practices that appear to be natural entities, thus opening them up to critique from a value point of view. Thus teaching the constructedness of the gender relations in our society and thereby showing students that it does not have to be that way is a significant political move that does not violate the spirit of liberal inquiry and freedom on which the idea of a university is based. Daniel Boyarin From: "Ouden Eimi " Subject: teaching values, discovering them Date: 23 June 1989 06:35:20 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 234 (308) Teaching values makes me nervous. I think what we need to do instead is to preserve the practice of disinterested inquiry and let the values come of themselves. The illiberality I spoke of has taken aim from both sides (in many ways one side) against such inquiry, which threatens the tight band of commitment to a limited program. And not always an openly published program either. How many of us still understand what the word "disinterested" means? How many of us understand the serious problem that historical provincialism makes for opening the mind? Especially when we are so ready to take peculiarly modern ideas, march back a few centuries, and stomp all over a culture with very different notions than our own -- and without a second's hesitation? Those who stomp tend not to hesitate, I think, because they don't even notice the differences in ideas, or will not allow themselves to notice. Those with a commitment to a limited program, right or left, cannot afford to let themselves notice such things. Doing so would threaten their identity, which is a pretty anxious thing anyhow. Disinterested inquiry can only be managed by a confident people, and I think we are not so confident anymore. OE From: John McDaid Subject: RE: 3.159 education and universities, cont. (35) Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 10:13 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 235 (309) [deleted quotation] Neil Postman has suggested, in "Teaching as a Conserving Activity," that the real function of universities is to preserve alternative visions. Especially in the scenario of private-sector "life long learning" and "on the job training" which will always be motivated, at bottom, by economics. We have given television over to this force; do we want education to follow? You don't need quantum mechanics to flip burgers. On the other hand, it seems likely that universities, as presently constituted, cannot survive the digital revolution. Life-long learning, and delivery of education to publics not now served become possible when the installed base of PC's and ISDN create a true "network nation." The university, then, will no longer be in the business of selling seats in a classroom, but rather of facilitating dialogue; helping people make connections, problematizing discussions. The "universities" may well close. Their offspring, however, if alternative visions are to be preserved, must be able to walk a fine line between integrating technology (and market forces) and retaining critical perspective. The people most ready for this challenge are reading this right now. -John McDaid From: David Megginson Subject: Re: 3.159 education and universities, cont. (35) Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 14:04:01 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 236 (310) In response to the letter from the semi-anonymous devil's advocate (that's a semi-anonymous advocate for the devil, not an advocate for a semi-anonymous devil), professors are people who like to make a lot of speeches and have power over others. If they did not have universities to play in they would probably move into P O L I T I C S Politicians are already bad enough. Remember, it only costs a little more to keep a professor in a university than it does to keep a felon in the pen, and yields even greater benefits to society. David Megginson From: FLANNAGA@OUACCVMB.BITNET Subject: report on the conference (and on Humanist's effect) Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 11:01:55 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 162 (311) To My Colleagues [distributed 22 June 1989] [deleted quotation]Subject New Worlds in Scholarship Over 450 scholars who connect computer technology with humanism met in Toronto last week. They were comprised of government representatives from the nations of France, Canada, the U.K., France, West Germany, Italy and the U.S., representatives from the think-tanks of IBM, Bell Laboratories, and the Max Planck Institute, and academic representatives from everywhere from Teneriffe to Osaka and Beijing. In their papers they discussed computational linguistics, translation and the teaching of language, lexicography, archaeology, anthropology, history and literature, among many other topics. What the scholars are doing is exciting for all their disciplines. They are using the speed, the accuracy, the memory-storage, and the counting ability of the computer to help them create enormous databases, to encode those databases using artificial intelligence techniques so that their information can be synthesized and retrieved quickly. The software and hardware they are using is already able to relate the different media of words and pictures quite easily, in combinations only limited by the imagination of the user. A graduate student in English at the University of Toronto has entered every valuable original text of the Shakespeare plays in primary versions into one large textbase, and he can quickly search for clusters of images, compositorial habits, structural coherence, or synonyms. Archeologists at the University of Southampton are teaching students how to discover, chart and describe artefacts using computer simulations before they go on-site, and archeologists at the University of Toronto have entered the identifying marks from all known Greek amphoras as one database that can can be used to chart Greek history and migratory patterns quite easily for the entire classical period. Historians and literary critics of the classics can begin now to use the products of the Perseus Project at Harvard, whose aim is to collect all classical drama (among many other databases) together with translations, together with photographs of archeological sites and statuary; the project is also designed to be easily accessible to students in any university in the world. The French Ministry of Culture is developing a similar program for French culture. I saw the prototype of IBM's mainframe program Critique, which may help a great deal toward what Northrop Frye in his keynote address to the conference called one of the highest of academic goals of the computer: grading student essays. Critique uses the memory storage of the mainframe to help analyse any body of writing for grammatical errors, Malapropisms or any misuse of words or phrases. Critique can distinguish easily among *they're*, *their*, and *there*. Other multi-media language programs will allow students to watch a movie like the German *Three-Penny Opera* and touch various parts of the screen to stop action or view the lyrics of a song Lotte Lenya is singing. At Oxford University, specially designed user-friendly software will allow any student to enter the Oxford Text Archives to search any of the texts stored there in their original languages. Professors can assign tutorial students a text-search and turn them loose to find things on their own. History professors at Southampton can ask students to the same thing with primary historical documents stored in interactive programs for students to play with off-hours. Lexicographers from all over the world are looking at enormous national dictionaries such as the *OED* as repositories of all knowledge, not just of definitions. Shakespeare is the most-often-quoted author in the *OED*, and Milton is the third, so both those authors can be re-constituted according to various formulas or clusters of words using the entire corpus of the *OED* in all its gigabytes, using software specially designed to manipulate all the knowledge stored in the dictionary for quick retrieval. Lexicographers from Italy and Holland are following suit. The scholars who met under the aegis of the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing and the Association for Computers in the Humanities in Toronto truly see all knowledge as their province. They also see their community as a global village connected for the very rapid transfer of data through electronic mail. From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: MicroForm Scanning Date: Friday, 23 June 1989 1002-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 163 (312) I received a call from someone in NY who claimed to be able to deliver a "black box" for converting 16mm microfilm into digitized electronic form, at a cost of roughly $40,000. "Probably" this could be adjusted to do 35mm fairly easily, although microFiche would be more difficult. He is supposed to be sending more details. At present, I do not know whether he is himself the developer, or is fronting for someone else; whether the price that was mentioned (sort of in passing) is firm and predictable; whether other special hardware would be needed (the box apparently runs with IBM-DOS machinery); etc. It is clear that once the digitized material is in hand, software for analyzing it (character recognition, etc.) would be necessary, so what is offered is simply the ability to scan directly from the microform images to graphics form, and does not address the question of OCR software (Optopus, TextPert, TrueScan, Kurzweil, etc., as discussed on HUMANIST and at the Toronto conference recently). Nevertheless, I have been looking for a long time and this is the first actual claim that such a device could be purchased by a user (there is a company in England that will do the job for you). Hopefully, the claim is true and at least one of our centers or libraries will be able to take advantage of the situation and set up a self-supporting service for such scanning (the issue of analyzing the digitized output could be separated, and distributed; that is, if conversion from microform to digitized form were centralized -- at least until the price of the equipment became more reasonable -- there could be a variety of locations at which the decipherment and verification of the results could be accomplished). Anyhow, I plan to follow up on this and to urge others who might be in a better position to obtain the necessary funding to do so as well. The contact person is Irving Green Skan Teknologies Inc [not "Ink" !] 555 Chestnut Street Cedarhurst NY 11516 tel 516-295-2237 Its a dim light in a long tunnel.... Bob Kraft (CCAT) From: MORGAN@LOYVAX.BITNET Subject: RE: 3.143 divers comments (109) Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 10:05:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 164 (313) I am responding to the discussion about spell-checking. Word-Perfect in fact not only accepts foreign words, but also HAS foreign language spell-checkers. The WP 4.2 did also, but for Italian, at least, is quite poor; the person setting up the dictionary wrote in all accents, which is only done on the final tonic syllable in Italian. I have not had a chance to check the 5.0 version for Italian, or any other language. Perhaps someone who has can respond. For style, I have heard that a parser for German is nearing completion. My source for this is JRUSSELL@SBCCMAIL (John Russell at Stony Brook). I don't know how it will be used, or if it is available (or will be available) to the public. There are rave reviews about Syste'me-D for writing in French; again, our French colleagues would be better equipped to respond. I hope this is of interest. I will follow further postings carefully as I too am interested in style-checking, particularly as a possible tool for undergraduate writing. Leslie Morgan (MORGAN@LOYVAX) Asst. Prof. of Italian Loyola College, Baltimore MD From: EIHE4874@VAX1.CENTRE.QUEENS-BELFAST.AC.UK Subject: Urdu Date: Fri, 23 JUN 89 09:03:46 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 237 (314) Barbara Crossette's article in the NY Times (June 4, 1989) circulated on HUMANIST recently was interesting. As an Urdu speaker, as well as one who dabbles in Urdu calligraphy, I would very much like to know what has been done to bring the Nastaliq script to our screens (and printers). Any information would be most welcome. Yet the article also left me a little puzzled. If Urdu is one language that has "still eluded the typesetters", (and therefore presumably the computer-wallahs), then this implies that the problem of Persian has been solved. And if the problem of Persian has been solved, then Urdu presents no difficulty, as all that needs to be added is one little diacritical to modify certain dentals making them retroflex. Furthermore, if Persian has been set, this would obviate the need for an adapted Arabic type for Urdu (which is used quite widely) which looks most ugly (see Platts dictionary of classical Hindi and Urdu, for example). Urdu may be a minority language, but we ought to remember that "minority" in the Indian/Pakistani context can still mean many tens (scores even) of millions of people. From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Swedish E-mail Address Request Date: Friday, 23 June 1989 0918-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 238 (315) A letter from someone at Lund SWEDEN suggested that I could "send the material electronically c/o Peter Bryder at: Weng@GEMINI.LDC.SE" but I am getting rejected using that address. Can anyone help me? Thanks! Bob Kraft From: daniel boyarin Subject: medieval romance word Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 16:39:07 IST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 239 (316) In the fourteenth century in Germany, there appears a new literary genre in talmudic commentary called glosses of "gornisch". Since these same texts are referred to in Hebrew by a word that means margins, I suspect this of being a medieval french word that has some such meaning. does anyone know of a usage of "garniture" or something like that to mean the margins of books where one would write glosses. it could be somewhat earlier than the fourteenth century as judaeo romance tends to be quite conservative. Any help will be much appreciated. From: UDAA270@ELM.CC.KCL.AC.UK Subject: AIE 89-45 update on the Rose theatre campaign Date: Tue, 20 Jun 89 18:40 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 166 (317) ROSE THEATRE UPDATE 16TH JUNE After Ridley's announcement on 15th that the Rose would not be scheduled "at this time", the Rose Campaign phoned supporters to come to the site to show interest and watch the doings of English Heritage. Quite a few people were there at 6.30, some of whom had spent the night. Lorries were due at 7.30 (it was 9.00 in the event) bringing sand to cover the Rose and protect it, as it is rapidly drying out in the hot weather. The Campaign did not intend to obstruct these, as the protection is necessary. Several radio and television teams were there, and more protesters arrived during the early morning until there were about 40. Ian McKellen gave a television interview in which he criticized Simon Jenkins (Deputy Head of English Heritage) for guaranteeing that there will be no damage to any part of the Rose from Imry's latest building plans (earlier Jenkins had said there would be some damage. An archaeologist and a conservator working for English Heritage arrived, and answered questions from the protesters about their measures to cover and protect the Rose, refusing to be drawn on whether the site should be scheduled or fully excavated, or other wider implications. "I'm only a hireling," said one. Everyone agrees that the site must be covered, but the method is contro- versial. The English Heritage people explained that no site of this size had ever had to be treated before. They will cover the site with a layer of polymer (already in place), then with two metres of a special fine sand, as used on the Huggin Hill Roman Baths site, because it is inert, can be wetted, and will exclude oxygen. On top of this will be an impermeable membrane to stop air getting in, and a thin layer of lean-mix concrete. People could walk on this without cracking it, and Imry have agreed that no vehicle shall go on it. The covering will stay in place for about 15 months. The Museum of London archaeological team, the original excavators sacked last week by EH, do not agree with this method. The unions of the two sets of archaeolo- gists are still discussing the irregular situation caused by the sacking and substitution. The pilings are now to be TEN feet across (six feet was last week's rumour), and will pass within inches of the exposed walls of the Rose. Pilings will also be driven into the unexcavated part, after very local digging by the EH archaeologists, which the Museum of London team fear will damage the remains. It is ludicrous for English Heritage to "guarantee" that no damage will occur from the massive earth-disturbance and vibrations, or from building on unexplored areas. The viewing area for the Rose when the car park and office block are on top of it, between the huge "stilts", is now to be 17 feet high instead of the up to 22 feet promised earlier. This sounds like a mean and unworthy way to display these unparalleled remains (or what is by then left undamaged of them), and the whole scheme, far from "protecting" or "saving" the Rose as reiterated by Jenkins and Ridley, looks like a shabby little compromise aimed at saving only government cash. No building can start until the revised plans are passed by Southwark Borough Council on 3rd July. Meanwhile the Campaign will ask for a judicial review. Further information and petitions from: The Rose Theatre Campaign, c/o Shakespeare Globe Centre, Bear Gardens, Bankside, Southwark, London SE1 9EB, telephone 01-928 4555. Deirdre Kincaid. ------------------------------------------------------------------ 21 June 1989 Dr. Susan Brock, librarian to the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon and Birmingham is keeping a cuttings file on the discovery of the remains of the Rose theatre to date and its reporting in the press. I have noticed that several correspondants who have responded to my previous messages about the Rose have connections with the press or have managed to contact the press elsewhere. Could I pass on a message from Susan - I've been saving cuttings on the Rose developments from the Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Sunday Times, Observer and Sunday Telegraph but would be grateful for anything else especially from papers in the States and elsewhere. If you can send out a request for information on our behalf that would be a great help. Please address any cuttings or copies you might wish to send (annotated with journal, date and page) to: Dr. Susan Brock - (Rose cuttings) The Shakespeare Institute Church Street, Stratford-upon-Avon Warwickshire CV37 6HP England. Sincerely, Stephen Miller c/o Dept of English, King's College London, The Strand, LONDON WC2R 2LS England E-Mail JANET: UDLE031@UK.AC.KCL.CC.OAK From: amsler@flash.bellcore.com (Robert A Amsler) Subject: Universities Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 21:42:32 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 240 (318) Wade's message was of course intended to be provocative. However, I think the position of industry is misrepresented. While industry does engage in considerable education, it is largely education at the high-school and undergraduate level, and largely directed at making employees competent in fields they did not choose to, had no opportunity to, or failed to succeed at studying while at a university or in high school. The situation at the graduate level is far more grim. We graduate fewer and fewer Ph.D.s in vital areas of technology (e.g. Computer Science) and industry doesn't seem to know much about creating Ph.D.s (they send their people back to universities to get advanced degrees). I've been told by representatives of one of the telephone operating companies that they have pretty well decided that there simply will not be enough technically trained people available in a decade to fill the jobs they will have. The existing staff are becoming obsolete as newer and newer technologies replace the basis for how the telephone system operates. However, they have also concluded that re-training won't keep up with the demand either---so they are going to try to change the jobs such that computers can do a lot of the work, advising the available human beings. Some of what this seems to imply to me is that: (1) Universities in order to survive are increasing enrollments by propagating (or at least not denying) myths that the real world wants to hire people with expertise in fields which the real world really doesn't need. People will go to universities and enjoy themselves entertaining their brains and pay for this. Society will try to accomodate the graduates by settling on degree categories which are prerequisites for jobs; but then have to re-train the people anyway. Graduates in many areas find employment in completely different areas (e.g., humanists with computer skills working in computing jobs). and either, (2a) We haven't properly motivated enough people to go into the fields which a technological society needs (e.g. children not liking math finding encouragement or tolerance from their parents that math is unlikable); or, (2b) we are actually at some edge of human mental abilities beyond which one cannot attract more people to studying the prerequisite technical fields needed to operate a society based on advanced technology. That somehow we have found a limiting factor in the use of technology by creatures genetically evolved from a natural environment. If (2a) we need to rethink the educational system. If (2b) we've got a much bigger problem. Technology isn't the only way to run a civilization, however up until now it may have been most effective way to allow small numbers of people (1st world nations) to compete with larger numbers of people (3rd world nations) on an equal or superior basis. Anything they can do, our machines can do better and faster. However now that our machines are computers, we are being asked to think with them at their speed of work and at their level of competence. We're pretty poor at that. We're good at interacting with the natural environment, but relatively poor at symbolic mental reasoning. We have invented a whole slew of things to help us think, such as mathematics, but even with mathematics we are in need of crutches to juggle the digits accurately. It just isn't the sort of game we can win--but the computers can win at that. So... where might we be heading? Of what use is a human being to a civilization sustained by technologies so advanced that human beings can't understand them, operate them, or design them. Certainly we have ample evidence that we're making mistakes in introducing technologies that are destroying the natural environment--a symptom, if you will of our inability to comprehend the technologies since they aren't like our natural ecosystem in their behavior. Virtually every technology we create gives us a short-term advantage over the natural environment, but at a longer-term disadvantage because the technology either consumes the natural enviroment in order to operate or destroys it as a by-product of its operation. Many times it does both at the same time. So... it may be that the university needs to be the meeting ground between these two forces of our destiny, the human being really only capable of living in a natural environment and the computer capable of directing our technologies. Without the university where would this meeting take place? Industry won't train people for non-industrial tasks. A worldwide network alone would reduce humanity to attempting to establish an equivalence between the bits of information we have codified about the world and the world itself. The world is infinite, the bits finite. From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.159 education and universities, cont. (35) Date: Sat, 24 Jun 89 07:29:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 241 (319) re: Wade's comments on the University role of instilling values Should the University instill values or expose students to them? I would suggest a parallel to free-will versus determinism. From: "Matthew Gilmore, Special Collections GW" Subject: education and the university Date: Sun, 25 Jun 89 17:25:52 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 242 (320) Willard and other contributors to the education and the University discussion: A contribution, borrowed from the most recent CHE (Chronicle of Higher Ed.) p.B3 "At times in our past, the call for a shoring up of or a return to a canonical curriculum was explicitly elitist, was driven by a fear that the education of the select was being compromised. Today, though, the majority of calls are provocatively framed in the language of democracy. They assail the mediocre and grinding curriculum frequently found in remedial and vocational education. They are disdainful of the patronizing perceptions of student ability that further restrict the already restricted academic life of disadvantaged youngsters. They point out that the canon-- its language, conventions and allusions--is central to the discourse of power, and to keep it from poor kids is to assure their disenfranchisement all the more. The books of the canon, the Great Books, claim the proposals, are a window onto a common core of experience and civic ideals. "There is, then, a spiritual, civic, and cognitive heritage here, and ALL our children should receive it.... This is a forceful call. It promises a still center in a turning world. "I see great value in being challenged to think of the curriculum of the many in the terms we have traditionally reserved for the few; it is refreshing to have common assumptions sbout the capabilities of the underprepared so boldly challenged." [deleted quotation]achievements of America's underprespared* (1988:The Free Press) by Mike Rose, associate director of writing programs, UCLA. This may be straying a little away from the central arguments under discussion, but Rose's comment about the canon being, in his terms, the discourse of power, is illuminating. A previous contributor suggested an emphasis on *constructedness*, so that students could deconstruct discourse and relations. Not a particularly helpful suggestion, I think, if it leads to a simply relativistic anything-is-ok-because-they-have- constructed-it-that-way attitude. There are values upon which our educational/social system are founded. If students haven't gotten that by the time they hit the University, then its the University's job to inculcate those values. That is the irony of this. Those who would have the University teach values would probably be horrified at the values of the "teachers", truth to tell. Comments? From: daniel boyarin Subject: medieval romance word Date: Sun, 25 Jun 89 13:05:33-020 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 243 (321) [deleted quotation] MY COMMENT: In Romance languages, e.g. Italian "cornice" = "frame" (= Modern Hebrew "misgeret"), such use looks quite possible, as glosses are written on the "frame", the margins that enclose the text. This should be the case also for the medieval French (or Jewish Rhenisch Romance?) "gornisch". By the way, I once happened to browse a Jewish toponomastic lexicon from the 19th century, but is there any (possibly recent) material specifically devoted to the German Judeo-Romance toponomastics (and/or women names) of places especially in Germany? Ephraim Nissan onomata@bengus.bitnet From: Ephraim Nissan Subject: How to cite Humanist Date: Sun, 25 Jun 89 13:25:45-020 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 244 (322) I thought that the discussion on citing was already settled. Personally, I advocate citing mandatorily, though with no copyright, which was -- if I recall properly -- the original suggestion by Willard. The format of citations from Humanist that I have already employed in a paper (meanwhile, published), is: (Ryle 1989) in the text (but this depends on style) and, for the bibliographic entry: LEGEND: ******* in a smaller point; ======= italicized Rile, M. 11 February 1989 Historical Simulations. *********** Humanist Mailing List , ===================== ************************** In Troff (the text-formatter I use, under Unix), I would write the above lines as a comment (after ' \" at the beginning of each line). The source code processed, instead, is as follows: Ryle, M. \c \s-1\c 11\c \&\ February\c \s+1 1989 \c Historical Simulations. \c .I Humanist Mailing List .R \s-3\c \c \s+3\c , Vol.\c \&\ 2, No.\c \&\ 592. \s-1\c (Author's address: History Dept., University of Richmond, Virginia).\c \s+1 ' \" What is not clear, to me, is whether we should provide the author's affiliation, as usual for technical reports, or, instead, stress the location of Humanist in Toronto (in more detail than by just stating the e-mail site is UTORONTO). Regards, Ephraim Nissan onomata@bengus.bitnet From: Daniel Boyarin Subject: Re: 3.164 spell-checking (35) Date: Sat, 24 Jun 89 22:26:57 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 245 (323) Nota-Bene has a provision that essentially allows any word list to become a spell checker. At present I know of someone who is preparing a Russian spell checker to work with NB. It will contain only about 20,000 words initially. If you are interested in info on this please write to me on surface mail: c/o Department of Talmud Bar-Ilan University Ramat Gan Israel I will answer in the fall (I am traveling all summer). From: Jim McSwain Subject: re: comment on Kraft/microform scanning Date: SAT 24 JUN 1989 13:28:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 169 (324) Very interesting hardware note; I could use it to convert material from the Pollard & Redgrave, Wing or 18th C. STC projects to digital form, except all represent major capital investments by corporations and or alleged non-profit or inefficiently run gov. archives, libraries etc. who seek to recoup their investments. Won't this conversion invite copyright lawsuits or infringement problems, etc.? If your conscience allowed you could do it privately, but surely a center at one's university would gain legal attention quickly?? Hope it will be otherwise....JMcSwain From: (Terrence Erdt) Subject: call clarified, re-edited Date: Sat, 24 Jun 89 08:36 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 246 (325) More on the issue of Computers and the Humanities to be devoted to the subject of Telecommunications and the Humanities I recently sent Willard a message about the plan for a special issue of CHum to be devoted to the subject of telecommunications. My intention was not, at that point in time, to send it to all Humanists, but to elicit suggestions from Willard for the success of the enterprise. Accompanying the message was a brief and bare note about the possible scope of the issue, hardly dressed for public view. My intentions unfortunately were unclear, and the elliptical little piece appeared abortively before Humanists's eyes. Several queries about the blurb have reached me, so let me say more: The special issue will appear next year (vol. 24, no. 6). Suggestions to help define its scope are welcome, and proposals for articles are invited. The deadline date for proposal abstracts is July 15, 1989. The deadline for the completed manuscripts abstracts will be February 1, 1990. I would appreciate suggestions as to what sort of materials ought to go into the issue. The tentative plan goes as follows: The issue will contain articles that introduce the networks and diverse lists available internationally to scholars. It will contain practical information about using Listserv, for example, as well as about operating lists such as HUMANIST, HUMBUL, PHILOSOP, NOTABENE, and so forth. Additionally, it will contain information about the different online catalogs of research libraries that are available for remote access, and about the databases available through remote access to scholars and students around the world. I hope the above information resolves the earlier confusion. Do make suggestions and proposals. Terrence Erdt erdt@vuvaxcom (215) 645-4670 Associate Editor Computers and the Humanities Graduate Department of Library Science Villanova University Villanova, PA 19085 U.S.A. From: Willard McCarty Subject: private or public mail? Date: 25 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 247 (326) Those of you who have been on Humanist some time will have seen a note to this effect before. Please forgive the repetition. Because every message you receive from Humanist is first filtered through me as editor, ListServ puts my name and e-mail address in the "From:" line of everything it sends out to Humanists. For this reason, those who use the "reply" function in their mailers to respond to Humanist in fact send their contributions to me rather than to Humanist. ("Reply" is so handy a way to respond that it would be utterly futile for me to protest, so I don't.) The result, however, is that public as well as private messages arrive in my account, and I have no way to distinguish them other than by content. Sometimes this is very difficult to do, so I rely on my own judgment, and sometimes (mirabile dictu!) my judgment fails me. So, if you send me private mail that on no account should be published, please label it as such, unless you can be absolutely certain that I will understand your intentions. A story is told about an office worker in one of the departments of the U.N. in New York, who when a new wordprocessing and communications system was installed, decided to write a personal note to a friend in another, physically distant office. The note, when finished, contained much gossip of the most personal and embarrassing kind about some prominent co-workers. The hapless victim of high-tech then pushed a button to send the message, but got the wrong button, with the result that the signed message was immediately distributed to all news desks in the U.N. Most of the time I can support the claim to being more intelligent than a button, but not always, so beware! Willard McCarty From: Willard McCarty Subject: killing in Tien-an-men Square Date: 24 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 248 (327) An eye-witness report to the killing of students and others in Tien-an-men Square, Beijing, PRC, can be obtained from Martin Ryle, ryle@urvax.urich.edu, by request. He asks in return that you forward to him any other such reports that you may have. Please do not send requests to Humanist but directly to Martin Ryle. Willard McCarty (with permission, on behalf of Martin Ryle) From: Jude Wang Subject: British Museum library policy regarding portable computers Date: Fri, 23 Jun 89 16:25:01 MST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 249 (328) One of the English Department faculty is planning on doing some research at the British Museum library. She has a small portable computer which she would like to be able to use for notetaking, etc. Does anyone happen to know what the library's policy is? Thanks in advance. Jude Wang Humanities Computing Facility Arizona State University From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.162 Dynamic Text conference report (91) Date: Sat, 24 Jun 89 05:55:18 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 250 (329) I was very interested in Flannagan's report on the Dynamic Text Conference, and would like to encourage more. My particular interests are the references to the OED (is it really gigabytes or is that only if you include associated materials?) and the other files referred to as in use at Oxford. My thanks to Flannagan for getting this started here. From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.156 Mac hard drive; metrics (41) Date: Sat, 24 Jun 89 08:36:35 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 251 (330) re: Joel Farber's Mac scansion program for Greek meter Would you be so kind as to post the particulars for obtaining a copy? From: Willard McCarty Subject: biographical supplement 19 Date: 23 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 172 (331) Autobiographies of Humanists Nineteenth Supplement Following are 37 additional entries to the collection of autobiographical statements by members of the Humanist discussion group. Humanists on IBM VM/CMS systems will want a copy of Jim Coombs' exec for searching and retrieving biographical entries. It is kept on Humanist's file-server; for more information, see the Guide to Humanist. Further additions, corrections, and updates are welcome. Willard McCarty Centre for Computing in the Humanities, Univ. of Toronto mccarty@utorepas 23 June 1989 ================================================================= *Algazi, Gadi Researcher, Max Planck Institut fuer Geschichte, Hermann Foege Weg 11, Goettingen, D-3400, German Federal Republic, (551) 49560 I am an Israely historian, currently working on a dissertation in medieval history. I was born in Israel, 1961, studied European history, Arabic studies, and literature at the University of Tel Aviv, Israel. Since 1986 I have been working on my doctoral dissertation at the Max Planck Institut fuer Geschichte, Goettingen, and in October 1989 I am about to begin to work here as a research fellow. I am equally interested in history, sociology, anthropology and cultural studies. My current research project addresses a series of questions related to the growing use of written documents in Germany in the late Middle Ages and the early modern period. Examining the codification of peasant oral normative traditions, I try to trace the changing configurations of orality and writing in late medieval society in the context of peasant-lords relations, state formation and the development of learned law. I am interested in medieval culture, classical arabic history, art history, cognitive anthropology, the sociology of communication, cultural studies, oral tradition, popular culture, marxism, peasant studies, sociology of the intellectuals, Jewish history, the sociology and anthropology of israely society, the rituals of the academy, and, unavoidably, politics. I use NotaBene extensively, and employ its TextBase to keep track of all my notes, bibliographies, comments and drafts. I find it the best wordprocessor I have had. As a student I worked as a typesetter on a variety of front-end systems using CORA-V for Linotype systems. I then switched to the Macintosh world and worked for two years as a programmer for a small israely software house especialized in desktop publishing systems. I am especially interested in exchanging views with young people in the social/human/cultural sciences, not necessarily on computers and the like. From my experience with medievalists, few of them are likely to be subscribers of Humanist. But I`ll be happy to find out I`m wrong. English, French, German, Arabic, and of course, Hebrew, could be used. ================================================================= *Anderson, Clifford Wilfred or (to July 31,1989): Psychology Department, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester U.K. M20 9PL (after September 1,1989): Psychology Department, Brandon University, 270 18th Street, Brandon, Manitoba CANADA R7A 6A9; (204) 728-9303 I teach undergraduate psychology courses for which I am fitted by training in Industrial and Counselling Psychology and my research interests in the role of affect in human motivation and the objective measurement of the expression of emotion in poems, short stories, advertising copy, stories written for and by children, political speeches, and other narratives. The computer system I use for this, LOGOS, was developed in collaboration with Dr. George McMaster (Mathematics and Computer Science). This system depends upon universal qualities of English, so that it can be used across authors and materials, and, potentially, languages. ================================================================= *Aronson, Shlomo Professor, Poli. Sci. Dept., HBU, Mount-Scopus, Jerusalem 972-2- 8883278 Born Tel-Aviv 1936. Served in IDF 1954-6. Studied at HBU, U. of Munich, Germany, Free U. of Berlin History and Poli. sci. 1956- 1966 (Dr. Phil 1966). Since than at HBU - except for wars (1967, 1973, Lebanon) as War correspondent, and for a short period as Director of News and Current Affairs, Israel TV. Areas of research: the Holocaust, Arab-Israeli Conflict, Israeli Politics, Nuclear Proliferation in Mid-East. Also columnist and comentator on political affairs at various Israeli and foreign media.. Served as visiting Prof. at UCLA (holder of Holocaust Chair, and as visiting scholar at Brookings Institution, in Wash. D.C.) ================================================================= *Baier, Randal Emerson (Randy) As of June 12, 1989 my position will be Cataloger, Southeast Asian Materials, Olin Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Current phone in Ann Arbor is 313-996-8570. I am an ethnomusicologist by training, specializing in the music of Southeast Asia, especially that of West Java in Indonesia. I am coordinator of Southeast Asian music reviews for the journal Asian Music, have published two articles on Sundanese (West Java) music, and have given several conference papers concerning various aspects of Sundanese music and culture. Interests include Popular music and culture ; History of travel and photography in Southeast Asia ; Agricultural ritual and music ; Voices of popular resistance within musical performance. I have just recently become a librarian/info specialist with a degree from the library school here at the University of Michigan. Currently I'm working as a reference librarian for Oakland Community College in Farmington Hills, Michigan. ================================================================= *Baima, John K. D024JKB@UTARLG Dept. of Foreign Languages and Linguistics, Summer Institute of Linguistics, Univ. of Texas, Arlington; 7246 Cloverglen Dr., Dallas, TX, 75249, USA; (o) (817) 273-3695 (h) (214) 709-8987 I am the author of Lbase a database program with works with grammatically tagged texts. I am currently continuing to develop Lbase and am working on another software project for linguists. ================================================================= *Berghof, Oliver G. University College, Oxford OX1 4BH England; messages left for me under GB/865/276602 will be handed on to me through the University College Lodge. Having read English and German Literature and Philosophy at Oxford and the University of Konstanz, West Germany, I shall embark on a Ph.D. at the University of California at Irvine from August onwards. My subject will be Comparative Literature but my interests stretch beyond what is usually understood to fall within its scope, including AI, aesthetics (computer graphics...), astronomy and windsurfing (the latter two being mainly connected through the tide ...). For purposes of computing I am at present stirred by the first notions of analysing texts beyond one - to - one pattern matching which cluster around words like 'hypertext' and 'concept encyclopedia. ================================================================= *Berland, Kevin H. Department of English, Penn State - Shenango, Sharon, PA 16146 USA. (PhD McMaster 1983: Indirect Ethical Discourse in the Novel: Fielding, Dialogue, and Dialectic). Teaching English at Penn State since 1982. Research interests: 18th-Century British Literature (Fielding, Henry Jones the Bricklayer, Frances Brooke, Johnson, Beckford, history of poetry); emblem studies; historiography; long-term project on the reputation of Socrates in English letters before 1800. Published essays on Bacon, Dryden, Johnson, Br ooke, Fielding, and Socrates & the New Science. Welcome references to Socrates and Xanthippe in writings before 1800. I mainly do wordprocessing, but I'm al so interested in database work for bibliographies (I've been working on a listing of William Beckford's library on Q&A). Also online ESTC searches. I do some composition instruction work, but that's my bread & butter & I do it well but do not love it & do not wish to boast of it in public. Other research interests: physiognomy, historiography of philosophy... ================================================================= *Borowiec, Edward J. Professor of English and Linguistics and Assistant Dept. Chair, Dept. of English, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA 90840 Tel - (213) 985-4223 or 985-4212 (985-4212) Professional interests: Applied linguistics, psychlinguistics, kinesics, semantics and semantic theory, rhetorical/discourse theory, the teaching of writing, computer composition, technology in the English classroom, baccalaureate level writing proficiency testing. I am currently involved in preparing materials (possibly in text form) geared to credentials candidates (prospective teachers of secondary language arts) who, under CA law, must be computer literate. What little time remains is given to research in semantics and pragmatics (my doctoral dissertation, U. So. Calif., 1971 was in semantic theory). ================================================================= *Boyarin Daniel Department of Talmud, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel 972- 2715612 (home) My current research interests are primarily in literary theory and the study of Talmud and midrash. I have just completed a book to be published at Indiana called Intertextuality and the Reading of Midrash and am currently working on a project on the Discourse of Sexuality in Talmudic Judaism. I have been very involved in the development of the Hebrew version of Nota-Bene and am interested in any font support in Semitic languages and Greek for dot matrix and laser printers. I am using a database system to prepare a critical edition of a midrash with not yet entirely satisfactory results and would like to confer with others using such systems and methods. ================================================================= *Braam, Hansje Dep. of Comparative Linguistics, Faculty of Humanities, State University at Leyden, P.O. BOX 9515, 2300 RA LEIDEN, Netherlands; 071-272628 I am working on theory, design and usage of databases giving special attention to applications in the field of (non-western) languages and cultures. I am developing a multifunctional database management system that can handle the problems that evolve here. Special interest: advanced programming languages and techniques, automatic morphology recognition, logic, semantics and philosophy of language, and last but not least history of philosophy. ================================================================= *Brians, Paul Professor of English, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-5020 (509) 332-4645, (509) 335-5689 Macintosh user and teacher. Posters for classes, handouts, filing, page layout. Edit departmental and scholarly newsletters using PageMaker. Involved in project to create a World Civilizations survey course for all WSU freshmen. Author of NUCLEAR HOLOCAUSTS: ATOMICWAR IN FICTION 1895-1984 (Kent State University Press, 1987) and many articles on nuclear war in fiction. ================================================================= *Bridges, Karl Department of History, 309 Gregory Hall, University of Illinois, Champaign IL 62801217-333-1155 Ph.D student under Vernon Burton. Primary interest is slavery and southern family life before 1850. Secondary interests include 19th century Latin America and colonial United States. I am also interested in the use of computers for research and computer assisted instruction. M.A. from Miami of Ohio under Jack Temple Kirby. Thesis on slaveholding in southern Pittsylvania County, Virginia, 1850. ================================================================= *Bzdyl, Donald G. (BZDY609@CLEMSON.BITNET) Associate Professor of English, Department of English, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634 803-656-4031 After getting my Ph.D. in English from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1977, I've been employed at Clemson where I teach a wide variety of courses (18 different ones over the years) ranging from graduate seminars in Chaucer and Old English to sophomore courses in British, American, and World Literature to remedial Freshman English. I have published on a variety of subjects in Old English, and this summer my translation of Layamon's Early Middle English _Brut_ will be published by Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies. My interest in computers dates from 1985 when I began putting my translation on Clemson's IBM mainframe using Waterloo Script. Currently I direct the Writing Lab and also serve on the College of Liberal Arts Computer Committee where we are wrestling with how best to utilize limited funds to enhance our computer facilities. ================================================================= *Carroll, Joseph F. Director, Academic Services Computer Center, Univ. of Puerto Rico, PO BOX 23352, Univ. Station, Rio Piedras PR 00931; (809)764-2258 By training I am an Experimental Psychologist. At the present time I am the Director of Academic Services in the computer center. I am involved in training students and faculty from different disciplines in the use of the computers. Major area of interest is in the application of technology for the disabled ================================================================= *Chesnutt, David R. David Chesnutt, editor of the Papers of Henry Laurens, has been actively involved in developing computer applications for scholarly editors since 1975. He has served as a consultant for a number of projects in the U. S. and Canada in all fields of the humanities. His current interests are in the adaptation of "desktop publishing" tools for scholarly publications and the development of standards for the interchange of humanities' texts. Fellow HUMANISTs may be interested to know that the mainframe computer-assited indexing program developed for the Laurens Papers (CINDEX) is now available from the Newberry Library at Chicago in a MS-DOS version which is infinitely easier to use. Data files for the micro version are completely compatible with the mainframe version. (It's much easier to do large cumulative indexes on the mainframe.) ================================================================= *Chou , Hung-Ming F4 No18 Ln261 Techang St. Taipei Taiwan ROC , (02)3071736 This is Atonis. Atonis is my English name, and it's also a Greek name. I am 24 years old now , and am a male. I graduated from Soochow University last year, and received a Bachelor degree in Computer Science Department. I am familiar with micro-computer ( pc/xt , pc/at ). Because I work for Computing Center in this school, there are many opportunities to learn about the IBM mainfraim. I heard this list-serve from mail via Bitnet. Because there is one report named 'Database advice' that attract my attention very much, I think it is better for me to join with you. I am going to America in August this year to continue my study career. So I have to learn a lot of informations and study many report as I can. It is appreciated that you could give me your fruitful experiences. ================================================================= *Cotton, Joseph Computer Analyst, 3710 Kingwood Sq. Baltimore MD 21215 USA (301) 358-6162 As a computer professional, I have used many of the popular computer systems and I am familiar with the business. As a Rabbi, with about eight years of rabbinic studies at Yeshivot in Israel, I still have an open mind and an interest in the Humanities. I am curious about this list and would like to contribute where I can. I belive the humanist outlook runs deep within Talmudic thinking, and would like to put this to the test. ================================================================= *Cziffra, Lisa . Data Librarian, Princeton University. CIT Research Services, Princeton University, 87 Prospect Ave., Room 310, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA; (609) 452-6249. ================================================================= *Damerau, Fred J.; , CSNET: Research Staff, IBM Corp., Thomas J. Watson Research Center, P.O. Box 218, Yorktown Heights, NY, 10598 (914-945-2214) Education: B.A. Cornell University, 1953, Mathematics; M.A. Yale University, 1957, Linguistics; Ph.D. Yale University, 1966, Lingusitics Employment: IBM Corporation, 1957 to present. Research into the application of linguistic theory to processing of natural language data, since 1968. The major application area for this work has been question answering systems for relational data bases. As a consequence, I have considerable experience in relational data base design, the SQL language, and IBM data base products. Previously worked on information retrieval systems. Other employment: Pace University, 1981 to present. Adjunct Lecturer in Computer Science Have taught undergraduate courses in Artificial Intelligence and Data Base Design and supervised independent study students. Professional activity: ACL Journal Co-editor, 1982; Computers and the Humanities, Editorial Board 1980-; Information Processing and Management, Editorial Board 1985- Memberships: Linguistic Society of America, Association for Computing Machinery, Association for Computational Linguistics, American Association for Artificial Intelligence. ================================================================= *Del Vecchio, Tommaso Assistant in Latin Language and Litterature, University of Bologna, Italy; Dipartimento di Filologia Classica e Medioevale, Via Zamboni 32-34, 40126 Bologna (Italy), Tel. (051) 258515/258506. Interests: Latin Metre, exspecially Plautine Metre. Classical Philology, automatic systems for manuscripts analysis. Automatic systems for classical text analysis. My interest is concerned with the utilisation of automatic systems for classical texts analysis on the one hand, and with the systems themselves on the other. I have in mind to make a critical survey on these systems, so I'm asking around to let me know who has got such an automatic system, whether this system is on sale, and at what price. My interest is naturally concerned with classical texts on tape too. Also in this case I would like to know whether these texts are on sale, and at what price. ================================================================= *Dickson, William R. 261 New Road, Box 729, Avon, CT 06001 -or- University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Ave. West Hartford, CT 06117 (203) 693- 1525 FAVORITE QUOTES: "I had no shoes, and I pitied myself. Then I met a man had no feet, so I took his shoes." -Dave Barry; "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is a war room!" -The President in Dr. Strangelove; "I drank what?" -Socrates FAVORITE BOOKS: The Hitchhiker's Trilogy by Douglas Adams; The Pyrates by George MacDonald Fraser; The Star-Bearer trilogy by Patricia A. McKillip; Illuminatus! by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson; I Gotta Go by Ian Shoales. In addition, newspaper columns by Dave Barry. FAVORITE MUSIC: Talking Heads; dIRE sTRAITS; REM; Peter Gabriel; Kate Bush; Dead Can Dance; Sinead O'Connor; Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel. FAVORITE MOVIES: Casablanca; Brazil. ACTIVITIES: Whitewater canoeing (solo, in an open slalom boat); theatre; playing with my computer; roleplaying and semi- roleplaying games; models; flying kites; reading. LONG-TERM AMBITION: To get out of this country and make a living in a bookstore. SHORT-TERM AMBITION: To survive long enough to graduate. ================================================================= *Engel, David Senior Lecturer in Jewish History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv Israel, (03) 545-9277; Meyerhoff Professor of Modern Jewish History, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, (215) 898-2184 (Visiting until July 1989) Specialist in modern Jewish history, especially in political history of Jews in Poland and Russia in 19th and 20th centuries and in history of Jews under Nazi occupation. Interested in general history of Central and Eastern Europe as well. Editor of Gal-Ed, a bilingual (Hebrew/English) scholarly annual devoted to the study of the history of the Jews of Poland. Have published extensively on Jewish question in Polish politics, especially during and immediately after World War II. ================================================================= *Farber, J. Joel (Note underline between "J" and "F".) Steinman Professor of Classics, Department of Classics, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, PA 17604-3003; (717) 291-4128; FAX: (717) 291-4158 My research interests are now primarily in papyrology, specifically centering on Elephantine and Syene (Aswan). I have been working most with the Patermouthis archive, which stretches from the late fifth to the early seventh centuries, C.E ., but I have also got to deal with a few Hellenistic documents. Legal and social issues are my primary concern. I collaborate with Bezalel Porten of the Hebrew University (Bitnet address: HNUBP@HUJIVM1), an Aramaicist, who has published extensively on the Jewish documents from Elephantine. Our aim is to put together a picture of the social, legal, religious, and economic continuities of life in those twin communities (Elephantine/Seyene) over the span of 1200 years. Our latest publication: BASP 23.3-4 (1986) 81-98. Greek political theory has been--and continues to be--another interest. I wrote on the propaganda of Hellenistic kingship and its debt to Xenophon in AJP 100 (1979 ) 497-514. I teach Greek, emphasizing the epics and tragedies, so I keep current in those fields as well as I can. With regard to the epics, I am a unitarian, uninterested in orality, full of admiration for the work of Norman Austin, Daniel Levine, Seth Schein, James Redfield. In connection with the tragedies I like to study the films of Ingmar Bergman for thematic parallels. I teach my elementary courses from the JACT texts, with fair satisfaction. I am 56. My children and grandchildren live in Chapel Hill and Raleigh (North Carolina), where I frequently spend weekends. ================================================================= *Feddersen, Mark Senior Analyst, Library Automation project, Information Services, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, (812)-866-2222. I am a computer systems analyst by profession, but with a great interest in events in the world of teaching and literature. I took a B.A. at University of California, Berkeley, in Humanities (under Alain Renoir). Since then, I have been a travelling musician, a house-builder and cabinet-maker. I am an avid reader of European and South-American modern fiction. Professionally, I am very inter- ested in projects involving "computing for the humanities." My work involves providing tools to scholars who need to gain access to the resources of major research libraries, commercial databases, and administrative/managerial information. ================================================================= *Fried, Morris L. Asst. Dean & Director, Off. of Public Service & Applied Research, Univ. of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, Box U-13 Professional activities presently include directing & teaching in the University's Labor Education Center, as well as an Int'l. Institute of Public Service (for public adminstrators from developing nations), and three other institutes. Joint appointment in Sociology, in which I received my doctorate years ago from the New School for Social Research, where I was impressed by a philosophical/historical/qualititative approach to the social sciences, and which were reflected in both my MA thesis and dissertation, as well as other work done since. Present interests include a broad range of historical sociology, politics, and attempting to understand the social world. I 've learned that the owl of Minerva only takes wing at dusk. ================================================================= *Gerson, Lloyd P. OR Associate Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, U. of Toronto St. Michael's College, 81 St. Mary's St., Toronto, Ontario M5S 1J4 Canada; (416) 926-1300 Ex.3374 Member of Graduate School of U. of Toronto; Member of St. Michael's College. Main interests: Ancient Greek Philosophy; Metaphysics; Philosophical Theology; Epistemology. Main publications: Articles on Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, and Augustine; Translations and Commentaries on Aristotle; Translations of Hellensitic Philosophy; a monograph "God and Greek Philosophy" forthcoming from Routledge. Current project: A monograph on Plotinus. ================================================================= *Gilmore, Matthew or Public Services and Manuscripts Librarian, Special Collections, 207 Gelman Library, 2130 H St., NW, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. 20052; (202) 994-7549 (202) 994-7548 FAX I am an information scientist and a historian (MLS from UCLA). What I have looked at and continue to research is scholarly communication and research methods in history and how computer technology can (and cannot) be used. This includes interests in Human-Computer Interaction, user interfaces and graphics, and hypermedia. And subject analysis and category theory and database design. And necessitates belonging to: AHA, ALA, ASIS, ACM, OAH, etc. I worked with Dr. Donald Case at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at UCLA--who shares many of these same interests. The article which forms my starting point in this is due out in The Indexer presently. ================================================================= *Hakeem, Farrukh P.O. Box 2055, LIC, NY 11102; (718) 721 2572. I am a student in the Ph.D. program in Criminal Justice at John Jay College. I have just begun to explore this marvellous world of computers. I use it mostly for statistical programs: spss and sas.I would like to learn more. ================================================================= *Halporn, James W. Chairman, Department of Classical Studies, Professor of Classical Studies and Comparative Literature, 547 Ballantine Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405 812-855-6651; 702 Ballantine Road, Bloomington, IN 47401; 812-332-6868 (I prefer receiving mail at home). Research interests: Latin palaeography and text-criticism; Greek and Latin metrics; Christian Latin (Patristics); Ancient Drama (Greek tragedy and Roman comedy); history of classical scholarship, especially nineteenth and twentieth century; women in classical studies (19th / 20th century); literary theory and criticism. Editor: Cassiodorus, De anima; Co-author, The Metres of Greek and Latin Poetry; Contributor, Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics (Greek/Latin metrics). Articles and papers on the subjects mentioned above. I have been involved in work with computers since the 1961 IBM conference on computers in the humanities. Currently the Department is in the process of developing, with University support, a program for the use of computers in classical studies. All members of the department are now supplied with PCs or the equivalent. The equipment is mainly DOS oriented, but there is a Macintosh SE and an IBYCUS computer (the latter with the relevant TLG and PHI CD-ROMs). We hope to be in contact with users of the UCLA Classicist's Workbench and of the Perseus Project. I would also be interested in hearing from classicists using NotaBene, WordPerfect, DukeFonts, MacLink, HP scanners, etc. about their experiences in handling multiple fonts for video and printer drivers. ================================================================= *Hart, Michael S. Systems Analyst, 405 W. Elm, Urbana, IL 61801 Current projects include putting the Great Books into machine readable form, plus an unabridged dictionary. Plans are to charge a truly minimal fee such as $1 for materials up to 150Kb, for larger files add $1 per 100Kb. Fifteen years have gone into this project, which I will view as personally completed when we have released 10,000 $1 volumes of the highest quality complete with indices, concordances, as well as introductions and commentaries. Hardware/ software development to assist in this project also consumes my professional interest and has led to speaking engagements on this and related topics. I am very interested in conversing with others who may be interested in this or similar projects for use on systems from micros to mainframes. ================================================================= *Hasbrouck, Mary Academic Computing Coordinator, Computing Center, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081; (215) 328-8528 I have worked in the Swarthmore College Computing Center for the past 5 years, providing software support to students and faculty, writing documentation, testing new applications, supervising the student consulting staff, and doing some programming. This year I am the computing coordinator for the humanities. I have been offering workshops to get beginners started with computing (introductions to the Macintosh and the Vax, to our new campus network, to word processing applications, and to using electronic mail locally and over Bitnet), and looking for programs that would be useful for humanities professors here. ================================================================= *Haupt, Edward J Associate Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, Montclair State College, Upper Montclair NJ 07043 usa 20 yrs ago I finally finished a PhD in social psychology. Like my aero engineering degree from 10 years earlier, it's something I don't do. I have had an interest in linguistics, particularly semantics, so I am now interested in changes in terms from the Germans who started experimental and the Americans who continued it. To do this I do data bases, tree structures, etc. I would like to talk to anybody who is interested in terminology tree structures and nets and use of data bases for collecting such data. I guess this means I want to be part of Humanist. ================================================================= *Hawley, Michael Software engineer, NeXT, Inc; Doctoral candidate, MIT Media Lab My research interests are in multimedia information retrieval, though practical interests have more to do with textual data. I implemented many of the text-oriented applications introduced with the NeXT machine (e.g., Webster's Ninth, etc). ================================================================= *Jappy, Anthony G. Institution: Faculte' des Sciences humaines, Universite' de Perpignan, 36, Chemin de la passio vella, 66025 PERPIGNAN CEDEX, France. Telephone (+33 68 51 00 51) Research area: Linguistics (semiotics, computational ling.) Experience of computing in the Humanities: Since 1984, LISP (on the old Apple II), PROLOG (1985-88) Wordprocessing and databases (graffiti, proverbs etc) Since 1988, Micro-OCP, and now mainframe OCP for Degree-level text analysis. Present position: Matre de confrences (a sort of Senior Lecturer) in English linguistics at the University of Perpignan, with computing courses for EFL students at two levels: 1) DEUG (2 Year):word processing, use of databases, elementary text analysis; 2) Degree: Second level text analysis ================================================================= *Jensen, Richard 1109 Longwood, Bloomington IN 47401 U.S.A. (812) 334-2330 As a professor of history at the University of Illinois, Chicago, I specialize in American political and social history, and in quantitative methods. I have taught computers/statistics/quantitative research design to historians since 1968--at the undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral levels. The Newberry Library summer institutes (1972-83) introduced hundreds of historians to computers. In 1986 I led a faculty workshop on micros at Moscow State University; this summer I will be giving a short course in micros at Scuola Superiore di Studi Storici, a new graduate school of history in San Marino (Italy). Originally my main interest was in statistics and mainframes. Since 1980 I have concentrated on micros. The statistical interest continues (e.g. patterns of unemployment in the 1930s, voting behavior in the 1890s), but now I use 1-2-3 more than SPSS. The new programs for word processing and text manipulation interest me. I am currently writing a review essay on Personal Information Managers (Agenda, AskSam, Ize, Gofer), asking how they can help scholars deal with notes, texts, bibliographies, abstracts and electronic mail. Publications include Historian's Guide to Statistics (textbook, 1971), "The Microcomputer Revolution for Historians" (general article, 1983), "The Hand Writing on the Screen" (article on word processing, 1987), and "Scrivere col Personal Computer" (the first Italian article on micros for humanists, 1988). ================================================================= *Kassis, Hanna Professor of Religious Studies (Islamic Studies), Department of Religious Studies, University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5; (604)-228-6523 I study and teach Islamic Studies with special emphasis on Muslim Spain and the encounter between Islam and Christianity in the Middle Ages. Within this scope, I have so far focussed my attention on the eleventh and twelfth centuries -- the period leading up to the First Crusade and immediately following it. My interests dwell on the process of image-making: what the Muslims thought and said about themselves and the Christians in Spain (and North Africa) during this period. The Arabic texts which I am currently working are being prepared in machine- readable form (Arabic text and English translation). Similarly, a text of the canon of the Arabic-speaking Spanish Christian Church (eleventh century) is similarly being edited in machine-readable form. I have also completed a Concordance of the Qur'an, in two versions: English (1983) and Spanish (with K.I. Kobbervig, 1987). As a result, the text of an English translation of the Qur'an is now available in machine-readable form (subject to copyright clarification). Finally, ancillary to my current research focus, I have done an extensive numismatic study of Muslim Spain and North Africa during the period extending from the middle of the eleventh to the middle of the twelfth centuries. This is partly published and the rest will appear within this or next year. ================================================================= *Lauzzana, Ray or Editor, FAST and the FINEART Forum, Professor of Computer Graphics, Univ. of Massachusetts. Prof. Lauzzana has been a consultant within the computer graphics industry for over 15 years, is the author of over 20 published articles on computer graphics. His clients have included Universal Studios, Technicolor, and American Zoetrope. He was part of the start-up teams for several computer graphics companies, including CALMA Corp., Image Graphix, and Network Research Corp. From 1979 to 1984, he was an editor for Computer Graphics World magazine. He also organized several significant exhibitions of computer graphics including, High Technology Art at the US Library of Congress. Examples of his art work are in several reknown museums including the Museum of Modern Art, New York. *****END***** From: Willard McCarty Subject: biographical supplement 20 Date: 23 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 173 (332) Autobiographies of Humanists Twentieth Supplement Following are 35 additional entries to the collection of autobiographical statements by members of the Humanist discussion group. Humanists on IBM VM/CMS systems will want a copy of Jim Coombs' exec for searching and retrieving biographical entries. It is kept on Humanist's file-server; for more information, see the Guide to Humanist. Further additions, corrections, and updates are welcome. Willard McCarty Centre for Computing in the Humanities, Univ. of Toronto mccarty@utorepas 23 June 1989 ================================================================= *Lavagnino, John I'm a graduate student in English at Brandeis University; my fields of interest are twentieth-century literature, textual criticism, and the theory of narrative. But to date what I've actually done has mostly been computerized typesetting; I designed, typeset, and indexed *Shakespeare's Othello: A Bibliography* by John Hazel Smith (AMS Press, 1988). Before entering this field, I was the systems programmer in the computer center here, from 1985 through 1987; I kept in touch with the humanities by teaching people to use our Kurzweil scanner and by starting the Bialik poetry server, which I still run. B.A., Physics, Harvard, 1981; M.A., English, Brandeis, 1989 ================================================================= *Lavagnino, Merri Beth SML Systems, Room 512, P.O. Box 1603A, Yale Station, New Haven, CT 06520 (203) 432-1850 I am the Assistant to the Head of Systems at Yale University Libraries. I am most interested in learning how scholars presently use library systems, and how to plan for their use in the future. I have a B.S. in Education from Temple University, and a Masters in Library and Information Science from Indiana University. ================================================================= *Logan, Tracy User-services, Academic Computing Services, Lafayette College Easton, PA 18042. 215/250-5502 I've taught physics, math, astronomy at college-level, and was a househusband for a decade. Currently I work for Academic Computing Services at Lafayette, a "small, independent college." One of my roles, and one I enjoy greatly, is to provide support for fledgling and experienced computer-users in the Humanities Division. Particular interests: Printing (hot and cold type), Logo, Uwe Johnson's work, Rudolf Bahro's work. ================================================================= *McSwain, James B. History Department, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, 36688; 205-460-6210 My interest is religious history, broadly conceived, particularly early modern Europe. I am concerned with infant baptism, for example, as a ritual and rite of passage in the context of puritan covenant theology. I have taught courses here on the history of Christianity and religion in Europe also. Currently, I am using the RLIN facilities at Stanford to compile a bibliography of 18th c. imprints on infant baptism which is done via moden/PROCOMM arrangements. ================================================================= *Megginson, David Paul c/o Centre for Medieval Studies University of Toronto Toronto, Canada M5S 1A1; (416) 969-8512 I have just finished my two years' residency towards a Ph.D. at the Centre for Medieval studies. I have declared a major field of early Middle English philology, and am deeply involved in humanities computing, both as a programmer for two research projects and as a user. I believe that with our concording and word-counting programs we are scarcely scratching the surface of our computers' abilities to help us analyze text, and I am working on my own to develop a simple free-form database built around grammatical parsing rather than keys and fields. I am interested in obtaining as many early Middle English texts as possible in electronic form, and would appreciate any help other subscribers can give me. ================================================================= *Merrilees, Brian French Department, Victoria College, University of Toronto (416) 585-4481. Trained in medieval French and the editing of texts, especially Anglo-Norman, I have a general interest in the history of the French language. I have edited three Anglo-Norman texts and written on Anglo-Norman language. My interest in Anglo-Norman led to a study of the teaching of French as a second language in England, other grammars written in French in the Middle Ages, esp. translations of Donatus, and more recently to work on a large (467 folios) manuscript dictionary (Latin-French) compiled in the 15th cty. Text entered in WordPerfect on an XT and submitted to WordCruncher. ================================================================= *Mielniczuk, Simon Manager, Information and Computer Resources, Faculty of Social Work, Univ. of Toronto 246 Bloor St. W., Toronto, Ont. M5S 1A1 416-978-3266 I am responsible for developing a social information resource centre for the Faculty. The centre combines the print resources of the reading room, the video materials of our in-house A-V department, and the electronic resources of our computer lab. The model guiding our technical development is the Integrated Work Station (c) developed by Donald Forgie at the Advanced Communicating Lab in 1984. Using it, we developed computer work stations in support of centre management and student use. Currently, we are working on one for social policy researchers. Befor becoming consumed by information technology and its implications, my career started in 196 as a community organizer working in various disadvantaged neighbourhoods in both Canada and the U.S. ================================================================= *Nimick, Thomas Griggs (prefer Tom) <0632281@PUCC.BITNET> Graduate Student, Department of East Asian Studies, Princeton University, 211 Jones Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544; (609) 466-0542 (home); (609) 452-4276 (daytime message) I am a user with curiosity who is willing to try most any new tool that looks promising. I am also a graduate student in Chinese history, specializing in the institutional and social history of the middle and late Ming dynasty (1550-1620). I study the county magistracy, for which I have found a number of unusual sources. The county magistrate was the lowest centrally appointed official, so local interests met central interests within his administration. His underlings, the clerks, were reputed to be one of the most corrupt groups in China and it is interesting to see how the magistrate deals with them. I majored in French as an undergraduate at Princeton University after deciding against Chemistry and Mathematics. I got interested in China through teaching English there. I spent a year and a half after graduation learning Chinese at the summer school at Middlebury College and at Princeton. I then taught English in Shanghai at Fudan University for one year. I married one of my students and we came to the States. After a brief experience in the travel industry, I returned to Princeton to work in the Chinese Linguistics Project, helping to prepare a new Chinese textbook called Chinese Primer. I continued my study of Chinese language and became so interested in the history that now I am studying it full time. All students of Chinese history must learn Japanese, so now I have that under my belt as well. Though I was exposed to computers in an early project by Carnegie-Mellon University, in which high schools could sign on to CMU's mainframe, it was only when I became a statistical programmer to support myself while learning Chinese that I became a regular user. Since then I have used a number of packages in various lines of work. I used SAS as a programmer, WATERLOO SCRIPT and GML to prepare the romanized text for the Chinese textbook, and SPIRES for my own historical and bibliographic research. I am very interested in seeing Chinese characters available on mainframe computers. I would like to use them when I build databases, keep bibliographic records, and when I send electronic mail or read bulletin boards. A number of systems have been developed for PCs and Macs, but I am looking forward to the day when mainframes will have Chinese characters as part of their regular character set. I have also been watching developments in computing carefully to see in what ways computers can benefit the study of East Asia. I am interested in historical geography and the possibilities of graphics packages. Bibliographic databases are also an obvious application. Though I encourage other scholars of East Asia to use computers, to date (6/89), interest has been slight because it is not clear that computers are that useful for our field. When Chinese characters become available, things will probably change rather quickly. I have many other interests too numerous to mention, but Chinese current events, theology, railroads, and Chinese chess top the list. I continue to use computers for my own work and encourage others, particularly my colleagues in East Asian Studies and History, to do the same. ================================================================= *O'Neill, Ynez Viole Professor of Medical History, Medical History Division, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, UCLA School of Medicine, Center for the Health Sciences, Los Angeles, California 90024- 1763 USA; office (213) 825-4933, dept. (213) 825-9555 After degrees from Stanford University and the University of Paris, I received my Ph.D. at UCLA in 1964 in history, working under C.D. O'Malley, the biographer of Vesalius. My early work centered on the conceptualization of speech and speech disorders in ancient and medieval times. Acting on a suggestion from my mentor, Professor O'Malley, I began some twenty years ago to gather materials for a history of early anatomy, and have heavily focussed my history, which will be published in the near future, will describe the medieval development of the discipline of anatomy, which in turn produced a metamorphosis of medical theory and practice in the later Middle Ages. Meanwhile, I have published on the the transfer of anatomical knowledge through the Islamic world to the Latin Middle Ages; on the relationship between canon law, autopsy, and dissection; on the link between the earliest anatomical manual and the concept of the microcosm, a dominant philosophical idea of the twelfth century; on the school of surgery at Bologna where systematic human dissection was first accepted; on the "new surgery" in Chaucer's Knight's Tale; and numerous other medieval medical topics. At present, I am overseeing the creation of the Index of Medieval Medical Images (IMMI), the compilation of all medical illustrations in North American collections before 1500. ================================================================= *Pace, Guy L. Consultant, Computer Services Information Center Washington State University Pullman, WA 99163-2088 (509)335-0411 Born July 3, 1951, Great Falls, Mont. Served in the U.S. Navy from 1970 to 1974, with combat service in Vietnam. Commissioned in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1976. Retired in 1987 as Captain. Earned a BA degree in Communication at Central Washington University, Ellensburg, WA., 1985. Worked as reporter, sports and news editor and managing editor at four community newspapers, published a computer users newsletter, edited a National Guard bi-monthly information newsletter. Currently providing information and help to IBM 3090 and micro users. ================================================================= *Parsons, Mikeal Assistant Professor, Department of Religion, BU Box 7294, Baylor University Waco, TX 76798-7294; 817-755-3735 ext 6332 wk; 817- 666-4683 hm I am an assistant professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at Baylor University. I am most interested in literary theory and its application to biblical texts. Below are representative publications and professional involvement. Publications: The Departure of Jesus in Luke-Acts: The Ascension Narratives in Context (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1987); with Richard I. Pervo, The Unity of the Lukan Writings Reconsidered (Philadelphia: Fortress, forthcoming); "'Allegorizing Allegory': Narrative Analysis and Parable Interpretation," Perspectives in Religious Studies, 15 (1988) 147-164; "A Christological Tendency in P75," Journal of Biblical Literature, 105 (1988): 463-479. Professional Involvement: Charter Member, Literary Facets Seminar, Westar Institute Member, Literary Aspects of the Gospels and Acts Group, Society of Biblical Literature Member, Acts Group, Society of Biblical Literature Member, Editorial Board, Perspectives in Religious Studies I spent last summer as a Visiting Scholar studying literary theory at Duke University in the English Department, headed by Stanley Fish. Jeanne and I have one daughter, Lauren, and are expecting a second child on May 28, 1989! ================================================================= *Perry, Richard Todd 110 Morris Hall Wabash College Crawfordsville, IN 47933 (317) 362-9965 I am a student at Wabash College, a liberal arts instiution in Indiana. Although I am a double major in History and Theatre, I have always had a passionate interest in anything technical. I am interested in computers, in radio ( both professional and amateur ), and engineering. I would love to be able to relate one side of my brain to the other, and membership in groups like Humanist are a way to do that. I prefer to be called Todd. I enjoy reading anything that comes within reach, and play the recorder. I also fiddle with circuts. The rest is subject to change without notice. ================================================================= *Pierssens, Michel , Full Prof., Dept of Literary Studies, UQAM (Montreal). 514-342- 2297. Field: lit. and science. European lits. 19th and 20th c. Books: La tour de babil, Paris, Minuit (The Power of Babel, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul); Lautreamont, Presses Univ. de Lille; Maurice Roche, Amsterdam, Rodopi; in press: Epistemocritique, Presses univ. de Lille; in progress: Literature and the Psychical Sciences Movement in England and France, 1848-1924. Career: lecturer, Aix-en-Provence; U of Wisconsin-Madison; Associate prof., U of Michigan-Ann Arbor; visiting various places. Founder and editor, SubStance, U of Wisconsin Press (1970-pres). Editorial boards: Etudes francaises (Montreal), Litterature (Paris), Transatlantique (Paris-Montreal), Surfaces (electronic journal starting september, Montreal), etc. ================================================================= *Pival, Paul J., Jr., Associate Professor of English, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, Bradford, PA 16701 (Office) (814) 362-3801; 573 West Washington, Bradford, PA; (Home) (814) 362-1757 after 5 pm ET Once upon a time active in English literature of the middle ages (Ph.D. 1973, University of Wisconsin-Madison), but the vagaries and vicissitudes of employment have allowed me to forget most of what I once professed to have known about the Chester Cycle. Married, two children away at college. For the past thirteen years I have taught courses in literature and composition to undergraduates at a small (enrollment 1000) rural branch campus. I am keenly interested in innovative applications of computers in the classroom, so interested, in fact, that I am presently pursuing an undergraduate degree in computer science. ================================================================= *Public Access Humanist Bulletin Board Richard Likwartz, Systems Programmer II, University of Wyoming. This account represents humanist pieces being posted to a university wide bulletin board. They will be read by many people with varying backrounds. The people responding to the posted pieces will have to give there biographies, if they wish. The account INFOVAX is synonomous with the University of Wyoming HUMANIST bulletin board. ================================================================= *Rakestraw, John A. Jr. "[DCGQAL]WESLEYAN.GA" (this entire address, incl. the quotation marks, must be used from any Bitnet/NetNorth/EARN site) Philosophy and Religious Studies, Wesleyan College, Macon, Georgia 31297 912/474-7057, ext. 231 AppleLink address: WESLEYAN.GA I am an Assistant Professor of philosophy and religious studies at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. In addition, I chair Wesleyan's Computer Focus committee. The Computer Focus program, which the committee developed and maneuvered through the faculty and board of trustees last year, has several components, the most visible being the plan to provide a Macintosh computer to each full-time faculty member and each full-time student. (Faculty computers are owned by the College; each student will take her computer with her when she graduates.) I first became interested in using the computer while writing my dissertation. In the past year I have become more and more excited about the possibilities of using the computer in support of our educational program. I am currently focussing on the use of hypermedia, using, on one level, Brown University's Intermedia and, on another level, Apple's HyperCard, as a software platform. ================================================================= *Rollmann, Hans , CIS:75040,21, GEnie: ROLLMANN Assoc. Prof., Department of Religious Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NF, A1C 5S7; Voice: 726- 2559 (home), 737-8171.8166 (university). EDUCATION: B.A. Religious Studies/Greek (Pepperdine University); M.A. World Religions (Vanderbilt University); Ph.D. New Testament (McMaster University). EMPLOYMENT: Post-doctoral Research Associate, McMaster Project on Normative Self-Definition in Judaism and Christianity (1979/80); Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, University of Toronto (1980/81); Assist. Prof. Christian Thought and History, Memorial University of Newfoundland (1981/83); Assoc. Prof. Christian Thought and History, Memorial University (1984-present); Coordinator Newfoundland Studies Minor Programme (1987-present). RESEARCH INTERESTS: Historical Critical Method in Biblical Studies during the 19th Century; History of Religions Methodology; Religion in Newfoundland and Labrador; Religious and Intellectual History of Germany, England, and North America during the 19th and 20th Centuries. COMPUTER: IBM/286 with 40 MB harddisk at home and at work (peripherals: 2400 Baud Modem, DFI HS3000 Hand scanner, Mouse, Hercules Plus Graphics Card, 24-pin printer (home) and LJ II (at work). COMPUTER APPLICATIONS: Text; Database; Graphics; Communications; PIMs; Project Management. ================================================================= *Ronit, Shamgar (Miss) 48c Tshernichovski str. Jerusalem, Israel Tel. 630784 I am a student of comparative religion in the Hebrew University, I read the letter you sent to Galen Marquis (with his permission) and I am interested in joining the HUMANIST. I am in the last stages of writing my post graduate paper (my M.A. thesis) on manichaean liturgy in the middle Iranian texts found in Tun- Huang; it sound pompous but what it actually is trying to find out what was the ritual of the manichaeans (a 4th cent. dualistic heresy), a goal that cannot be reached really (though it is nice to try) but one finds nice things on the way. For a living I work now in DTP (Dest Top Publishing), I worked a few years as a computer programmer but I needed a change from that. ================================================================= *Shapira, Ronen 03-443090 8a Miriam Hahashmonait, Tel-Aviv 62665 Israel; tel 972-3-443090 I am gradute student in history at the Tel-Aviv university with a specific intrest in French history. I am even thinking to go for a Ph.D thesis. History is my obsession, but translating is my profession. Just lately I prepared a new translation of "Gone With the Wind" to Hebrew and I am working as a translator for Israel bigest daily: "Yediot Aharonot". At the moment my main scholarly intrest is Alexis De Tocqueville, the greatest French of them all. (To my opinion, at least). ================================================================= *Short, Dennis Ray Associate Professor, Purdue University, School of Technology, 363 Knoy Hall W. Lafayette, IN 47907 (317) 494-6457 Purdue, (317) 497-3135 Home I currently teach CAD and CIM courses in the School of Technology at Purdue Uinversity. Promoted to Assoc. Prof. and Tenured in July 88. Currently member of World Future Society and have presented papers in the area of the Impact of Computers on Education and the application of Futures Research to Curriculum planning. More recent activity involved a pilot futures course at the U. of Arizona at Tuscon. This was a distance learning exercise involoving the ICOSY c conferncing systems. Functioned as guest lecturer remotely from Indiana. Currently working with two colleagues on computer applications to History and Archaeology. One involves the modeling of potery into a CAD system to make structural classification to aide in classification and the other involves imaging cuneiform tablets, producing "cleaned up" images, and attempting automatic partial translation using a field portable system. The potery project is with a Professor in PRC. ================================================================= *Smith, Scott Lecturer, Dept. of Computer Science, SUNY Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, N.Y. 12901 (518) 564-2781 My interests include the development of hypertext courseware environments, philosophy of mind and language, the German language, cognitive science, etc. I hold the B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Computing and Information Science from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Subsequently, I worked as a guest researcher in Bonn, West Germany, at the Gesellschaft fuer Informatik und Datenverarbeitung, on the topic of designing better computer interfaces for people. For the last three years, I have been teaching in the Department of Computer Science at SUNY Plattsburgh, where my teaching and research interests have included teaching programming (to majors and non-majors), computers in society, artificial intelligence and philosophy of mind, and the development of hypertext courseware environments. Beginning in September, I will be on leave of absence from SUNY Plattsburgh while commuting to McGill University in Montreal, where I will be working on a Ph.D. in Philosophy, with an orientation towards cognitive science, emphasizing comparisons between philosophy of mind and artificial intelligence. I would be pleased to hear from like-minded individuals on any overlapping interests. ================================================================= *Smurthwaite, John S. Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Hillyer 326, University of Hartford, W. Hartford, CT 06117; (203) 243-4317; 119 Hollywood Ave., W. Hartford, CT 06110; (203) 953-3474 I was born in La Grande, Oregon. I left my mountain home to gain both an education and experience of something (not necessarily better) than logging and farming. I received my Ph.D. in Romance Studies from Cornell University in 1986. My dissertation investigated how time functions in the narrative of Augustine's Confessions, Dante's Divine Comedy and Petrarch's "Triumph of Eternity." And while I remain primarily interested in literary and philosophical topics which focus of medieval and renaissance Italian literature, I am also involved in studying and writing on how feminist theory can help gain more under- standing of the literature and society of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Current research projects: I am editing the important Renaissance commentaries on Dante's Divine Comedy by Landino and Vellutello for the Dartmouth Dante Project. I am also preparing a book on Petrarch's Triumphs. I have nearly completed articles on Primo Levi's "Il canto of Ulisse," and feminist readings of Dante's Francesca and Petrarch. Other fields of interest: Interdisciplinary studies and education (I teach an undergraduate interdisciplinary course on the Italian Renaissance each semester.); the evolution of humanistic education during the 14th and 15th centuries; Renaissance treatises on aesthetics before Tasso; Primo Levi, and on and on. ================================================================= *Sperberg-McQueen, Marian R. Associate Professor, Dept. of German, M/C 189, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, P.O. Box 4348, Chicago, IL 60680; (312) 996-3205 I teach German language and literature to undergraduate and graduate students; my main research interest is seventeenth- century German literature, especially poetry. I developed a computer-dependency in about 1983; my spouse had been trying valiantly to get me hooked since 1978. My earliest computer memories are not happy ones, as they generally seemed to involve overcooked dinners resulting from said spouse's own habit -- "I just need to make one little change and then I can print it out and come home." Ha. My first computer high -- and the beginning of my addiction -- came when I was preparing to publish some 17th-century German and Latin poems by Paul Fleming that I'd recently discovered: getting an initial, accurate transcription of the poems, with their idiosyncratic orthography was a pain; the thought that I'd probably introduce errors every time I edited and cleaned up and re-typed the article was pretty irritating. The solution was to put the things into the computer once, accurately, and-- voila.... I seem to use the computer (IBM mainframe and PC with WP) mainly for word processing, data base (SSI-Data), and mail. I'm also slowly building up a collection of texts of German prose and verse for use in teaching -- this decreases my dependency on published editions and anthologies, which, with a few notable exceptions, assume that no undergraduate student could ever possibly be interested in, much less capable of, reading anything written in German before 1750, and that students just beginning their study of German literature should not be exposed to anything earlier than Kafka. I frequently find myself wishing that more of my colleagues -- ones at my own university and elsewhere -- were less mainframe phobic. I can't think of anyone who doesn't have a pc, but as a mainframe user, I feel pretty lonely. What does it take to get people convert from the stone age to e-mail? So I guess I'm sort of banking on Humanist to supply me with the support group I need for my habit. ================================================================= *Steele, Kenneth Bruce. Ph.D. Thesis Student, Graduate Department of English, University of Toronto. 1101-30 Charles Street West, Toronto, Ontario M4Y 1R5; (416) 920-4543 My current thesis research involves evidence for "poetic revision" in the early plays of Shakespeare. My professional interests are therefore Renaissance drama and literature, textual studies, editorial theory, and holograph manuscripts. My literary affections also tend toward the Romantic poets, major novelists (Walter Scott, Charles Dickens), and popular romance. For the past 18 months, I have devoted much energy to the consolidation of electronic texts in the Centre for Computing in the Humanities' Shakespeare Text Archive project. I have been adapting the electronic texts of the Howard-Hill Concordances, kindly supplied by Oxford University Computing Services, for use with Brigham Young University's WordCruncher text retrieval software. ================================================================= *Stevens, Wesley M. Professor of Medieval History, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9; 204/786-9203 leave message for return call. Stevens is interested in early medieval schools and early Latin manuscripts, especially in evidence of scientific writing and activites. Among his publications are the Computus of Hrabanus Maurus of Fulda, A.D.820; "Fulda scribes at work, the paleographical analysis and dating of an early Carolingian manuscript" (1972), and the Jarrow Lecture for l985: "Bede's scientific achievement." He has lectured at several universities in several countries, served six years on the Board of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities, and now is a member of the Canadian National Committee for the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science. He organised a Symposium on "Computer Programmes for Medieval and Renaissance Manuscript Sources" at the International Congress of History of Science, Hamburg/Munich, 1-9 August l989. He is co- director of the Benjamin Catalogue for History of Science and co- author of "The Benjamin Data Bank and BAG/2: a case history" (l980). The focus of his research is the medieval computus, and he is preparing a "Catalogue of computistical tracts in medieval Latin manuscripts, A.D.200-1600," with current attention on the years 200-1200 for the first volume. Stevens has also given some years of public service on boards of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the Winnipeg Bach Festival, and the Manitoba Arts Council. He and his wife, Virginia, belong to an amateur recorder quartet and would enjoy playing with others who love music, whether early or modern. ================================================================= *Strudwick, Nigel Lecturer in Egyptology, Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA My interests lie in both the Ancient Egyptian Old and new Kingdoms. I am currently involved in fieldwork in Luxor in Egypt, publishing some of the "Tombs of the Nobles". This work has been going on since 1984, and is a sort of rescue project, since all antiquities there are in danger of destruction from a variety of sources. Computer interests vary widely. I use micros for a gret deal of my work, and am particularly interested in databases, especially encouraging the making available of them to the wider academic community. I am presently a member of the international committee for computers in Egyptology. ================================================================= *Stuart, Ralph Chemical Safety Coordinator, 109 S. Prospect St., Burlington, VT 05405 (802) 656-3068 I am an Industrial Hygienist in Training at the University of Vermont. My primary responsibilties are running the Chemical Right to Know Office, which involves providing information to laboratory workers about the hazards of the chemicals they are using. I also get involved in various environmental health and safety issues around campus, such as indoor air quality problems, concerns about video display terminals, and other assorted stuff. I use micro computers to produce a newsletter for the campus on chemical safety topics, and for general office work. I have used both mainframes and microcomputers at various times since 1970, when I was in high school. My primary interest in them beyond using them as a tool is how they might be used to provide access to information, particularly scientific information, to lay people. It seems to me that this involves communication theory, the sociology of science, and the influence of the speed of information on culture as much as the constraints of the technology. ================================================================= *Stuehler, David M. Assoc. Prof., English Department, Special Assistant to the Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences; English Department, Montclair State College, Upper Montclair, New Jersey 07043 Phone: (201) 893-7305, 4314 My present job duties include maintaining and managing a computer lab of 20 networked PC's running Novell Netware and coordinating all computer purchases for our school. In addition, I am planning a larger network to encompass five other labs and all the individual computers in the school. This will also be a Novell network but be connected through TCP/IP to the college's VAX's, a mainframe, and Internet. I also teach technical writing in the lab and am planning a graduate course in computing in the Humanities for next Spring. All this leaves little time for my real interests--hypertext teaching applications and computer assisted literary analysis. A colleague and I are seeking support for a hypertext, hypermedia project on a gender related issue, and I am just beginning to explore the possibility of using QUALOG, a qualitative data analysis program that runs on the VAX for a study of Conrad's novels. I have been fooling around with Word Cruncher and Heart of Darkness to little effect as yet. My schedule has left little time for the necessary research so I am not current in this area. Perhaps in the Summer. ================================================================= *Taylor, James Stewart. 348 Palmerston Blvd. Toronto, Ontario, M6G 2N6. (416) 972-6852. Of myself, I may say the following: I am currently enrolled in a Master's programme at the University of Toronto. The subject of my thesis is Sanskrit grammar. Linguistics and Indian culture are closely related fields in which I have done work. Formerly, I taught Music and occasionally played professionally. I am particularly interested in spoken Sanskrit and exploring applications of this most unusual language in the modern context. ================================================================= *Tingsell, Jan-Gunnar Computer Service Center, Faculty of Arts, University of Gothenburg, S-412 98 Gothenburg, Sweden Telephone: +46 (0)31 634553 I am working as the administrator for the Computer Service Center at the Faculty of Arts, University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Our center is intended to be a support organisation for all research in the humanities. We try to encourage the teachers and researchers to use this technology, to collect information about programs and ideas about computing in the humanities from other research instituitons. It embraces disciplines for instance such as languages, linguistics, philosophy, history, archeology, ethnology and musical research. We are running a mini computer, terminal network and peripherials. We are also supporting micro computers, IBM (clones) and Macintosh, and are working to connect them all to an Ethernet based computer network. We are also running courses for the most commonly used computer programs. I belong to the anonymous group "Humanists in Gothenburg". We have a local distribution list here to save the network capacity. The following persons are at time being members of our local list: Daniel Ridings, Gunhild Viden, Jan-Gunnar Tingsell, Yvonne Cederholm, Karin Wagner, Gerhard Bauhr, Tore Jansson. ================================================================= *Treloar, Andrew Edward (TRELOARAC@CSV.VICCOL.EDU.AU) Lecturer in Information Management, Victoria College, Rusden Campus 662 Blackburn Road, Clayton Victoria, Australia, 3168. Ph. (03) 542-7338 Fax (03) 544 7413 B.A. (hons.), University of Melbourne, 1980; Majors in Germanic Languages and Linguistics; Grad. Dip. in Computer Science, University of Melboune, 1983; M.A., University of Melbourne, Submitted, awaiting (anxiously) examiner's report. My interests are currently in the areas of computational stylistics (and its relationship to literary criticism), expert systems and artificial intelligence, and human-computer interface design. My undergraduate thesis involved the analysis of some aspects of a Dutch novel 'Boeren Psalm' by Felix Timmermans using my own computer programs. For my Master's thesis I built on the programs I had already written and extended them to analyse 'Characterization in Virginia Woolf's The Waves'. The results of this work provided strong support for one of the main schools of thought regarding this work. Until recently I have been lecturing in the areas of Database Design and Microcomputer Hardware and Software. I am presently on secondment as the National Co-ordinator of the Health Education and Promotion System (HEAPS), an on-line database of programs and resources in the field of health education and promotion. I am a member of the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing (ALLC), and the Australian Computer Society (ACS). I would love to join the ACM as well, but I can't afford it! ================================================================= *Unger, Richard W. Professor, Department of History, University of British Columbia 1297-1873, East Mall, Vancouver, B. C. Canada V6T 1W5 604-228- 5110 Areas of interest: History of the medieval economy and especially the development of technology and its relationship to that economy. The work has concentrated on four principal topics which range through the Middle Ages and down into the 19th century. The first is the history of Dutch shipbuilding up to 1800. The second is more general and includes the development of European ship design and shipping in its economic context from 600 to 1600. The third is illustrations of shipbuilders in medieval art which means principally pictures of Noah buiding the ark. The fourth is the economic and technical history of Dutch brewing from the early Middle Ages through the 19th century. There are publications on the first and second and publications beginning to appear on the third and fourth. There is a fifth area on the horizon where some work has already been done and that is the international trade in grain, its origins and effects, in Europe from the 14th century through the 19th. ================================================================= *Verboom, A.W.C. Drs. (= M.A.), Kern Institute, P.O.Box 9515, NL 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands. Aad Verboom is currently doing a doctorate research at Kern Institute, University of Leiden, the Netherlands. The research is largely in the field of indology (i.e. Languages and Cultures of South and South-East Asia) but it also comprises computer- linguistics in sofar as Sanskrit, the most important classical language of India, is concerned. The indological research is focused on a buddhist Sanskrit text, the first two chapters of the Astasahasrika-prajnaparamita- sutra, i.e. the teaching on the perfection of discriminating insight in eight-thousand lines. While the extant Sanskrit text of the 11th Century A.D. is often quite unreliable and hard to understand, there are some Chinese translations from the 2nd Century A.D. onwards which are shorter, more concise and especially more clear. The research aims at the reconstruction of a relatively old (5th Century A.D.) and more reliable/understandable version by comparison of the extant Sanskrit versions and their correspon- ding Chinese translations, mainly those of Kumarajiva. The subject-matter of the texts is mysticism, they deal with a method of gaining the full enlightenment of a buddha in contrast to methods of reaching lower levels of enlightenment as in other schools of buddhism. The computer linguistic research aims at the development of forma- lisms and computerprograms to deal with Sanskrit, a classical Indo-European language with a very complex morphology. In order to lay a good foundation for an intelligent system the initial efforts of the last few years have gone into the development of a quite sophisticated Sanskrit wordparser, which will be finished April 1989. Prototypes for the reconstruction of Sandhi as well as for the creation of computer-generated lexica have already been created. For the next few years attention will be focused mainly on the development of a syntax-parser and a formalism to split up the very frequent composites. The last few years the use of OCP has provided support for the comparison of the Sanskrit texts in the above-mentioned indologi- cal research. At the present stage the facilities have improved considerably in sofar as an Online-Database system is now available at Leiden University. ================================================================= *Wupper, Axel Department of Historical Geography, University of Bonn, Konviktstrasse 11, D-5300 Bonn 1 (Fed.Rep. of Germany); +49 (228) 733690. PRIVATE: Am Botanischen Garten 16, D-5300 Bonn 1 (Fed.Rep. of Germany), +49 (228) 636972. Born 1954, working on a doctor's thesis on "Changes in the Agricultural Landscape in the Rhineprovinz between the World Wars". The department is collecting data for a bibliography on "Settlement Research in Central Europe" which is intended to develope into a databank ... ================================================================= *Zielke, Thomas <113355@DOLUNI1> Universitaet Oldenburg, FB 3/Historisches Seminar, Postfach 2503, 2900 Oldenburg, Federal Republic of Germany 0441/798-3109 Since about 1984, I've been exploring what computers can do for me to make my work as a historian more interesting, faster and easier. I have started from to very beginnings of computering and now work mainly on analysing tax (and related) registers from the 17th to the 19th century. My interests led me soon to the problem where to find people with same or similar interests (especially of course the use of computer technology), people I could ask for a solution of a current problem, people I could tell about my ideas for processing of data and, which I would call my very strongest interest, people I could talk to without being regarded as being a half-god, a computer-idiot, a betrayer of the historians' race and so on. (You wouldn't believe it, but actually some of my colleagues believe me to at least one of the mentioned things...) So my hope is that finally in this list I should find someone whose interests lie in the same area and with whom I could start an interesting conversation, which I would assume to go beyond being asked how to solve this and that problem with what program..... *****END***** From: MLAOD@CUVMB.bitnet Subject: MLA citation format Date: Mon, 26 Jun 89 15:46:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 174 (333) A number of weeks ago I asked Joseph Gibaldi, editor of the *MLA Hand- book*, to recommend a citation format for electronic correspondence that conforms to MLA style. At that time I thought that innovations or exten- sions of MLA style were simply the product of deep thought and spiritual contemplation by him; but I was informed that all changes and additions to the Handbook are actually the result of an elaborate committee evalua- tion process, and, the latest edition of the Handbook having only recent- ly been published, the Committee would not reconvene for many months. Dr. Gibaldi did, however, agree to offer a provisional recommendation regarding electronic correspondence citations. Based on examples from Humanist and other sources, he suggested a format such as this: Germain, Ellen. "Micro Applications for Scholarly Research." Electronic correspondence. Humanist Discussion Group. U of Toronto. Bitnet Network. 30 May 1989. Note that the title is taken from the "Subject" line of the correspon- dence as provided by the author, rather than the subject as defined by the editor (such as Willard provides for us on Humanist). Note also that there is no reference to HUMANIST@UTORONTO. Dr. Gibaldi felt that such information would be analogous to providing a library call number for a book, which is not done in MLA style. I do see his point in this, but there seem to be two problems with the use of the library call number analogy: first, there can be many call numbers for a particular book, but there is only one "address" for Humanist; second, some universities have more than one node (Columbia has CUVMA and CUVMB), and this may make it difficult for someone to locate the proper listserver to retrieve appropriate files. I must admit that I find the above citation to be satisfying from a strictly aesthetic viewpoint. Unencumbered with "@" signs and other arcane codes, it resembles the sort of citation of printed matter with which scholars are familiar and comfortable. It does, however, raise some interesting questions. A scholar, knowing nothing of how his or her local library is organized, can bring in an MLA-style citation, hand it to the librarian, and be reasonably assured that the librarian will be able to recognize the format of the citation and locate the work it refers to. But how many of us access Bitnet through librarians, and how many librarians would be able to retrieve a Humanist correspondence given the above information? I realize that some Humanist participants are hungry for any recommenda- tion, even a provisional one, that will allow them to incorporate cita- tions for electronic correspondence into their research publications. Rather than simply beginning to use the format I have depicted here, I would prefer that those interested in the subject send me (through Humanist or directly) their comments and criticisms of this proposed style. Daniel Uchitelle Modern Language Association From: Malcolm Hayward Subject: The Dangers of CRTs Date: 25 Jun 89 23:20:01 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 252 (334) I just finished Paul Brodeur's last installment of "The Annals of Radiation" in the June 26 *New Yorker*. Or it about finished me and computing. The long and the short of it is that, according to the article, there ARE real dangers from extra low frequency fields generated in our video display terminals--dangers for cancer, for abortions, and more. His recommendation, beyond calling for more study of the phenomenon, is to keep as far away from the terminal as possible--at least a couple of feet. I set mine back to 36 inches from me. He also notes that even greater distances from the sides and back of the terminal-- about 40 inches--are recommended. Here's a tricky problem. Say you are instructing an English I class and you'd like them to learn wordprocessing. Can you require they go to a lab and sit for hours working at a terminal if you think, maybe there are real dangers? What if a couple of the students are pregnant? Should they be required to go to a computer lab? Would it be enough to outline the potential hazard and let them choose? What are my responsibilities to my secretary? Say my secretary reads the article and says, I won't work on the computer any more? Of course we can all hope the article is wrong and that there are no dangers . . . From: Judith Rowe Subject: job opening Date: Mon, 26 Jun 89 11:53:27 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 253 (335) I would appreciate your posting this job description on the HUMANIST. For the curious, Rich Giordano will be leaving Research Services at Princeton University's Office of Computing and Information Technology. Toby Paff, who also provides consulting on computing in the humanities will be remaining with us. Anyone seeking more information about the position, about CIT or about Research Services, may send mail to JUDITH@PUCC. I would hope to appoint someone by mid-summer so that they can be settled in by fall. Judith Rowe Manager of Humanities Applications Individual with advanced graduate training in literature, languages or fine arts and with basic computing skills on both mainframe and microcomputer for position in Research Services. Familiarity with such packages as SCRIPT and SPIRES under VM/CMS, relevant application programs under UNIX, word processors such as WORD, WORD PERFECT or Nota Bene on the PC or MAC would all be helpful. Programming experience, an interest in computer graphics, especially font design, and an understanding of the concepts of information retrieval and DBMS are all desirable. The successful candidate will work cooperatively in providing support for computer use by faculty and students in humanities research and instruction, install and support software packages; write special purpose software in languages such as C, and assist users in locating machine- readable resources and programs for analysis. This is a professional support position but it has no faculty potential. Qualified candidates should forward their resumes to: Bruce Finnie Computing and Information Technology Princeton University 87 Prospect Street Princeton, NJ 08544 An Equal Employment Affirmative Action Employer From: woolleyj@lafayett.bitnet Subject: RE: 3.171 queries (55) Date: Sun, 25 Jun 89 23:24 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 254 (336) At the British Library, computers may be used in the typing room off the North Library gallery. They may be used in the North Library (= rare books room) only at a side table next to the issue desk and only with permission, keyboard noise being the issue. In both cases electric outlets may be used if desired. Computers may not ordinarily be used in the main reading room or, so far as I know, in the Department of Manuscripts. James Woolley Lafayette College From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: On Top of My Lap in the Bodleian Date: Mon, 26 Jun 89 08:49:49 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 255 (337) A question was recently raised regarding the policy of the British Library toward the use of portable computers for note-taking within the precincts of the library. I'd like to raise the same question regarding the Bodleian and other Oxford libraries. What is (or is there) a policy regarding the use of these instruments in the public reading rooms or other study facilities? Thank you. Kevin L. Cope ENCOPE@LSUVM From: Subject: Embedded values in computer systems Date: Mon, 26 Jun 89 09:35 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 177 (338) I'd very much like to hear from anyone else who has been considering the question of what sort of implicit values and value system "we" are building into our computer systems. My primary reason for being in "computing" at a business school is to get a better perspective on the types of analyses and values and metrics that are slowly being given electronic life in the corporate wide filters that MBA's are building for each other to use. If your Procrustean model can fit the savings in dollars from closing the Louisville assembly plant into the spreadsheet, but can't fit the human costs associated with the layoffs, then you have just committed a major error that is the computer equivalent of "iatrogenic" (new word needed here for computer-induced error ; can someone tell me what that word would be?) Reading such books as "Command and Control of Nuclear Forces" by Paul Bracken makes one realize how multiple levels of filters throw out all the ambiguity, all the human clues, all the human values, till, by the time the decision reaches the white house, there's nothing left for a human to do but push the button. Observing huge multinationals also leads one to believe that the guys in the cockpit are effectively blind. There seems to be a huge need for humanists to study, understand, and figure out where to intervene in this process. Loss of values in the "decision-support" systems being built today, now, around us is as critical a problems as loss of values in universities. Computer code is _not_ value-neutral. Wade Schuette, Cornell University From: DEL2@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk Subject: Re: [3.161 education and universities, cont. (116)] Date: Mon, 26 Jun 89 09:28:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 256 (339) (Message number 102) [ ]Draft IPMessageId: A084903CDC894870 There is an interesting antinomy in our anonymous friend's contribution to the discussion on teaching values. He (?or It) says, [deleted quotation] If none of us is confident then none of us can possibly be distinterested, and if none of us is disinterested then we *cannot* preserve the practice of disintersted inquiry. Indeed, I believe that *any* confidence in one's ability to be disinterested would be misplaced. Surely a more responsible approach is to recognise just how little we are able to be disinterested. Like the observer in classical quantum mechanics, we are intimately involved in what we are doing; part of the system we study. I am less and less convinced that we can impart *data* to students, whether they be values or historical facts. We don't have raw data. What we can do, perhaps, is to clarify the issues, stop up some old dead-end approaches to prevent students re-inventing the square wheel, and -- perhaps most significantly -- open their minds to new possibilities; undreamed-of worlds to explore. One value which may hopefully come across in this recognition of our own limitations is -- humility. Douglas de Lacey From: Subject: Education, human role in tech. world Date: Mon, 26 Jun 89 09:12 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 257 (340) My "devil's advocate" proposal to close universities was, of course, intended to focus on what universities do by thinking about what hole would be left if they closed. Personally, I think that there is a rapidly growing need for a mixture of humanists and computer-specialists in dealing with this growing technology and the evolving hybrid planet. The technologists have actually just about run out of their ability to manage change, so I actually see hope where Robert Amsler sees a dead-end. EVEN THE COMPUTER people have run into a brick wall that only humanists can help them past. The following, by yours truly, reflects my actual views, and, despite the title, seems relevant to this forum. ------- DON'T UNDERESTIMATE JAPAN'S I.S. KNOW-HOW (Reader's Platform/Viewpoint, Computerworld, June 12, 1989, page 26, by R. Wade Schuette, Database Specialist, at Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management) As a computing professional and longtime observer of Japan, I'll throw in my two yen to the discussion you launched [CW, May 8] about the nature of the "threat" from Japanese software. With the rapid emergence of computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools, we are a relatively short time (five to 10 years?) away from the state in which the specifications-to-code steps are fully automated, and I foresee an emerging realization that this accomplishment really doesn't solve as much as we thought. The central problem of IS is that we are trying to change the behavior of _people_ by altering the embedded electronic infrastructure. Contrary to the assumptions behind most systems, people are different from missiles and washing machines. While some of the past wreckage may be laid at the doorstep of inadequate hardware or software, most of the failure modes of large projects seem to be along the human, social, organizational, and managerial dimensions - not technical ones. It would seem that a slow, diligent and incremental approach to such development - roote in concensus building before proceeding - may be the only approach that will actually have a hope of pulling together the fragmentation and heterogeneity within most large organizations today. When human beings and turf are involved, systems integration is not an activity that can be rushed. Adding more and more people to the development team has, in general, a profoundly negative impact on the schedule and budget. The rate-limiting factor is not inside the box. In the Japanese language, there is a tendency to be vague in order not to offend someone. Unfortuneately, this can cause ambiguity in delivering the message in a technical area. Certainly this concern is deply rooted in the culture and language and has been an impediment to everything from writing instructions to writing classical software "packages." However, it is preciselythis concern that turns into an advantage when working out an implementation route between hostile departments in a corporate integration. Also, it is not at all clear to me that the Japanese need to have any good "hackers" to succeed in this arena. What on earth good does it do to rapidly turn out clever, generic products that don't really fit the problem and don't really deliver the business solution that was hoped for? I believe that the fraction of American systems and computers that actually have proven helpful to management is much smaller than generally believed. On the other hand, open almost any publication and read about the latest implementation disaster. Would you trust your own IS shop to write the code for a medical life-support system that you are going to be on next year? Would you prefer a "team" of hackers or diligent detail men? In IS, our task is not to find incredibly ingenious ways to solve fantastic problems -- it is to find workable, reliable ways to deal with the same old problems. A slow and patient co-development may be the only way that such systems cna be developed -- grown, not built. Chief executive officers are getting pretty tired of systems that promise much but deliver little. If the above analysis is correct, and the Japanese are the only ones capable of delivering, then they will simply walk in and take the market, whether they do "calesthentics at sunrise" or not. - end - From: Willard McCarty Subject: is it possible to be disinterested? Date: 26 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 258 (341) "Disinterested inquiry" is something I also value, so I find myself again unable to resist pulling off my editor's hat for a moment and jumping into the fray. I also suspect that Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle -- that you cannot observe a certain class of phenomena without affecting the phenomena -- has useful analogies in larger realms than quantum dynamics. One thinks of all those jokes told at the expense of anthropologists, but the point is a serious one. Certainly, no one can be completely disinterested, at least no one this side of death, but it seems to me that the real question is what you DO with your admittedly imperfect disinterestedness. The whole point of old fashioned historical scholarship, I was taught, is that you try as hard as you can to break out of what has been called your "historical provincialism" -- that prison of time into which we are all born -- and attempt to LEARN something by taking on the perspective, say, of a 17th century English Puritan, or Royalist, or whatever. The disinterestedness in that spiritual discipline (for that is what it is) expresses the aim, not the probable achievement. Some folks I know react quite differently. Having perceived the impossibility of complete disinterestedness, they then proclaim the wisdom of seeing everything in essentially political terms. I suppose they are reacting against the hypocrisy of those who pretend to be neutral while secretly following a hidden agenda. In any case, it seems to me, politicizing the world makes independent thinking extremely difficult -- that is, much more difficult than it otherwise would be. I am reminded of an English professor of mine whom I respected (he was a bright and friendly man) but with whom a truly intelligent conversation was almost impossible. At some point he must have been taught extremely well all the possible heresies of literary criticism. I infer this because when I tried to explain in my typically impressionistic way some thoughts about John Donne or whomever, he would spend the whole time telling me what heresy I had either fallen into or was on the brink of falling into. To survive his instruction I had to develop a very robust filter! To argue by extension. Certainly I am violent by nature, I know this. But isn't there some point in me attempting to be peaceful? Isn't humanity, like disinterestedness, a worthy goal even if we can never reach it? Or has the "post-modernist condition" rendered all this merely academic? Willard McCarty From: Willard McCarty Subject: humanities computing Date: 27 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 259 (342) The discussion I mean to provoke with this note has occurred before. Will those who are bothered by rehashments please forgive me? Some things (I need not name them) are in the repeating not like proverbial reinventing of the wheel -- though even in that case, the moment of discovery is to the discoverer a great joy, even if others have done it before. If it isn't, there's something wrong! I have just been reading a paper in which the author argues that humanities computing is not a discipline of its own and that, in fact, it is doomed to extinction as the techniques it exploits become assimilated into the disciplines it serves. If I follow the author correctly, the conclusions I have just summarized are a consequence of the (I think arguable) fact that humanities computing is essentially a collection of convenient tools designed by one set of people (computer scientists) for another (humanists), that it has no unique perspective nor unified and consistent methodology of its own. I say "arguable" but do not mean that I know enough to disagree intelligently, only that I am suspicious and have some reasons for keeping the question open. If I remember correctly, when this topic was discussed before, people focussed on the difference between quantative differences the computer can make (do a job much faster and more accurately) and the qualitative differences (do an altogether new job). Someone made the point, I think, that quantitative and qualitative differences tend to be the same, because jobs that are too hard for people using an inferior technology will not only not be attempted but often not even be considered. The British calligrapher Edward Johnston, dealing with the relationship between the size of letters and their qualities, used to exclaim, "Size is absolute!" He was certainly right about lettering. Does the same principle apply to computing speeds and the qualitative nature of what is done? My suggestion about publishing syllabi in humanities computing (apparently a project being undertaken already by Joe Rudman of Carnegie-Mellon) was motivated by the same basic question. People are teaching courses in humanities computing; perhaps interesting answers could be found by seeing what they have chosen as their subject matter. Are fundamentally new things being taught? Comments? Willard McCarty From: "Robin C. Cover" Subject: GERMAN HUMANISTS (? Date: Tue, 27 Jun 89 13:20:02 CST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 260 (343) A colleague will be spending the year in Germany (near Tuebingen or Stuttgart) and I would like to assess the probability of him obtaining a BITNET account for the year. I counted 143 institutions in Germany having BITNET membership, and 230 BITNET nodes. But are there any German HUMANISTS? Are computing resources available/accessible for the scholar on sabbatical? Presumably this would invlove getting an external user account for the year. Can any of our German HUMANISTS gelp me assess this situation? Thanks. Professor Robin C. Cover zrcc1001@smuvm1.BITNET 3909 Swiss Avenue convex!txsil!robin.UUCP Dallas, TX 75204 killer!dtseap!robin.UUCP 214/296-1783(h), 824-3094(w) ames!texbell!utafll!robin.UUCP From: Laine Ruus Subject: MLA citation format Date: Tue, 27 Jun 1989 12:06:38 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 180 (344) In response to the suggested e-mail citation format in 3.174: I have several objections to the format for the citation of e-mail which was outlined. The suggested format was as follows: Germain, Ellen. "Micro applications for scholarly research." Electronic correspondence. Humanist Discussion Group. U of Toronto. Bitnet Network. 30 May 1989. My objections are as follows: (a) it would seem that there is little dispute that electronic mail communications should be treated as mail in the traditional sense of the word. We should then cite electronic mail as we cite other mail. (b) taking the title from a field that is not REQUIRED in an e-mail communication then leaves one with the question of how to provide titles for e-mail messages without author-supplied subjects. The _MLA style manual_(1985) does not specify a title for traditional letters, but merely calls them 'Letter to...'. (c) Since it perfectly feasible for another 'Humanist discussion group' to exist on bitnet, and even operate from the University of Toronto (although I agree that this is unlikely), the 'publishing information' in the above example is too vague. The only thing that is totally unique, for various system and software reasons, about the discussion group to which we belong is the computer account which maintains the list, i.e. HUMANIST@UTORONTO. This should be likened, not to the call number, but to the PUBLISHER. The label by which the list identifies itself (as the 'Sender', i.e. 'HUMANIST Discussion') is a field in a NAMES file which is relatively easy to change but nontheless identifies the 'publisher' further. Should this identifier, or the computer account on which the list is maintained be changed, it would be tatamount to the takeover of a periodical from one publishing house by another. (d) The _MLA style manual_(1985, p. 157) makes a distinction between three general categories of letters, which for these purposes I find a useful one. The categories are "(1) published letters, (2) letters in archives, and (3) letters received by the researcher." For the purpose of citations, I would suggest that e-mail letters to a discussion group such as Humanist should be considered to be in the first category, published letters. The same reference continues: "Treat a published letter like a work in a collection...adding the date of the letter and the number (if the editor has assigned one)." Well, Willard very kindly has started to assign a number indeed to, not granted each letter per se, but to each message. (e) The object of citing sources is to make them as easy as possible for the next person to identify and find. Thus citations should be specific rather than general. Given the above, I would suggest the following as alternative citation formats for e-mail: If the letter is to a discussion group - Uchitelle, Daniel. Electronic letter to Humanist Discussion, no. 3.174. HUMANIST@UTORONTO.BITNET. 26 June, 1989. If the message is a direct communication: Humphrey, Chuck. Electronic letter to Laine Ruus. 22 April 1989. I have no strong feeling whether the medium should be called 'electronic letter' or 'electronic mail message', but do suggest that the publishers should coordinate their terminology. While we are speaking to a publishers' concern...when are publishers such as MLA, OUP, etc. going to require citations for computer files of primary research data (such as full-text files) in the bibliographies of their publications? And when will such citation formats appear in the various style manuals? Are the publishers aware that the American Sociological Association has, for the last two years, required citations for data files in all their periodicals? From: Subject: reply to 3.165, Daniel Boyarin (gornisch) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 89 17:47 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 261 (345) I'm probably being naive, but gornisch looks awfully close to the Yiddish garnisht (Mod. Germ. gar nicht). I wonder if marginal notes (scholia?) might be referred to in a sort of deprecatory way as a "little nothing," a petit rien. ---Joel Farber From: Farrukh Hakeem Subject: Re: 3.165 Urdu? Swedish address? word meaning? (67) Date: Mon, 26 Jun 89 19:46:52 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 262 (346) URDU: As an urdu speaking person from India I remember the problems that were faced by friends who wanted to have an urdu typewriter. Urdu developed from "Khari Boli " a language that is still spoken in Uttar Pradesh, India. It eventually developed with a lot of borrowing from Arabic and Persian as well as Sanskrit. However, Urdu is quite distinct in script from both-- Arabic and Persian. It has a greater range of sounds than either. The hard 'dh' and 'jh' are unique. During the muslim rule it developed as the court language. After independence in 1947, its flowery form has been in decline and is being replaced either by Hindustani or Hindi in the Devanagiri script. In Modern India its teaching in shools has been declining because it does not qualify as an official language in many States of the Indian Union (except Kashmir). From: Willard McCarty Subject: Conference Guide and Software Fair Guide available Date: 28 June 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 263 (347) For those unable to attend The Dynamic Text and Tools for Humanists, a limited number of copies of the guidebooks are available from the Centre for Computing in the Humanities. Each volume is $15 plus $3.50 postage and handling, for a total of $18.50 per volume. Cheques or money orders (in Canadian funds, please) should be sent to the following address with a note about which book you want. They are (if I may say so) a bargain at that price. Get one while they last! Centre for Computing in the Humanities University of Toronto 14th floor Robarts Library 130 St. George St. Toronto, Canada M5S 1A5 Willard McCarty From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: OFFLINE 24 Date: Tuesday, 27 June 1989 2123-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 264 (348) ---------------------------------- by Robert A. Kraft ---------------------------------- I write this as June rapidly draws to a close. Fresh in memory is the combined international conference on THE DYNAMIC TEXT held earlier this month in Toronto (see further below). Not very far in the future is the SBL/AAR/ASOR meeting, including its CARG (Computer Assisted Research Group) activities. In between is a papyrology conference in Cairo, Egypt, at which I plan to present an update on some of the procedures and results of our work on computer assisted identification and restoration of papyri fragments. For recreation, I have just finished a computer program to index the names in a massive family genealogy file that I have been developing. On a daily basis, incoming and outgoing electronic mail takes up some of my time, and the more traditional and regular chores of an academician's life, including bibliographical searching of the Library holdings, are also facilitated in various ways by computerized activity. [NB: This Offline also contains a thoughtful discussion of humanities computing as a nascent discipline and the need for assimilating computing activities into the disciplines from which the applications arise. -- W.M.] -------------------- [A complete version of this announcement is now available on the file-server, s.v. OFFLINE 24 (454 lines). A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: stephen clark Subject: UK PHILOSOPHY LIST Date: Wed, 28 Jun 89 14:22:44 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 265 (349) Announcing yet another LIST: namely PHILOS-L. This is primarily a list for philosophers (waged or unwaged) in the United Kingdom to discuss matters of mutual concern, and to encourage other such philosophers to meet in the High Country of computer-mail. Subscribe by sending SUBSCRIBE PHILOS-L [your_name] to LISTSERV@LIVCMS.AC.UK. Stephen Clark Liverpool From: Oxford Text Archive Subject: Date: Wed, 28 Jun 89 17:43 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 183 (350) Subject: Anyone know of machine readable texts of any of the following? They are needed rather sharpish for teaching purposes next term. French Complete works of Baudelaire Novels of Gide (other than l'Immoraliste) Works of F. Villon Romance of Tristran (Berons) Saussurre: Cours de linguistique generale Portuguese Mario de Sa Carneiro: A confissao de Lucio Graciliano Ramos: Vidas secas Vergilia Ferreira: mAnha submersa Camoens: os Lusiadas Modern Greek Seferes: Poiemata Kavafe: Poiemata Solomos: Poiemata Palamas: Iamvoi kai anapairtoi Thanks... Lou From: Ruth Glynn Subject: Size of the OED Date: Wed, 28 Jun 89 04:39:02 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 266 (351) The OED (second edition) is approx. 625 Mb with tagging, and roughly half that without -- i.e. there are approx. 325,000,000 printed characters. Ruth Glynn OUP From: Peter D. Junger Subject: Gornisch == Gar nicht Date: Tue, 27 Jun 89 18:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 267 (352) To one who learned what little German he has in Kneipen in Schweinfurth am Main, "gornisch" sounds very much the way I expect to hear "gar nicht" pronounced. Could it be that gornisch refers to something so marginal that it is nothing at all? Peter D. Junger--CWRU Law School--Cleveland, OH--bitnet: JUNGER@CWRU [Editor's query: has anyone at the OED thought of using groups like Humanist for gathering occurrences of words?] From: amsler@flash.bellcore.com (Robert A Amsler) Subject: Humanities computing Date: Tue, 27 Jun 89 21:15:25 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 268 (353) Interestingly enough, people have held the same view about computer science itself. That is, that computer science isn't a discipline itself, but a collection of things taken from mathematics, logic, electrical engineering and the like which will eventually all reclaim their territories. I don't think this will happen. Invariably, something new develops in the center of a new field and remains when all else is subtracted away. For computer science it may have been formal specification of programming languages, proving programs correct, etc. For humanities computing it may be some theorems which have yet to be discovered about things such as aesthetics, stylistics, authorship (or artistry) identification. Clearly there is far too little of the humanities which is readily available electronically for anyone to do definitive studies at this point. Perhaps for Greek this can now be done, but surely for many other languages and time periods or even artistic media, the available bodies of computer-readable material fall far short of the requirements for doing humanistic research compared to what could be done with the original materials. For example, for how many authors can one locate the complete computer-readable works? Look at the effort it would take to complete a computer version of the Norton Guide to English Literature? And that is a minimal requirement for undergraduate education--not advanced scholorship. From: David Megginson Subject: Re: 3.179 new things under the sun? German Humanists? (86) Date: Wed, 28 Jun 89 08:40:01 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 269 (354) In response to Willard's note: The problem I see with Humanities computing is that, most of the time, we don't seem to be breaking new ground. Concordances, word counts, and even parsing are old news in the computer world. As a matter of fact, expert systems will soon be as old as first year undergraduates, and we have barely started with them (the expert systems, that is). We look ridiculous when we haul up some ancient technology, apply it to some text, and call for kudos from the computing community. On the other hand, if we were to work on a useful theoretical framework for applying these tools to our various disciplines, rather than on the technology itself, we would have much worth reporting. Of course, then we would be back in our own disciplines where, perhaps, we belong. David Megginson From: Subject: re 3.179 humanities computing Date: Tue, 27 Jun 89 21:53 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 270 (355) Willard, to carry your example to its logical conclusion, we could argue that there can be no such field as painting, because, after all, paints were invented and produced by chemists... IN almost every field of products I know about, the "end users" prove to be the most creative group, using things for activities the inventors never dreamt of. The proper role of tool developers, in my not so humble opinion, is to design tools that the users can customize and evolve into something totally new. In 25 years of computing, I've observed very small changes in "ease of use" making tremendous difference in who gets into the act. For example, the visual statistics package "Datadesk", by allowing one to make a collection of 3-d plots in various windows, and then rotate them "live" opens up new vistas of analysis. Most people who've never had a physically large screen with the capacity to work in lots of places at once don't realize how powerful that can be, and how human. Once we get background processing going on, you can launch your workstation/assistant to "go fetch the full text behind this reference while I continue over here and buzz me when you've retrieved it...". The biggest changes I see are in interaction with other people , though. The 5 people in the world in this one sub-speciality can compare notes and conference , regardless of geographic diversity. I'd argue (just did!) that humanists will use tools in new ways for new approaches and that "humanities computing" will die about as fast as the patent office. Au contraire, it looks to me like it is just starting to wake up to an exciting new world of new ways to look and new windows to look through. As Frank Drake, the radio-astronomer observed: every time scientists open up a new window in the spectrum (radio, optical, x-ray, infrared, uv, etc.), they see not just new aspects of old things, but totally new things, never before imagined processes going on. Similarly, radio astronomers figured out how to link up 2 or more small and geographically separated telescopes to synthesize a larger aperture, which also let them see new details never before seen, as resolution varies inversely with aperture. My hunch is that we're on the verge of doing something similar with people, connecting enough of them real-time over a broad enough range that we will get some emergent properties and discover new joys of cooperative observation that have never been possible before (you can't fit ten million people around the water cooler.). This forum, and thousands like it, are leading the way to new power to the humanities, not to the "death" of humanities computing. Lead on, Willard! == wade schuette, Cornell == From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: MLA Style for Citing HUMANIST Date: Tuesday, 27 June 1989 2142-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 271 (356) Having startled at least one person in the audience at Toronto by admitting that I was not familiar with the MLA style sheet (which he assumed was common to all humanist disciplines), nor had even heard of it (well, maybe that was an overstatement -- my memory is spotty), I hesitate to address the question of standardizing references to HUMANIST communications. Nevertheless, if one of my doctoral students was/were facing this problem and the decision was/were mine to make (as indeed, it would be!), here is what I would suggest: (1) The crucial elements are name of author, identification in the files for recovery purposes (including date), and current electronic location or contact point. (2) Title may or may not exist, may or may not be relevant; as with reviews that are listed (in the style to which I am accustomed) as Review of ..., it may be helpful to simply create a "title" such as Discussion of ... in some instances. The Germain reference given as a sample is not problematic at this point, but many HUMANIST communications are. (3) I wouldn't worry about the Librarians! They are catching up rapidly and would be able to find their way with an email address in most instances, I suspect (by knowing who to ask, if necessary). If the @ sign offends, write out "at" -- for simple addresses like HUMANIST, that creates no problem. I'm not sure how I would suggest handling an Australian address, however!! Thus my sample format would be along these lines: Germain, Ellen. "Micro Applications for Scholarly Research" [ID#.#]. Electronic Discussion Group. HUMANIST at UTORONTO.BITNET. 30 May 1989. Well, maybe HUMANIST at UTORONTO (BITNET), or possibly BITNET: HUMANIST at UTORONTO (to imitate how we do place and publisher). Yes, in our normal framework of "Philadelphia: Westminster, 1989" I like the final suggestion, but apparently the MLA style is different on how it records place and publisher? Bob From: Ruth Glynn Subject: Citations to electronic material Date: Wed, 28 Jun 89 09:43:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 272 (357) Laine Ruus asks 'when are publishers such as MLA, OUP, etc. going to require citations for computer files of primary research data (such as full-text files) in the bibliographies of their publications?' The suggestion that electronic material should be cited in bibliographies is an excellent one and it is one that publishers would whole-heartedly support. But it does beg some questions. (1) Publishers don't dictate to authors what they should put in their bibliographies! We assume that our authors are sufficiently thorough and honest (yes, that is the right word) to declare their sources as they deem fit. Our desk- and copy- editors may of course consider a bibliography 'over-populated' or lacking in citations to relevant material, in which case they make suggestions for revision as necessary to the authors. (2) The desirability of there being a central directory of m-r material, full-text or otherwise, was touched on in the archives panel session at the Dynamic Text Conference. One of the concerns expressed there was that people *weren't* citing their electronic sources and that the originators of that material -- both of the printed source material and of the electronic -- were, therefore, being deprived of the sort of credit and recognition that normally accrues from citations to their work in others' scholarly work. (3) I imagine that the completeness of any such catalogue, however, would be suspect. It seems to me that a quantity of printed material is nowadays being converted to m-r form (usually by scanning) without either the editor's or author's knowledge or permission (never mind that of the publisher). Does anyone really think that those who have created such m-r texts without copyright permissions having been cleared are going to broadcast the fact that they have done so? If such a directory of material is incomplete, it is of limited value. But it is really up to the authors themselves to declare their sources and make suitable acknowledgement to others' material. Ruth Glynn From: Subject: UNIVERSITIES AND EDUCATION Date: Wed, 28 Jun 89 09:03 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 187 (358) Universities and Education --------------------------- The recent discussion of universities and education suffers from a widespread attitude of anti-intellectualism in the culture of intellectuals. Such notions that like Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, observers and teachers of human values cannot do so in a disinterested or value-free manner, stems from an interpretation of a mathematical formalism that is firstly a misinterpretation of the one Heisenberg provided, and secondly, a dogmatic belief that Heisenberg's own interpretation is no mere interpretation but some 'law' of physics. The mathematical formalism in words is: the product of momentum and position of micro-particles is more or less equivalent to Planck's quantum constant. Bohr, in his popular writings, interpreted this mathematical formalism to mean that the physicst is like the psychologist in that when he observes nature, he interferes in nature. Humanists, immediately jump in and say, 'even so-called objective physicts must be subjective, just like us'. However, Heisenberg provides a more limited interpretation: when we obtain a precise measurement of position, we cannot obtain an equally precise measurement of momentum; and, vice versa. That is the Uncertainty. To explain the Uncertainty in terms of human interfernce in nature, is a gloss that goes above and beyond the exact statement of Uncertainty. Furthermore, among physicists there has been a long debate, beginning with Einstein, that attempted to show that quantum mechanics is incomplete--and that quantum mechanics cannot be the last word contrary to Heisenberg, Bohr and Born. The question arises, why do so many humanists jump on the bandwagon of a philosophical interpretation of quantum mechanics, that is in part a misinterpretation, and one that is controversial among physicists? Part of the answer lies in a neo-Hegelian philosophy of 'hyper-rationalism' where everything we do must be, at bottom, rational and perfect. So, the anti-intellectual humanists argues: 'Our apparently, imperfect educational institutions, which in part devote themselves to extra-intellectual pursuits, such as socialization, networking, leading a life of leisure... and so forth, must be really perfect, given the appropriate perspective. Moreover, since intellect is so biased, so subjective, so weak and ineffective, we can only subliminally dictate to students what we professors believe dogmatically to be the correct values--and in the end, it is the rational course.' The anti-dote to anti-intellectualism is to realize that within physics there are objectivist, and realist interpretations of quantum mechanics. Also, there are objectivist interpretations of 'interpretation', 'value', and 'understanding'. As a first step to exploring the alternative to anti-intellecutalism, one might read Karl Popper's three volumes on the philosophy of quantum mechanics and indeterminism. In any case, universities do today what institutions of learning have always done, and done very imperfectly, provide free-zones for intellectual research into the fundamental problems of human existence in the physical universe. Unfortunately, what Buber says is true: teachers teach more by what they don't say, then through what they say. So the teacher who has the anti-intellectual attitude of disdain towards the life of mind, and who thinks university teachers have a free ride to show proficiency with little or meaningless content, or who thinks the university is a big joke, will convey that attitude to students. The devil's adovcate for the side of abolishing the university will win the case by default unless intellectuals adopt a more intellectually honest attitude towards their self-congratulatory 'philosophies' of physics. I have attempted a beginning towards developing a framework for an intellectually honest self-criticism of the culture of intellectuals in a paper that seeks comments and a publisher. If interested in commenting or reviewing for possible publication, please contact me. ---------------------------------- Sheldon Richmond S_RICHMOND@UTOROISE.BITNET From: John Lavagnino Subject: Universities and education and quantum mechanics Date: Thu, 29 Jun 89 10:23 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 273 (359) Here are some objections from an ex-physicist to Sheldon Richmond's account of quantum mechanics. [deleted quotation] A few important words are missing here: it's ``the product of the uncertainties in,'' not just ``the product of.'' There is a more accurate statement a few sentences later (which however needlessly omits the point that as one uncertainty goes up the other necessarily goes down): [deleted quotation] On the theory of measurement: [deleted quotation] This isn't only something that comes up in popular writings. There is no way to determine the position of a subatomic particle except by bouncing other particles off it, particles which can't be much smaller, and which therefore are going to push the original particle around some. It's not a wild claim, but an everyday problem in doing that kind of physics. Humanists, though, usually deal with bigger things (angels apart) for which this effect, while present, is so tiny that it can be ignored. [deleted quotation] ``Attempted'' is the key word here. It's never actually been done, and the Copenhagen interpretation is still the one physicists use. As with evolution, some people would like the theory to go away or say something different, but it's a big step from that to having another theory that works as well. ---Which doesn't mean that I agree with the usual humanist's use of quantum mechanics. It is a theory appropriate for the description of tiny particles of matter; it's only a metaphor when you apply it to, say, psychology. It may help us to see new things, or to provide suggestive analogies for things we already know, but any belief that it provides ``scientific'' support for such insights is unfounded. John Lavagnino (English and American Literature, Brandeis University) From: Daniel Boyarin Subject: Re: 3.187 education and universities, cont. (74) Date: Thu, 29 Jun 89 16:34:07 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 274 (360) The points about humanists jumping on a rickety bandwagon with Heisenberg seem very well taken, but I don't understand why the position that all interpretation is construction is glossed by you as anti-intellectualism. Most of the people working out such positions in literary, anthropological and historical theory seem to me very committed to the life of the mind. From: "Michael Sperberg-McQueen 312 996-2477 -2981" Subject: more on citing Humanist communications Date: 28 June 1989 21:45:58 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 275 (361) Laine Ruus is right, I think, that an address like HUMANIST@UTORONTO is not like a call number but like a publisher (or the reference number for a technical report). It's probably worth mentioning, though, that Listserv lists do not always have unique addresses: many lists are split, when they grow large, among multiple peer servers, to reduce overall network load. Each list continues to have a central host, but it's not always obvious which server is the central one, if you don't inquire. (Is this like title pages which list five cities of publication? More like a book published in five cities, but each copy bearing the name of only one ...) Even flawed address information seems better than nothing, though. Michael Sperberg-McQueen From: sdm@cs.brown.edu Subject: MLA Style for Citing HUMANIST Date: Thu, 29 Jun 89 01:12:31 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 276 (362) In a recent Humanist message, KRAFT@PENNDRLS (sorry, I don't know this person's real name) suggested the following citation format: Germain, Ellen. "Micro Applications for Scholarly Research" [ID#.#]. Electronic Discussion Group. HUMANIST at UTORONTO.BITNET. 30 May 1989. S/he also suggested two alternative formats for the electronic mail address: HUMANIST at UTORONTO (BITNET) BITNET: HUMANIST at UTORONTO In my view, there is a serious problem with each of the formats mentioned here: none of the electronic mail addresses is in a valid form. Unless things have changed radically in the past few years, email address formats are prescribed by RFC 822, and RFC 822 dictates addresses like these: HUMANIST%UTORONTO.BITNET@BROWNVM.BROWN.EDU HUMANIST@UTORONTO.BITNET (I copied both of these addresses from one of the recent Humanist messages sent to me. As you can see, a single location can have more than one valid address. All valid addresses, however, must conform to RFC 822. By the way, RFC 822 is case-insensitive, so "Humanist@UToronto.Bitnet" is equivalent to "HUMANIST@UTORONTO.BITNET".) Since the purpose of citations is to allow interested parties to probe further into a matter, it does little good to give them citations they can't easily follow up on. Electronic mail addresses in citations should be syntactically valid, no matter how ugly they may look. They aren't supposed to be pretty, just functional. Scott Meyers Computer Science Department Brown University From: Subject: Citation practices: place of publication. Date: Thu, 29 Jun 89 09:22 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 277 (363) The recent discussion about how to cite e-mail and e-docs prompts me to raise an inter-related question which Bob Kraft alluded to: inclusion of place of publication. I am aware of the MLA style sheet, but normally have written for publication that did not require that. In recent years I have been assembling some bibliographies for my own use (teaching) rather than publication, so have followed my own style preferences. In the past, when writing for technical publications, most of the citations have been to journal literature, with very few books. These recent bibliographies have been on The Holocaust and are almost all to books or portions of books. This caused me to take a fresh look at the practice of citing place of publication. Basically I don't understand why it is done for recent books. The use of ISBN's (International Standard Book Numbers) now seems to be close to 100%, at least for books published in the English language (I have not looked at original publications in other languages). Doesn't the ISBN more specifically identify the book than city and country of publication? For example, as I reach to my self and select a John Wiley and Sons book, the title page lists "New York, Chichester, Brisbane, Toronto, Singapore." So, if required to include place of publication in a citation, I would select the first city on the list, New York. But this book has an ISBN, which is what is included in the "Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data sample main entry under title," that is provided (rather than place of publication) and it is the ISBN that I would have to use to order the book through a bookstore. Doesn't the ISBN better identify that edition of that book than place of publication? I would expect a definite trend toward use of ISBN's in citation, but except for my own working bibliographies I don't see anyone doing it! Is this an issue that has already been thrashed out or is it one that is just coming over the horizon? Jim Cerny, Computing and Information Services, University of New Hampshire. From: "James H. Coombs" Subject: MLA citation format Date: Tue, 27 Jun 89 19:04:03 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 278 (364) I believe the citation should include the volume and issue number, much like a journal. This is more than "electronic correspondence"; we have a moderator and regular distribution. The citation should include the full information needed to locate the publication, and the citation style should make a clear distinction between this form of publication and something as informal as "personal communication." I agree that the suggested style is very clean. I think that the additional information will keep it clean. I think that the specific node should not be that important. What if Humanist moves to another university, or even if Toronto changes its node names? Then the current node information would be of no real value. For paper journals, we do not provide any place of publication now, but the information on Toronto would at least give someone a starting point for tracking down an unfamiliar electronic journal. Thanks for asking for suggestions. --Jim Dr. James H. Coombs Senior Software Engineer, Research Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship (IRIS) Brown University, Box 1946 Providence, RI 02912 jazbo@brownvm.bitnet From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: OFFLINE 24 Date: Tuesday, 27 June 1989 2123-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 190 (365) [Bob Kraft has alerted me to the fact that my partial publication of Offline 24 was a departure from my usual practice of sending out the entire thing. Of this departure I now repent me. Be assured that I was concerned only about the load of Humanist's mail at the time and did not intend in any way to suggest that the contents were less worthy. In fact, this is a fascinating issue, which here follows in its entirety. --W.M.] ---------------------------------- by Robert A. Kraft ---------------------------------- I write this as June rapidly draws to a close. Fresh in memory is the combined international conference on THE DYNAMIC TEXT held earlier this month in Toronto (see further below). Not very far in the future is the SBL/AAR/ASOR meeting, including its CARG (Computer Assisted Research Group) activities. In between is a papyrology conference in Cairo, Egypt, at which I plan to present an update on some of the procedures and results of our work on computer assisted identification and restoration of papyri fragments. For recreation, I have just finished a computer program to index the names in a massive family genealogy file that I have been developing. On a daily basis, incoming and outgoing electronic mail takes up some of my time, and the more traditional and regular chores of an academician's life, including bibliographical searching of the Library holdings, are also facilitated in various ways by computerized activity. The point is that in virtually every direction and connection, computers and computing are part of the life situation within which I operate. This access to such enormous power no longer awes me as it once did. It is, indeed, largely taken for granted and I wonder how life ever could have functioned adequately otherwise! It is both interesting and comforting to find that many colleagues, students and acquaintances are having a similar experience, at some level or another. Throughout the University, textprocessing has become commonplace, and its benefits obvious. Graduate students marvel that anyone ever finished a dissertation in the pre-computer age, as they exploit the technology to write, rewrite, index, and print their scholarly efforts. A new set of excuses can be heard from tardy undergraduates when the course papers are due -- couldn't make the printer work, or experienced a disk crash, or the dog chewed up the diskette! When my department agreed in 1984 to require an appropriate level of computer literacy from all graduate students, we felt that it would become an unnecessary rule, since it would automatically take care of itself in the fairly near future. This has proved true, not only because most students now enter with some computer experience, but because we are able to provide new levels of usage through the presence of "humanities computing" facilities here at the University. What the isolated person might only suspect or know of indirectly can often be seen in action here, such as optical scanning of texts and pictures, special printing facilities, CD-ROM manipulation, data transfer to optimize machine-specific software, graphics and video coordination, and the like. And as is increasingly clear from the banter on the HUMANIST electronic list (about 400 computing humanists linked together on the BITNET academic network) and from the participation in conferences that deal with humanities computing, a great deal of activity is taking place throughout the world of academia to make such facilities available more broadly. THE DYNAMIC TEXT conference hosted by the Centre for Computing in the Humanities at the University of Toronto provided an excellent cross section of the current situation. The conference was sponsored by two of the leading international "computers and humanities" groups, the American based ACH (Association for Computers and the Humanities) which publishes the journal called CHum (Computers and the Humanities), and the British based ALLC (Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing) which publishes LLC (Literary and Linguistic Computing). Included among the "cooperating associations and institutions" were not only several other "computers and ..." type groups (linguistics, history, bible, conceptual/content analysis), but also a few of the traditional professional associations (historical, philological, philosophical, linguistic) along with a research libraries organization. It would be interesting to know whether other traditional professional societies had been invited to cooperate, and what their responses were. To my knowledge, neither SBL nor AAR was approached, for example, despite their demonstrated interest in such matters. As I will argue below, this type of crossfertilization needs to be actively fostered as general attitudes to computing become more positive. Two booklets were produced in connection with the conference, and copies may still be available from the organizers: A Conference Guide edited by local host Ian Lancashire (191 pages plus index), with an overview of the program and abstracts of most of the presentations; and a Software and Hardware Fair Guide edited by Willard McCarty (131 pages plus index), with details about 74 planned exhibits (a few of them failed to materialize). I have no intention of trying to summarize the variety of activities that took place in this basically 4 day conference (plus associated workshops and short courses). My two graduate student assistants and I spent much of the time showing off various "wares" in the Exhibition room, but we also attended a smattering of the program segments and it is clear that all three of us had an enjoyable and rewarding time (and made many useful contacts). I would like to comment on a few of the issues that were raised and/or reraised at or by the conference that seem to me to impact on virtually all academics in one way or another. Some of these have been mentioned in previous OFFLINE columns, but are reasserting themselves with new vigor and sometimes in new ways. My intent is not primarily to report on the Toronto conference, but to use it as a springboard to more general observations. In Toronto, I chaired a very interesting panel on computer "archives" and related issues. For most of the short history of computing and textual studies, archives of electronic materials have been maintained by centers and projects. Now the situation is changing rapidly -- very rapidly! Libraries, as the traditional custodians of publicly available (mostly printed) information are moving more aggressively to keep abreast of the new electronic developments. Publishers, for whom the invention of the printing press created an immense market opportunity, are increasingly exploring ways in which the new electronic technology can be harnessed to their advantage. The development of storage and delivery devices such as CD-ROM, which in many ways (not the least of which is its "fixed" content) is more like a book than are the more dynamic read/write media, or largely controllable on-line access services (you can see/use what is there, but can't easily obtain it as such), provide an excellent point of contact between the electronic developments and the more traditional modes of publication and storage/access. Roles are necessarily being reshaped -- and with them, expectations, procedures, laws, interrelationships. In many instances, the author with appropriate electronic equipment no longer needs a separate "publisher" to produce attractive printed copy, although questions remain (if appropriate) regarding replication, publicity and distribution. And as authors move more to primarily electronic (rather than printed) publication, and/or as users come to demand more material in electronic forms, how will traditional publishing houses and libraries respond? Who controls the quality of what is "published"? Who keeps track of what version appeared when, and whether any given version is "authorized"? How do legal concepts such as "copyright" or "fair use" apply, and how do they relate to economic issues such as the treatment of expenses and of any income? A futuristic treatment of how such issues could be handled was provided at Toronto by a surprise visitor, Ted Nelson, who spoke about his "Project Xanadu" and its Hypertext System as described in his book LITERARY MACHINES (edition 87.1), which is itself an example of a new approach to publication in various forms (hard copy privately and through a distributor, and also in electronic form). "The old order changes, yielding way to new." Many of the same issues are relevant whether one refers to future original productions, or to the attempt to produce electronic copies of existing publications. New procedures will necessarily be worked out for the future; hopefully authors will be more conscious of protecting their "ownership" rights and not simply give them up pro forma to the new order of distributors, for example. But with reference to works that are already published in the old way, and for which electronic versions are desired, the waters are considerably muddied. It is not clear how traditional "copyright" laws relate to such electronic materials, especially when the original authors (Paul, Shakespeare, etc.) whose writings are reissued under copyright are themselves long removed from the jurisdiction of such laws. If I take a standard copyrighted edition of such an author, strip away all but the consecutive text (without modern page numbers, introduction, notes, etc.), and make it available electronically, do I violate copyright? Have I produced a new edition that is itself copyrightable in my name? Such questions will only be answered legally by being tested in the courts (as has happened with some legal materials), but that prospect currently does not seem appealing to any of the discussants (for understandable reasons!), and we may be able to muddle through the situation by developing agreements between the interested parties -- as has been the situation thus far with the biblical and related materials circulated by CCAT. In many ways, the libraries are caught in the middle on such discussions, and may help force solutions to be found. If a traditional publisher produces an electronic edition, as with the recent Oxford University Press releases of the Oxford English Dictionary (CD-ROM, $950) or of Shakespeare (diskettes, $300), the issues are relatively clear and clean. But some works of Shakespeare, encoded from editions no longer under copyright, also have been available electronically for a longer period of time, without benefit of any authorized "protector" to be responsible for quality and to control distribution. Should libraries attempt to locate and acquire such "public domain" material as well? Until very recently, prospective users were approaching the computer centers for such information and tasks, with mixed results. Growing interest and involvement of the libraries should provide a relatively stabilizing effect on the situation. A major problem has been that it is not easy to ascertain whether a text is available electronically, and if so under what conditions. Lou Burnard at the Oxford Text Archive and his counterparts at a few other centers had managed to provide lists of materials that were on deposit with them, but the long desired inventory of machine readable texts (MRT) that had been begun by Marianne Gaunt at the Rutgers Library was stalled for several years from lack of adequate funding and support. This situation is now changing radically, as we learned at Toronto. The NEH has granted some planning funds for the exploration of a consortial type of Center for MRT in the Humanities, under the combined sponsorship of Rutgers and Princeton Universities, and the first major task will be completion of the Inventory. This will be done in cooperation with other groups and projects that had independently begun to move toward the same goal. Once the inventory information is in hand, and has become available on the standard library networks, it will be much easier to sort out the problems of how individual libraries can facilitate access to the actual materials (e.g. from centralized banks, through an "interlibrary loan" type system, through direct purchase, etc.) and whose legal rights may be involved. Overall, the Toronto conference was a great success, and all who were involved in making it so are to be congratulated. There is, however, for me, an uncomfortable aspect to such success. It breeds enthusiasm, esprit de corps, commitment to the cause, and all those normally desirable side effects. But at the same time it raises the question of what should be the primary focus of allegiance -- what is the function of "computers and ..." organizations in relation to the more traditional types of field oriented professional groups. When the "old guard" left little room or encouragement for serious computer related discussion at professional society meetings, it made sense for alternative fora to arise. But hasn't the current situation become more receptive, so that inclusion of computer assisted study in the traditional framework is no longer a divisive issue? If so, should not scholarly expertise of all types seek its primary focus and expression in the recognized field that it represents? This is not to deny the value of secondary affiliations such as the "computers and ..." groups, or even the possibility that the new technology may actually justify the spawning of some new "fields" in humanities (although I am hard pressed to imagine what, given the "human" emphasis in my definition of "humanities"). But the danger of expending our energies to perpetuate the now comfortable and congenial "technocentric" situation, among longtime friends and sympathizers, at the cost of robbing our special fields of our newly acquired wisdom, talents and leadership, leaves me ambivalent. In the long run, computers are tools -- very powerful tools, to be sure -- that we humanists use in the pursuit and presentation of knowledge. The Fair Guide at Toronto was even entitled "Tools for Humainsts" although in the Introduction Willard McCarty refers in passing, inviting this sort of discussion, to "the discipline [of humanities computing], if it is one" (p. ii). Is there a case to be made for developing departments of "humanities computing," with attendant majors and advanced degrees, side by side with the more traditional departments? Should this become a self-perpetuating "discipline" or better "field of specialization" alongside the other humanities "fields" that it also serves? At present, my inclination is to resist such a development, and to urge that the rapidly growing body of computing humanists not abandon the traditional fields in favor of "computers and ..." contexts, but on the contrary, aggressivly interact with the traditional structures to forge a new and stronger synthesis. To put it another way, the riches of the Toronto exhibits deserve to be seen at the traditional professional society meetings. Some of the presentations made at the Toronto sessions deserve to be heard in the more traditional settings. Conversely, the program committees of the traditional professional societies need to be conscious about insuring that computer related approaches are welcome and encouraged at the sessions. Otherwise, we are in danger of fostering the development of two quite different levels of computer literacy within any given academic field -- those who write with their computers but don't know how to do much more, and those who do much more but fail to communicate it to or share it with the colleagues who, unlike years ago, are now in a better position to appreciate it. There is a very real sense in which the continued flourishing of "computers and ..." groups could prove counterproductive for the future of humanistic scholarship. This is not to say that a continuing forum for technical discussions of humanistic computer applications has no place. But I see its role as supportive and complimentary, not as competitive. The problem is, in its oversimplified form, two sided. The traditional societies and journals seldom have taken an actively positive attitude to the new developments. What journals are reviewing general purpose software, or electronic data? How many scholarly articles that make careful and explicit use of computer technology appear in those journals? Which societies sponsor hardware and software fairs such as the one at Toronto? But on the other side, to what extent are those who are especially interested and talented in the computer assisted applications pouring time and energies into helping the traditional societies and journals cope with the new situation? Do we volunteer to serve as program coordinators and editors for relevant interests? Are computer related articles being submitted to (or rejected by) traditional journals? How can such articles reach the wider audience of the less skilled and help to make them more skilled if they appear mainly in the "computers and ..." journals for the very skilled? Examples of this paradoxical situation are not difficult to find. Many presentations in ACH and ALLC programs over the years, and articles in CHum and LLC, have been very field specific as well as explicitly computer oriented. To what extent has that research also made its way into the traditional journals (with appropriate rewriting, as necessary)? The current issue of LLC (4.1, 1989) contains an article by M. E. Davidson on "New Testament Word Order" (19-28), the spinoff from an MA project at Queen's University, Belfast. While it is clear that Davidson used electronic data in researching the subject, it is not an article on any aspect of computing -- indeed, its use of computers is relatively trivial and incidental. Davidson even prepared a control study from Epictetus "by hand" since appropriate computer data was not available for that author. Davidson's primary approach is through statistical analysis, and his results (whatever their validity) would be of interest to a variety of people in biblical and classical studies as well as in linguistics. I do not know whether the study has been submitted to any traditional journals, but it should be. It is an article on the Greek of the Gospel of Luke and Paul's Romans, and should be used and evaluated by experts in that material. It makes no contribution to humanities computing as such, although it peripherally relates to statistical linguistics. The very next article in LLC deals with the problems of using machine readable dictionaries of English. It is more directly and explicitly related to the computer aspects of linguistic research, addressing such problems as ambiguity and coding of various entries in English dictionary lists. It is an instructive study, and would be of value to people interested in dictionary construction in general, as well as to people who work with computerized dictionaries. Surely such an article has a place in the general scholarly literature for the study of English (and other) lexicography as well as in a journal read by people who must be concerned with consistent electronic coding conventions, file structures, and the like. The more technical discussions in the computer societies would be difficult to justify in traditional periodicals and scholarly meetings, to be sure, although the day may be coming when even that observation may ring false. My point is that we need to seek actively to incorporate, or sometimes reincorporate, the computer assisted studies into the general framework of the existing fields, where appropriate. I suspect that there may already be a generation of computer society members whose primary scholarly affiliation is in that "interdisciplinary" context, and who have no significant involvement with the more traditional professional societies. While I can understand how that can happen, I think we need to resist the inbreeding and tendency to isolation that can result from overly successful "computers and ..." approaches. Otherwise the old will tend to atrophy, and the new will have inadequate rooting and support. Most of the presentations and exhibits at Toronto have a direct application to the teaching and research of the individual academic. The Introduction to the Fair Guide provides a useful classification of the exhibits by type of application, with the following main divisions: computer assisted instruction (including various sight, sound and text systems), databanks and databases (local as well as online), special hardware systems (e.g. NeXT, IBYCUS), machine assisted translation, scanning systems, personal information management (e.g. bibliography), philological and linguistic analysis, historical (and archaeological) simulations, analysis of style and meaning, search and retrieval systems, text editing and textprocessing, data transfer utilities. There was something for everyone, and these brief comments cannot possibly do it all justice. In most instances, it was not a preview of tomorrow but a sample of what is being done today and a challenge to further infuse our everyday academic activities with the fruits and potential of this fabulous new technology. <-----> Please send information, suggestions or queries concerning OFFLINE to Robert A. Kraft, Box 36 College Hall, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6303. Telephone (215) 898-5827. BITNET address: KRAFT at PENNDRLS (no longer PENNDRLN). To request printed information or materials from OFFLINE (or from CCAT), please supply an appropriately sized, self-addressed envelope or an address label. A complete electronic file of OFFLINE columns is also available upon request (for IBM/DOS, Mac, or IBYCUS). From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: humanities computing Date: Thursday, 29 June 1989 1004-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 191 (366) As a point of information, to help sharpen at least the sorts of models with which we work when we discuss "humanities computing," has anything similar developed in the other tridents/quadrants of traditional academia? Are there special "computers and physics" or "computers and the natural sciences" groups? Or "computers and sociology" ("sociological computing")? Was there a point in the development of the new technology when "computers and logic" or "computers and mathematics" groups came into being, and if so, do they continue to exist in distinction from some other approach? I search for non computer analogies in my own broader field of specialization -- I learn a lot from analogies -- and think that in some ways the attempts to deal with "social sciences methodology" may come close. A society was created, sometime back in the 1960s called "Society for Scientific Study of Religion" (triple-S R). It still exists. I know several people who have been members at one point or another, some who have been leaders. I don't know how current SSSR members see themselves, or what the Society's current raison d'etre may be, relative to the fields of religion or the social sciences. My impression, perhaps quite misguided and not fully informed, is that it has tended to become a self-perpetuating island, and that the more mainstream religious studies societies have pretty much assimilated social sciences approaches as appropriate and are moving ahead with the new synthesis. There was a need, when SSSR developed, and the SSSR did bring it to people's attention. If the need has passed, what then? I'm trying to find analogies that have a central "methodological" (a word that I'm not always comfortable with) component. There are lots of situations in which sub-fields (geographical or chronological, for example) split off and develop alongside the spawning (intentionally or unintentionally) body. I don't see this as really parallel to "computers and..." groups, except perhaps in areas such as linguistics, about which I am not very qualified to speak. Perhaps similarly, in such "disciplines" (I'm nervous about that word too!) as history and sociology and anthropology, in which there are visible distinctions between people who tend to operate more "quantitatively" from those who are more "humanistic" in orientation (if those are the proper contrasting terms!), different types of groups with different interest foci emerge and often flourish with great value. This situation probably comes closer to what is going on IN SOME AREAS with the "computers and..." approach. To what extent, and in what areas, does the appeal to "computers" represent an attempt to emphasize quantitative approaches as over against something else? I have that impression of "computational linguistics," although as a relative outsider, I really do not know. At present, my feeling is that in the humanistic areas that interest and concern me most -- textual, paleographical, philological, literary, intellectual-historical, socio-historical, philosophical, and the like, the use of computers needs to become fully integrated with, not somehow adjunct to the ongoing academic endeavor. And the energies of those who have become expert, in various ways, with how to use computers in these contexts need to be directed at the less literate, computerwise, as well as shared with the more literate. To the extent that we fail to invest our talents and time in the ongoing, "traditional," organizations and contexts, to that extent we will impede the sort of synthesis that will inevitably come, but which we have a great opportunity to hasten. My humanistic ideals (ok, values) at this point reflect that aspect of Platonism (probably itself reflecting values that have common roots with some southeast Asian traditions) that saw the task of the enlightened one (e.g. in Plato's Cave Analogy) as fulfilled only when that person returned to the less enlightened to help them along their path. Thus for me, computer groups for the enlightened have their primary function to assist the less enlightened, and not to become self-perpetuating islands. Bob From: hans@leif.mun.ca Subject: RE: 3.184 size of the OED; gornisch (43) Date: 29 Jun 89 07:27 -0330 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 279 (367) RE: GORNISCH ------------ I'd add my voice to the conjecture of GORNISCH = GAR NICHT as long as the linguistic source area is the South or Southeast of Germany. I don't remember from the original e-mail where the term occurred geographically. HANS ROLLMANN (hans@man) From: Subject: Re: 3.183 e-texts needed (37) Date: Thu, 29 Jun 89 08:54:56 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 280 (368) lou: i think you can find gide and baudelaire in the artfl project: mark at gide.uchicago.edu if you have others answers. let me know. i am also interested in french text ronen From: Richard Goerwitz Subject: death rituals Date: Wed, 28 Jun 89 20:23:07 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 281 (369) Lately I've been interested in old Near Eastern rituals concerning the mourning of recently deceased relatives. Among the general stock of practices were 1) cutting the flesh, 2) shaving the head, 2) wear- ing sackcloth, 4) putting dust on the head, 5) sitting on the ground or on some other lowly place (dungheap, ash heap), 6) moaning and wailing, 7) foregoing personal adornments, 8) fasting. Does anyone know of parallels to any of these rituals in other cultures? I'm not so much thinking of moaning or wailing as of the more exotic rituals, such as cutting the flesh and shaving the head. I'd suggest sending replies to me, unless I'm unreachable. If any- one requests it, I'll be happy to relay information back again to this newsgroup. -Richard L. Goerwitz goer@sophist.uchicago.edu rutgers!oddjob!gide!sophist!goer From: Subject: bibliographies, databases, back issues Date: Wed, 28 Jun 89 21:39:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 282 (370) A brief request, probably not worth posting: my dean, hearing me mention my recent experience accessing the Eighteenth Century Short Title Catalogue from my own home, has asked me to report on what other databases &c. are similarly available. We're rather remote from research centres, and such tools are invaluable. The subject of the MLA biblio- graphies also came up, and I remembered the discussions of last week (which I did not save -- can I get them again from the archives?). [I answered this question about Humanist's archives. --W.M.] Are there listings anywhere of accessible on-line catalogues and other databases useful for isolated humanists? Thanks for any information you can forward. Kevin Berland From: Geoff Rockwell Subject: Biblio-Base Date: Fri, 30 Jun 89 15:37:54 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 194 (371) Can anyone tell me about a program from Brown called Biblio-Base? I take it that it works with HyperCard on a Mac. Is it available outside of Brown? Yours Geoffrey Rockwell rockwell@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca rockwell@utorgpu From: Subject: EDUCATION AND UNIVERSITIES Date: Fri, 30 Jun 89 10:17 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 195 (372) Education and Universities: Replies: 1. John Lavagnino (English and American Literature, Brandeis University) I am indebted to John Lavagnino for his corrections of my wording of the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. However, though he rejects the misapplication of Uncertainty by humanists, he endorses the implicit anti-intellectual attitude incorporated in the Copenhagen interpretation. I quote: "``Attempted'' is the key word here. It's never actually been done, and the Copenhagen interpretation is still the one physicists use. As with evolution, some people would like the theory to go away or say something different, but it's a big step from that to having another theory that works as well." The presumptions of the above statements are: what physicists use must be correct; and the Copenhagen interpretation is a scientific theory as opposed to a philosophical theory open to philosophical debate. These presumptions protect physicists who accept them from all criticism of the Copenhagen intepretation. They are given the licence to hide from open and intellectually honest criticism of what is turned from a philosophical interpretation of certain mathematical formalisms, and a set of physical problems or dilemmas, into a scientific theory. This slide from recognizing the Copenhagen interpretation to be a philosophical theory as opposed to a scientific theory, is due to an anti-intellectual theory of 'theory' and 'interpretation'. There are several criticisms by physicists and philosophers made against the Copenhagen interpretation: 1)that it is a poor interpretation that should be replaced by an indeterminist philosophy of physical reality; 2)that the formalisms of quantum mechanics are like Newtonian mechanics, tentative and should replaced by improved formalisms. None of the critics deny that it works; or, that is should not be "used". However, to imply that what works, and what is accepted by the majority, should be treated virtually as true, is to tacitly accept the hyper-rationalist, and anti-intellectual view of 'theory' and 'interpretation'. This philosophy when accepted among physicists, particularly given that physics is taken to represent one of the heights of intellectual achievement, gives credit to anti-intellectualism among humanists, and the general culture of intellectuals. The following comment from, Daniel Boyarin, nicely states this anti-intellectual approach to interpretation and theory: "The points about humanists jumping on a rickety bandwagon with Heisenberg seem very well taken, but I don't understand why the position that all interpretation is construction is glossed by you as anti-intellectualism. Most of the people working out such positions in literary, anthropological and historical theory seem to me very committed to the life of the mind." This presumes that there is only one theory of intepretation, namely "interpretation as construction", and that because most people in the humanities seem to accept this theory, then it must be correct, and must thereby define the "life of mind". The implicit attitude here is that the current standards of intellectual life must be correct, just because they are current. The current theories of humanists and physicists, that are widely held or held by the majority, must be correct because they are held by the majority. This attitude is based on a neo-Hegelian philosophy of hyper-rationalism. This neo-Hegelian philosophy, is hardly criticised, and hardly discussed in our culture of intellectuals because it is held tacitly as part of the required framework for intellectual work. This theory is: 'Standards of rationality, truth, intellectual honesty, and correctness of theory or interpretation vary with the history of a domain, and are instrinsic to all intellectual work within the domain. Whatever scientists and intellectuals, in the majority, accept at a certain point in the history of their various domains as the appropriate standards of rationality, truth, and intellectual honesty, must be.' Firstly, 'hyper-rationalism' is one among other possible interpretations of rationality, intellectual honesty, and truth. (Hyper-rationalism goes deeper and is much more dangerous than relativism, because, unlike relativism, hyper-rationalism is intellectually arrogant and intolerant as a modification of Hegelian absolutism--it states that the majority of intellectuals determine what counts as genuine knowledge; anything contrary to the majority should be dismissed as 'fringe', or 'gornish mit gornish'.) Secondly, to be intellectually honest about how we live the "life of mind", we require to discuss, as opposed to dismiss, criticisms and alternative theories of intellectual culture. The tacit presumption of both Lavagnino and Boyarin is that the fringe critics don't count, what counts is what the majority thinks. This cynicism is just the attitude that students pick up, and that could result in the self-destruction of universities and the genuine life of mind. Their comments, unfortunately, further document my thesis that intellectual culture is beset with a self-destructive theory of intellect, that is hardly observed, and when observed, taken as a fundamental fact of the universe as opposed to a fallible, philosophical hypothesis. I regret that I can't say more here about anti-intellectualism without presenting my paper on anti-intellectualism among intellectuals, which I would be glad to send out for comment or review for publication when contacted by e-mail. ----------------------------- Sheldon Richmond S_RICHMOND@UTOROISE.BITNET From: PROF NORM COOMBS Subject: electronic citations 5 lines Date: Thu, 29 Jun 89 15:08 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 196 (373) The recent posting to Humanist on citations seem to agree on identifying email as mail. However, I receive a couple electronic Journals via bitnet. Because my print journals arrive in the mail is not reason to identify them as mail. This would suggest that material received via email should not be all lumped together as mail either! Norman Coombs From: Willard McCarty Subject: report from the Times Literary Supplement Date: 2 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 197 (374) The TLS no. 4499, June 23-29, contains a longish extract from the valedictory address of Michael Howard, outgoing (to Yale) Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford. Its title is "Structure and Process in History". It addresses the question posed in the first sentence, "Why has the study of history been seen, throughout the evolution of Western society, as an intrinsic and essential part of the education of all civilized men and women?" I recommend it to your attention, particularly because Howard deals with "the belief that the past should be studied in its own right and on its own terms, without distorting its significance by forcing upon it a pattern of development which often [involves] ruthless selectivity in the treatment of evidence and complete insensitivity to values other than our own" (p. 688). This kind of distortion, which one contributor referred to as "historical provincialism", is related to the question of disinterestedness that we have been discussing in conjunction with the topic, education and the universities. Willard McCarty From: PACE@WSUVM1 Subject: MLA Style for Citing Humanist Date: Fri, 30 Jun 89 09:01:49 PLT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 198 (375) I must put in my two-bits worth on this issue. The main purpose, as I see it, of a bibliographic entry, is to provide the reader (whoever that may be) with the information necessary to find the resources used in the document for further study, or for checking the context of the referenced material. In normal MLA or Chicago style, I can take a bibliography and quickly find a magazine article, book or any published work cited because the necessary information (title, author, date, publisher) is included in the citation. However, that works with the old technology. The new technology requires a slightly difference approach. Although we may look at our discussion group as an informal, intellectual exchange, it actually represents a new form of publishing. University of Toronto is the de facto publisher, Willard is the editor. When a message is sent to HUMANIST and Willard resends it to the membership, it is no longer a private correspondence, but is a published document. If a message published on an electronic network is referenced in a paper, article or book, the means to check the reference must be included in the citation. Dr. Gibaldi's provisional recommendation just doesn't provide the information necessary to access the reference. KRAFT's suggestions make a lot more sense. Access to BITNET, at least in academic circles, is simple. Determining the correct address of a discussion group (publisher) is more difficult without specific information. I'm surprised that MLA has been so slow in responding to this need. The *New Papyrus* of electronically published material has been around for quite some time, now. The lack of response suggests that the medium is trivial. I resent that, both for personal reasons and on behalf of those involved in electronic communication. My experience over the last few years on electronic media shows me that the majority of communication on both private and public access networks is far from trivial. I think we are speeding to the point at which the amount of material published *on-line* will far exceed that published by traditional methods. That should put the issue of standard citation format for electronically published information on the high priority list. From: "Guy L. Pace" Subject: Text Searching Software for Mainframe (CMS) Date: Fri, 30 Jun 89 08:51:08 PLT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 199 (376) I need some suggestions from HUMANISTS for text searching or concordancing software for use on the IBM 3090 (CMS). Our administration is converting text files created on DisplayWrite to pure text. These files are the minutes from Board of Regents meetings for the last five years. They also want to convert hard paper files to electronic files. From this, they want to create a text base from which the university president or his staff can find specific references to topics or projects and when those were made. I thought that one of the concordance or text search applications developed for humanities research may prove useful in this project. Any thoughts? Any suggestions? Just post it here. Thanks for your help. From: "Patrick W. Conner" Subject: 3.193 online resources? Date: Mon, 3 Jul 89 14:36:32 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 200 (377) BRS (and probably Dialog and others, too) vends an online database called KNOWLEDGE INDEX, which is a database of online databases. Under each entry, you will find information about the source of the database, its cost, and where it is vended. The ability to search KNOWLEDGE INDEX using boolian operators makes it an excellent tool the best database for the job. BRS itself has an afterhours rate (NIGHTOWL, they call it) for individual scholars, which might put such tools within the range of your personal budget, if your institution doesn't already have access to them. From: John McDaid Subject: Ed & Univ Date: Mon, 3 Jul 89 03:24 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 283 (378) In 3.17, Sheldon Richmond writes: [deleted quotation] He goes on to explain his disssatisfaction with our popular notion of the Principle: [deleted quotation] What Richmond is leaving out, in this biased rendition, is the REASON this uncertainty is originally observed. That is, that the process of observation, on the quantum level, (Which, I would like to point out, could also be done by _women_...) always involves the exchange of at least one quantum of energy with the system being measured; that the process of measurement itself will always and forever disturb the system so measured, and hence, erect the momentum x position >= Planck's constant limit. Therefore, when he says, [deleted quotation] I must confess that unless we are using the word "interference" in different ways, I cannot make sense of this sentence. Even in its most "limited," quantum-level, bare-bones interpretation, the Indeterminacy Principle is inextricably bound up with the notion of measurement necessitating disturbance. As such, contra Richmond, this is indeed a "law" of physics, as we currently understand it, there being no magic way to penetrate the Noumenal system without bouncing some kind of quanta off it. On the question of the Einstein v. Quantum Mechanics debate, I urge Richmond to be more circumspect about the "long debate, beginning with Einstein." Quantum theories have a body of experimental support. In point of fact, the objection which Einstein (along with Podolsky and Rosen) proposed to quantum mechanics is what prompted Bohr to postulate indeterminacy as a "law of nature," in that the macroworld (us) could only make probabilistic assertions about the quantum. According to this interpretation, there is no "disturbance," rather, until the point of measurement, there is only a wave function. We have, finally, to give up our anthropocentric notion that reality on the quantum level must be just like the world we grew up in so we can understand it. In response to Einstein's "Der Herrgott Wurfelt Nicht," Stephen Hawkings has said, "Not only does God play at dice, but sometimes He throws them where you can't see them." I am most at a loss, I must confess, when to answer his question of why humanists jump on the "bandwagon" of quantum mechanics, Richmond finds that we are, at bottom, victims of a weak-minded subjectivist self deception. The logical extension of Indeterminacy is not a Panglossian "best of all possible worlds," but rather a tough-minded intellectual honesty which -- like Popper -- is constantly attempting refine its approximations. Teachers are not scientists, poking quanta of information into the heads of students. I would hope that by now, the model of the college classroom would be one of a holistic system in which the "students" and "professor" are cooperating in the enterprise of discovery. The spectre of meaninglessness which Richmond attributes to Humanists' "Self-congratulatory philosophies of physics" is a mere spectre. The true message of quantum mechanics is that we need fundamentally new ways of understanding the universe, ways which are unlike the ones learned from experience in the macroscopic world. The desire to deny quantum reality, is, at base, a desire to erect the human as the measure of reality, and to re- enshrine the accidents of evolution as fundamental truth. I think that this attitude, rather than an honest investigation into the implications of quantum mechanics and introspective pedagogical enactment, which can rightly be called anti-intellectualism. John G. McDaid mcdaid@nyuacf From: Tom Thomson Subject: Philosophy of Uncertainty (was Universities & Education) Date: Mon, 3 Jul 89 08:16:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 284 (379) When arguing about interpretations of some "law" of physics, it's best to get the law right first; so I can't let Sheldon Richmonds remarks go unchallenged. The uncertainty principle says nothing about the value of the product of the quantities he mentions; what it says is that the product of the margins of error within which we know these quantities has a lower bound. The "mathemetical" form proposed is wrong. One can deduce from that statement that if one measures one of the quantities very accurately, it becomes impossible to know much about the other. So this act of measurement has, empirically, an effect on our capacity to discover the other quantity. The principal appears not to be about the properties of an isolated system, but about how accurately those properties can be known. The formulation SR attributes to Bohr (correctly, I think) is very close to the remark above - it differs only in whether what is affected by observation is our ability to make further observations or to the thing being observed. From a verificationist point of view, there could be no difference - statements about the state of the system could only be verified by observation, and would have no meaning apart from that possibility of verification. Similarly, the "limited interpretation" attributed to Heisenberg is accurate, and bears no relation to the "mathematical" form proposed. The objection to quantum mechanics formulated by Einstein was, I believe, precisely opposite to that proposed by SR. The uncertainty does not lie in the underlying system - God does not play dice - but in our failure to measure or understand it correctly; maybe this failure is not inherent in nature either, but Einstein's point was that he didn't believe the uncertainty was. A good, and fairly recent, book is Boehm's The Infinite and the Applicative Order (I think that's the right title) which puts forward one of the many "hidden variable" philosophies to counter the excessively physical interpretation of the uncertainty principle that SR seems simeoultaneously to advocate and deprecate. Tom Thomson From: DEL2@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk Subject: Re: [3.195 Heisenberg and anti-intellectualism (109)] Date: Mon, 3 Jul 89 11:20:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 285 (380) I'm a bit behind with my e-mail but I cannot resist re-joining the fray on this one (as another ex-physicist). In my previous comment I was not thinking so much of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle as of Maxwell's Demon. But I am surprised that Sheldon Richmond sees this sort of approach as 'neo-Hegelian'. My own model would be that of Popper, who has written much that is to the point here, and who can hardly be accused of having much love for Hegel... The Copenhagen interpretation is, ultimately, counsel of despair. It says, in effect, we *cannot* interpret the conflicting sets of data; they are irreconcilable. But how can we *know* that? How indeed can we know objective truth? I don't believe we can -- hence my rejection of the possibility of objectivity. Douglas de Lacey. From: jdg@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU (Joel D. Goldfield) Subject: "Documenting e-mail authors' identities" Date: Mon, 3 Jul 89 10:24:59 -0400 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 202 (381) As we discussed in several messages on HUMANIST last year, would contri- butors please be so kind as to supply their real life identities? There have been several recent messages which supply only cryptic e-mail addresses. No need to fear blaspheme, we potential "citers" wish only to know with whom we're corresponding, and these names and addresses are not always in the Humanist address list. Thanks, Joel D. Goldfield Plymouth State College Dartmouth College From: Duane Harbin Subject: Re: 3.189 citing e-documents, cont. (160) Date: Mon, 03 Jul 89 09:57:33 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 203 (382) Regarding the use of the ISBN in identifying works in bibliographic citations: It is important to realize that ISBN's (International Standard Book Numbers) are assigned by publishers. They are used somewhat inconsistently, but generally speaking, publishers treat them as inventory numbers. Thus a publisher will keep the same ISBN for multiple printings (in some cases, multiple editions) regardless of corrections or changes in the text. Hardcover, paperback and special bindings of the same work have differing ISBN's. If a work changes publisher, it changes ISBN, regardless of content. The point to emphasize is that the numbers are intended more to identify pieces rather than works, and serve publishers and booksellers somewhat better than libraries and individuals. The other difficulty is that unless you have access to a database containing the information, bibliographic information is difficult if not impossible to retrieve using an ISBN. Thus although ISBN's might be a useful ADDITION to standard bibliographic citations, they are not a substitute for traditionally supplied information. From: Lou Burnard Subject: OCR and the Text Encoding Initiative Date: Mon, 3 Jul 89 12:39 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 204 (383) I have waited and watched in vain for someone else to jump on Terry Erdt's astounding comment about OCRs and the TEI of June 14th (3.121) but a fortnight has gone by (an eon on Humanist) so regretfully I rise to take the bait myself. Terry said (in case you've forgotten) that given the wonderful capabilities of the next generation of OCR devices - in particular their ability to link bit mapped images of an original with the OCR output derived from it - "the tedious and herculean efforts of the Text Encoding Initiative may be misplaced or misdirected". Now, I won't argue with the 'tedious' or even (modesty apart) the 'herculean', but the 'misdirected' is just plain wrong. Suppose an OCR system were capable of 100% accuracy in identifying the typeface and layout of a printed or written page. (Suppose everything they say about Optiram was true!). Suppose you got a machine readable text in which every change of font, every variation of point size, every detail of inter-letter and intra-word spacing were perfectly tagged. What use would it be if you couldn't tell the footnotes from the running titles EXCEPT in terms of their typography? Reading a text - and encoding the results of that reading - is not only a matter of identifying what it looks like. It's also an interpretative act. If the TEI doesn't deliver ways of making explicit those interpretations then it really will be misdirected, in much the same way as WYSWYG word-processors, by focussing attention on the medium at the expense of the message. Let me recommend, yet again, the CACM article on scholarly markup by Coombs et al. as a reminder of what we are trying to achieve, for those who have forgotten, or never knew. From: EVENS@UTORPHYS Subject: Public domain software Date: Sun, 2 Jul 89 23:58 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 205 (384) There have been some requests on the list for public domain software, especially to do with graphics printer drivers. I have info on how to access several large archives of public domain for IBM-PC's and compatibles. If anybody is interested they should send me mail directly and I will send them the info. If there is sufficient interest I will post the info, but only if there are many requests as it is a fairly long file (something in the 100's of lines) dan evens From: Robert Kirsner Subject: converting to and from Nota Bene Date: Tue, 4 Jul 89 13:51:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 286 (385) Dear Colleagues, I have recently experienced difficulty converting Nota Bene files to Microsoft Word and to Wordstar and to WordPerfect. Can anyone out there recommend a translation program which does the job without losing footnotes and formatting? If so, please send all information so that I can have it ordered. Thank you, Robert Kirsner From: Robert Kirsner Subject: Hungarian fonts for the MacIntosh??? Date: Tue, 4 Jul 89 13:49:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 287 (386) Dear members of the Humanist Group Mind: I have a colleague who has just begun to use a MacIntosh and Microsoft Word. She works on Hungarian, which uses special diacritics, such as long and short umlauts. Could anyone out there recommend a Hungarian font which she could use. She is a beginner, so it must be simple. Thank you, Robert Kirsner From: Donald Spaeth (0532) 33 3573 Subject: Date: Tue, 04 Jul 89 17:15:38 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 207 (387) Re: 3.137 laptops and noise It's all very well for Michael Sperberg-McQueen et al. to argue that noise is relative and that people will "get used" to listening to the tapping of computer keyboards in libraries. May I suggest (1) that libraries are meant to be quiet and that it is rude to be noisy in such an environment (the noise librarians themselves make is irrelevant to this argument), and (2) that if we really expect others to convert to the wonders of computers we must avoid making ourselves objectionable. We do not want the sins of a few rude typists to queer the pitch (if I may be allowed a quaint local colloquialism) for the rest of us. Personally, my hunting and pecking can be heard from far away! Donald Spaeth Arts Computing Development Officer University of Leeds email: Janet: d.a.spaeth at uk.ac.leeds.cms1 Earn/bitnet: d.a.spaeth at cms1.leeds.ac.uk From: "Eric Johnson DSU, Madison, SD 57042" Subject: Searches and Icon Date: Tue, 4 Jul 89 09:10:12 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 208 (388) Guy L. Pace asked if there were a concordance or text search application to find specific references to topics or projects and when those were made; the text files were created on DisplayWrite and converted to pure text and are on an IBM 3090 (CMS). I had two immediate thoughts: (1) Depending on the exact format of the texts, the use of a concordance or text search package will probably produce disappointing results, will require additional rekeying of the text, or both. (2) This is a perfect application for Icon for VM/CMS. Version 7.5 of Icon for VM/CMS should be available in the very near future. An Icon program could be written that would produce exactly what was wanted. From: DEL2@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk Subject: Re: [3.189 citing e-documents, cont. (160)] Date: Tue, 4 Jul 89 09:35:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 209 (389) Someone recently suggested that ISBNs should be used in place of publisher data. But am I not right in thinking that hardback and paperback versions, US and UK editions, may all have different ISBNs? Do reprints necessarily keep the same ISBN? Does anyone know of any literature on the significance of these esoteric numbers? Douglas de Lacey From: "Gentlemen, let's broaden our minds." Subject: PD software -- it's not just for IBM's anymore. Date: Tue, 4 Jul 89 01:46 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 288 (390) Those of you looking for good Public Domain and Shareware software for the Apple II series (GS included) could subscribe to the APPLE2-L list, on the LISTSERV at BROWNVM. For discussions and tips regarding the Apple II line, you could subscribe to Info-Apple. Anybody can send a mail message to INFO-APPLE-REQUEST@BRL.ARPA, asking to be added to the list. BITNET users could send a subscribe command to the LISTSERV at NDSUVM1, and subscribe to INFO-APP. Don't quote me on that, though; I'm not positive about the node. Either approach will have the same effect. Good luck, William Dickson DICKSON@HARTFORD.BITNET From: stephen clark Subject: PHILOS-L Date: Tue, 04 Jul 89 12:09:08 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 289 (391) My apologies: some people have been having difficulty getting through to LISTSERV here to subscribe to PHILOS-L. Others have obviously succeeded. Try sending to LISTSERV@LIVERPOOL.AC.UK (or UK.AC.LIVERPOOL) rather than LIVCMS. New users can get instructions re LISTSERV by sending INFO to any LISTSERV. Stephen From: Subject: query Date: Wed, 5 Jul 89 13:10:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 290 (392) Maria Edgeworth, in _Practical Education_ (1798), notes that Peter the Wild Boy's head, "as Mr. Wedgwood and many others had remarked, resembled that of Socrates" (I, 63). I know this is pretty obscure stuff, but maybe there are some HUMANISTs out there who could direct me to discussions of Peter the Wild Boy, or to a possible source for Wedgwood's comment (or some of the many others). Kevin Berland Penn State BCJ@PSUVM From: Subject: Date: X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 291 (393) DATE: Wednesday, July 5, 1989 - 14:38:46 MST FROM: John J. Hughes SUBJECT: Early Church Fathers Dear Humanists, Does anyone know of machine-reabable versions of the Early Greek and Latin Fathers? John Hughes From: Subject: Uncertainty and anti-intellectualism Date: Wed, 5 Jul 89 16:20 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 212 (394) REPLIES concerning Uncertainty: I thank the various recent commmentators (i.e. Tom Thomson) on my remarks about the verbal statement of Heisenberg's Uncertainty principle for their corrections and completions. I agree that we must be careful and complete in our verbalizations of Heisenberg's formalism; and my statement was neither. My over-all point is that intellectual honesty involves opening apparently uncontested practices and theories to critical examination. It seems that to mention that quantum mechanics, the Uncertainty Principle, and Bohr's Copenhagen Intepretation have been questioned and debated by philosophers of physics and philosophically minded physicists, has resulted in various ad hominem remarks that those who question quantum mechanics must be 'anthropocentric', and by implication, reactionary. 1. John G. McDaid mcdaid@nyuacf "The desire to deny quantum reality, is, at base, a desire to erect the human as the measure of reality, and to re-enshrine the accidents of evolution as fundamental truth. I think that this attitude, rather than an honest investigation into the implications of quantum mechanics and introspective pedagogical enactment, which can rightly be called anti-intellectualism." This statement presumes that quantum physics is the measure of "quantum reality", as opposed to being the best current theory of fundamental micro-particles. All that we humanists can do is to submissively state the implications of the current physics which is the positive measure of reality. This remark documents my point about current hyper-rationalism and its anti-intellectualism: 'What physicists of the day say about reality, must be true, or close to the truth, either because they have evidence for it, or because they are in a position to know. Whatever the current state of physics is, physics must be rational; so all that intellectuals can do, is to submit to the dictates of physicts.' Intellectuals have a responsibility to examine alternative viewpoints, not merely to document and elaborate what the current majority in physics, or in any other discipline, happen to hold as unquestionable. The teacher, whether we like it, or not is given a place of intellectual authority in our universities as a person who has come to her conclusions after much thought. When a teacher says that anyone who questions quantum mechanics is being 'anthropocentric', she is enshrining the current view of physics as a dogma. This person is doing no favour to physics and no favour to intellectual culture. However, it would be ant-intellectual to insist on rejecting quantum mechanics simply because it does not conform to a particular world-view. The intellectually honest attitude is to admit that quantum mechanics is a fallible, first stab in the dark into a very elusive domain of reality. Newtonian mechanics had much more evidence in its favour, and had been around much longer than quantum mechanics before Einstein had definitively refuted Newton's giant achievement. 2. There is some confusion, by those who defend quantum mechanics, about the nature of the criticisms of quantum mechanics. Einstein's arguments: 1. The EPR paradox reveals that either there is non-local action, or current physics is incomplete. 2. Even a realist interpretation of current quantum phenomena is unacceptable because it is incomplete in treating the fundamental laws of physics as probabilistic, or statistical. Bohm's argument: the variables of quantum mechanics, though they appear to be absolutes given the current state of quantum mechanics, could, like the variables of space and time which were once held to be absolutes, be found to be variables relative to specific frameworks. There may be a hidden layer of invariables, such as the relativistic laws for mass and energy, which will provide a deterministic explanation of quantum mechanics. Popper's argument: the Copenhagen Intepretation treats the laws of physics as subjective, and final. Rather, we should interpret quantum mechanics as hypotheses about the indeterministic nature of physical reality. In short, there are two layers of comments. Bohm's and Einstein's are more on the physical as opposed to philosophical layer--they prefer us to look for an alternative physical theory to explain the variables of quantum reality. Popper's comment is more methodological and metaphysical: treat quantum mechanics as a set of falsifiable hypotheses about an indeterministic layer of reality. I am not speaking for myself when reporting the objections to quantum mechanics. Rather, I report those objections, and the largely silent reaction of the majority, as a fact of intellectual culture that requires explanation. The problem raised by this fact is, why do so many in our intellectual culture endorse the Copenhagen Interpretation, and ignore not only the criticisms to it, but also treat it as an inevitable state of affairs as opposed to an interpretation open to argument? I propose the cultural historical hypothesis that Bohr's Interpretation is so widely accepted because it fits in with the general world view of anti-intellectualism and hyper-rationalism in the culture of intellectuals; and, moreover, Bohr's Interpretation not only fits in with this world view, but also gives it a seeming exclusivity and invevitability. Douglas de Lacey sums up in positive terms what I argue is a negative feature of our intellectual culture--its treatment of an interpretation (of one interpretation among others) of a set of problems, a set of inconsistencies, as the inevitable outcome of the rational minds of intellectuals: "The Copenhagen interpretation is, ultimately, counsel of despair. It says, in effect, we *cannot* interpret the conflicting sets of data; they are irreconcilable. But how can we *know* that? How indeed can we know objective truth? I don't believe we can -- hence my rejection of the possibility of objectivity." This anti-intellectual world view ( that the mind creates fictional worlds of its own making which are the only reality we can know; and all the products of mind, however apparently inconsistent and irrational, have a deeper layer of motivation and intellegibility) is responsible for a general malaise among intellectuals, and, in part, responsible for the general undervaluing, both economically and morally, of our educational institutions. The general malaise is that our intellects cannot expect to gain any hold on the real world; and that the products of our mind are chimerical, and have no real value beyond giving a few people tenure in universities. -------------------- Sheldon Richmond From: Geoff Rockwell Subject: Re: 2.306 converting to/from NB? Hungarian Mac? (44) Date: Wed, 5 Jul 89 09:53:11 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 292 (395) Re: Hungarian Mac Linguist's Software has a font called "SuperFRENCH GERMAN SPANISH" that is supposed to do Hungarian. SuperFrench costs 49.95 $ (US) and works with LaserFRENCH GERMAN SPANISH, which is a postscript font for postscript printers. LaserFrench costs 99.95 $ (US) and includes the bit-mapped fonts in SuperFRENCH. (Does your colleague have access to a laser printer?) They claim that the fonts included in the package, which resemble Geneva, New York and Times, cover all the European Roman languages. SuperFrench can be ordered by phone (206) 775-1130. Ecological Linguistics has a font called "European Times" that "covers all Roman alphabets of continental Europe." This is based on the Adobe Times font and should print correctly on any postscript device that has the Adobe Times postscript font on board. They also claim to have modified resources so that the font will sort correctly and macro sets that give you different key board layouts. European Times costs 45 $(US) and is available from: Ecological Linguistics P.O. Box 15156 Washington, D.C. 20003 USA I neither know Hungarian nor have these fonts. This note should not be taken as an endorsement of these products. Yours Geoffrey Rockwell rockwell@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca From: MLAOD@CUVMB.bitnet Subject: Directory of Databases Date: Wed, 5 Jul 89 12:07:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 293 (396) In answer to the question concerning a list of available databases, there are a number of such lists, one being the *Directory of Online Databases* (New York: Cuadra/Elsevier). ISSN: 0193-6840. This directory is pub- lished quarterly, and currently lists approximately 4,000 databases, only a few dozen of which are of any interest to most humanities scholars. The subject index to this publication is poor, (MLA Bibliography database is not listed in the Social Science/Humanities section, for example), and it does not list the scholarly text bases which have been mentioned at various times on Humanist. It is, however, an interesting volume to browse through, listing all databases offered by major online services (Dialog, BRS, Wilson etc.), and seems to do a good job of covering data- bases outside North America Daniel Uchitelle From: N.J.Morgan@vme.glasgow.ac.uk Subject: Re: 3.207 noisy laptops (32) Date: Wed, 5 Jul 89 09:10:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 294 (397) More nosiy laptops ! I think I started this particular hare running a few weeks ago. One substantial mail failure at Glasgow and an outing with a Summer School group to the Hebredies have contrived to make me miss much of the ensuing "debate" Has anyone collected the relevant postings, and would they be willing to let me have them. I would be grateful as I am interested in knowing what is done, and where. And as a comment to Spaeth - one of my original points was that many libraries and archives are already full of rude typists (not to mention the sniffers, sneezers, coughers etc.), so what a difference a polite portable ? Nicholas Morgan Department of Scottish History University of Glasgow From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.208 mainframe text searching (27) Date: Tue, 04 Jul 89 18:28:21 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 295 (398) I believe some of the feature you wanted in a search and concordance program might be available for DOS and MAC use in the TEX program by: Mark Zimmermann 9511 Gwyndale Drive Silver Spring, MD 20910 I am currently testing a copy and find it quite efficient. email to science@nems.arpa or compuserve [75066,2044] I think you will find Mark quite well informed and helpful. Michael S. Hart From: Laine Ruus Subject: response to 3.198 Date: Wed, 05 Jul 89 10:31:21 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 296 (399) In response to the suggestion in item 3.198 on the subject that there should be a citation format for electronically published materials - one was produced as early as 1979. The citation of the article in which it was outlined follows: Dodd, Sue. Bibliographic references for numeric social science data files: suggested guidelines. ASIS journal 30(2):77-82, 1979. The problem is not with the lack of a format - the problems are (a) to get authors, editors, and publishers to begin to routinely cite and require the citation of electronic publications, and, (b) the format above was developed for primary data files, the production of which is often no less labourious than writing and having published a traditional printed book. It can, however be adapted to serve any number of electronic 'formats' (by which I mean the electronic versions of monographs, serials, maps, correspondence, etc.) I do not dispute that the pearls of wisdom dropped in this electronic mailing list should be considered, for citation purposes, as some sort of publication - I do however dispute that the amount of thought and effort put into the polish and intellectual content equals that put into more traditional academic publications, such as monographs, periodical articles, full text files of Milton, etc. Thus I really do not think that electronic mailing lists require ISBNs, nor anything much more formal by way of identification than author, electronic mailing list identification, number, and date, as well of course as medium designator. If ISBNs are eventually applied to electronic publications, they will undoubtedly be applied to less trivial products, such as the individual texts listed in the OTA shortlist, or the TLG list, etc., but not to informal e-mail offerings. From: Willard McCarty Subject: informal and trivial Date: 5 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 297 (400) My colleague Laine Ruus writes, "If ISBNs are eventually applied to electronic publications, they will undoubtedly be applied to less trivial products, such as the individual texts listed in the OTA shortlist, or the TLG list, etc., but not to informal e-mail offerings." For what it's worth, I too think that ISBNs are a bit much for electronic forums such as Humanist, but I cannot let pass without comment the equation she makes between "informal" media of publication and things "trivial". It is natural enough for someone familiar with electronic chatter to despair at the ratio of intelligent thoughts to words. As I've said before, when I started Humanist I was driven by the desire to improve the overall usage of the electronic medium and to see if that ratio could be raised. (I hasten to add that I did not have a very wide experience with electronic discussions, so my ambitions were fueled by no comprehensive judgment.) Improvement was and is not merely a question of discipline (or, rather, self-discipline) but equally one of identity: what is electronic publication? how does it relate to other forms of "making public"? what are its inherent characteristics? Humanist's membership has shown that electronic mail and literate English are not incompatible. Humanists have done this by disciplining themselves to take some care with what they write. At the same time Humanist has evolved with the gradual discovery of what the medium is and what it is and is not good for. I would argue that although it may be used in a trivial way, there is nothing inherently trivial about it. Informality does seem inherent, however. In terms of formality, electronic seminars such as Humanist can, I think, be located somewhere between the written letter or essay and the spoken conversation or unprepared talk. Perhaps not less care but certainly less self-censorship or regulation goes into an electronic piece than into a written one, at least under such circumstances as ListServ provides. At the same time, we e-mailers are naturally more sparing with what we type into our computers that what we might speak into a telephone or at a convivial gathering. Apart from the exchange of raw information, things like Humanist seem to be particularly suited to free-ranging discussion, during which some truth emerges. A creative combination of watchfulness and relaxation allows for discovery that, I think, would not otherwise happen. We can and frequently do try out ideas in a way not possible elsewhere. Perhaps we like Humanist partly because such give-and-take of ideas is not something we can easily find among our face-to-face colleagues anymore, who are too busy being pressured and so cannot easily think slowly and generously about important matters the world has no time for. In any case, with e-mail "talking" one's way to understanding is possible. A certain amount of irrelevance, of plain BS will of course happen. That doesn't mean that the medium or its works is trivial, nor even that it is ultimately without form (in-formal), just that one keeps an open mind about the form that will emerge. The trick is to (a) have a mind, and (b) keep it open. Putting those two conditions together successfully isn't easy, but we seem to do it often enough to keep alive some faith in the possibility of thought. I say that it is as crucial to have a principle of irrelevance as it is to be able to recognize the relevant stuff when it walks by. Comments, please. Willard McCarty From: Willard McCarty Subject: change for Humanist's logbooks; Humanist on CD-ROM Date: 5 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 215 (401) As many of you will know, Humanist's monthly logbooks have been growing so large that fetching them has at times been difficult or simply impossible. Long delays have been caused by the network software's habit of shunting aside large files until the traffic in small ones is slight. Then, too, ListServ's limit on the maximum amount of data any one person can request within a 6-hour period has caused a bit of grief. We have, therefore, told the software to start making weekly logbooks. These are named HUMANIST LOGyymmx, where as before yy = last two digits of the year, mm = the number of the month, but x = the week, designated A, B, and so forth. This change will mean more typing when you cannot pinpoint the week in which some desired item was transmitted, but you will get the file(s) more quickly and without some other difficulties. Plans are afoot to put all of Humanist on a CD-ROM disk. Stay tuned for more information. Willard McCarty From: Ian Lancashire Subject: Dynamic Text Conference Statistics Date: Tue, 04 Jul 89 23:26:48 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 216 (402) I am very glad at last to be able to report on the Dynamic Text conference held in Toronto last month. There were 14 keynote speakers in seven plenary sessions, and 121 talks and 40 panelists in 44 parallel sessions, for a total of 175 separate presentations. There were 55 participants in the software and hardware fair demonstrating a large number of programs. Final registration was 427 people from 18 countries in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. 197 educational institutions and research centres and 32 international businesses were represented. We have been told by some that this was the largest conference ever in the field. Given that the two associations met for the first time together at Toronto, the size of the registration is not surprising. Here is a breakdown by country. NORTH AMERICA Canada 168 US 165 Sub-Total 333 EUROPE Belgium 5 Denmark 2 Federal Republic of Germany 12 France 6 Italy 10 The Netherlands 5 Norway 4 Spain 4 Sweden 3 Switzerland 1 United Kingdom 35 Sub-Total 87 REST OF WORLD Australia 2 Israel 1 Japan 2 People's Republic of China 1 Turkey 1 Sub-Total 7 TOTAL 427 The final list of registrants will shortly be made available on Humanist, and a paper copy will be mailed out to each registrant. Of all the speakers whose talks had been scheduled, only six speakers were prevented from attending, and four of these were replaced by the time of the session. We were especially sorry to lose Jostein Hauge (Bergen) and Bernard Quemada (Paris) to circumstances beyond their control. It was a special pleasure to have Donald Walker (Bellcore), Susan Hockey (Oxford), and Ted Nelson (Autodesk) agree to take part, at the last minute, in three plenary sessions. Oxford University Press will be publishing selected papers from the conference. Editors of the volume will be Susan Hockey, Nancy Ide, and myself. I would like to take this opportunity, finally, to thank everyone who participated in ALLC-ICCH89. We have had many compliments about the organization of the meetings and (this after polling the conference staff) no negative remarks at all. We look forward to seeing many of you at Siegen next June. From: EVENS@utorphys.bitnet Subject: public domain info Date: Thu, 6 Jul 89 19:31:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 217 (403) This is the info on getting public domain software from several places. It's somewhat chatty and assumes you don't know much about computers or getting files from servers. Simtel20: This is a public domain archive maintained by the U.S. Army. They have many gigabytes of public domain and shareware. Simtel20 archives are a combination of shareware and user donated public domain, plus some things typed in out of public domain things like Byte Magazine etc. They come with absolutely NO waranty, or promises of any kind. If you have ftp available (not unlikely if you have unix on the unix net) then you can download these files directly. You would use the ftp address 26.2.0.74 and be prepared to deal with network congestion in business hours in the U.S. Else you will have to use what are called trickle servers. Send your commands to one of the following two places if you are in North America. listserv@ndsuvm1 listserv@rpiecs These both accept /pdget and /pddir commands. You can send your messages interactively or as the body of mail messages. If in mail messages, you can put several commands in one message, one on each line, and the subject line of the message is ignored. You can also ask the listserv for syntax help, try send listserv@rpiecs help /pddir send listserv@ndsuvm1 help /pdget etc. In Europe there are trickle servers at the following nodes. TREARN (Turkey) IMIPOLI (Ialy) DBOFUB11 (Germany) DKTC11 (Denmark) AWIWUW11 (Austria) The servers in Europe use slightly different command syntax, so you should send for help files on the /pdget and /pddir commands if you are closest to one of these servers. I will assume here that you are using one of the U.S. servers, but you will get faster service if you use the one closest to you. Most simtel20 files contain binary data so you want them uuencoded so you will need a uudecode program. This may already exist on your unix so check that before you order it. Anyway you can get a uudecode source in basic, pascal or c. send listserv@rpiecs /pdget mail pd:uudecode.bas (asis The /pdget command tells the listserv to get the specified file from simtel20 and ship it to you. The mail option tells it how. You can tell it mail or punch. Big files should be sent by mail, as listserv will break them up into manegable chunks and mail them to you as part m of n. You will have to put them back together with your favourite text editor. Then comes the filename. Then comes the format you want the file sent to you in. You should usually choose (asis or (uue. Asis should be obvious. But don't try to get binary files this way as bitnet screws them up node-hopping. (uue means put it in uuencoded format. This is a format that will transmit properly on the net but is not readable. The uudecode gets you back the original file. To see what else is in simtel20 get the files from the same directory (all text ascii files.) simtel-archives.info (about 140k) pkarc.readme aaread.me Also try send listserv@ndsuvm1 /pddir pd: 9999 This is the directory command, and everything but the 9999 should be obvious. The 9999 specifies how many days old you want files listed. If you leave out the 9999 it defaults to 30 days. You can put in any number you like. The archive is continually being updated with new files being added and new versions displacing old. Wildcards (such as msdos.* for ALL subdirectories, or msdos.t* for all subdirs starting with 't') are allowed but NOTE: if you send for a directory of 9999 you are going to get a listing of the names of something like 3500 files. When you get a uuencoded file in several parts you have to put it back together using your editor, strip out the mail headers, don't leave blank lines, then run it through a uudecode program. Now after you uudecode these you will have a .arc file. These must be unarchived using one of the pkunpak programs, such as send listserv@ndsuvm1 /pdget mail pd:pk361.exe (uue These are really nifty programs. There are several versions in various places around the simtel20 and on several listserv archives. One thing to remember if you use a trickle server is that it may not process your request properly due to no fault of your own. There are at least two reasons for this. 1)If network congestion keeps the server from getting the file within three days, it will abandon the attempt. 2)If the file has been erased at simtel20 between the time you ordered it and the time the server tried to get it, it will abandon the attempt and give you some not very useful error message, basically the same as reason 1. If it does abandon your request, try the /pddir command again and see if the file is still there. There are two main chunks of files for IBM-PC's in simtel20. The first is pd: where the .* meand all the subdirectories. Most of the subdirectories have a 00-index.txt file which is an ascii listing of what is in that directory. pd: has about 3500 files in it so you should be prepared to accept that much data if you do a directory of the entire thing. Some of the interesting directories are msdos.starter for all the little tool progs you'll need and a bunch of help files msdos.graph these 3 for graphics, graphing, graphics msdos.graphics printers and such msdos.ega msdos.tex for a dos version of TeX and LaTeX and a nice screen previewer for TeX The other chunk is called pd: where nnn is 000 (that is zero zero zero not OH OH OH) through 572. There are over 9000 files in this chunk and you should think carefully before ordering a directory of the entire thing. Each volume has as the first file in it a file called -catalog.nnn where nnn is again 000 through 572, which contains a list of what is in the volume. Unfortuneately pc-blue is not organized too well, and there is a lot of duplication and it is hard to find your way around in all those files. Also there are pd: for cpm software, pd: for sig/m software and pd: with miscellaneous stuff. There is also a public domain archive on the listserv@dhdurz1. Try send listserv@dhdurz1 index send listserv@dhdurz1 get filename fileextension f=uue The f=uue is optional. It would send you a uuencode file. This is necessary if the file you want is binary data, or an executable or such, as these don't transmit properly over the net. They have a version of TeX, a bunch of fonts, a raft of latex style files, and a whole family of printer drivers, an OS/2 version of TeX, and a whole lot more. Note: This is not a trickle server for simtel20 so you use regular listserv commands, not /pddir and /pdget. Yet another archive is at listserv@blekul11. This one has a lot of 'C' source code, and unix stuff. If you have questions about this stuff send them to me and I'll update this file to make it more useful. dan evens From: David Megginson Subject: Observation and Quantum Physics Date: Thu, 06 Jul 89 07:08:53 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 298 (404) There is an interesting parallel to the Quantum observation problem on the non-quantum level. Consider a television set with rabbit's ears in a small room. What you see on the screen depends on how close you are standing to the television set, and you can never see what the picture is like by itself, because your presence in the room affects what you can see. This is a day-to-day problem for those of us without cable TV, because when we walk to the TV to turn the antenna, we also change the signal to the point that we cannot tune the set accurately. Please note: a) I am not a physicist; and b) I am not claiming an instance of quantum physics, only an analogy. From: Richard Jensen Subject: science Date: Wed, 5 Jul 89 19:39 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 299 (405) The debate about quantum mechanics is about the wrong science. In the 18th century, physics was the dominant science for humanists, (thanks to Newton) and again in the early/mid 20th century (thanks to Einstein, Heisenberg et al.) But the 19th century, dominated by reactions to Darwinism, seems more atuned to our current postmodern sensibilities. Evolution attracted the 19c mind because it seemed congruent with the teleological theme of progress. Granted that caused humanities & social sciences some trouble. Spencer and all that. But Spencer wasn't Darwin. Consider the advantage of evolutionary biology today (in the guise of the neo-Darwinian synthesis, as explained by Ernsy Mayr). It is non-telological. A species' adaptation to the world--finding the right niche--is a risky and uncertain venture. While biology can explain adaptation after the event, it cannot predict the future. That is, it's a technical matter to explain why the giraffe has a long neck. It's quite impossible to predict what giraffes will look like a million years hence. Uncertainty about the future arises from the options open to decision- makers, combined with the impact their choices will have on the environment and other creatures. This is much more akin to the humanities' insights than the problem of measuring velocity or location of a particle to plus-or-minus 10exp(-40). From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Patristic Texts Date: Thursday, 6 July 1989 1053-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 300 (406) In reply to John Hughes' inquiry about Greek and Latin patristic texts on computer, (1) Most of the Greek materials (through the 5th century) are on the TLG CD-ROM already, and virtually all of them will be in the completed TLG bank (I have prepared a chronological list of the Jewish and Christian texts on the TLG disk, for anyone who cares to have it); (2) Various Latin Christian materials have been encoded by various projects, some of which make the materials available, others of which do not. See the archive list prepared by Mike Neuman at Georgetown, for example, with reference to projects at Montreal, Louvain-le-Neuve (CETEDOC), Liege (LASLA), etc. Also be aware of the reactivated Rutgers Inventory of Machine Readable Texts being coordinated by Marianne Gaunt. I will be happy to try to provide further details, if needed, but thought a general HUMAINST announcement might be useful at this point. Bob Kraft (CCAT) From: David H. Hesla Subject: Peter the Wild Boy Date: Thu, 6 Jul 1989 11:43 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 301 (407) Peter the Wild Boy (d. 1785) was found living in the woods near Hanover. He wa s transported to England and made much of. J. Swift satirized the craze. For further information see the *Encyclopaedia Britannica*, 13th ed., v. 21, p. 295 . The EB cites Henry Wilson, *The Book of Wonderful Character (London 1869). David H. Hesla Emory University From: jonathan@eleazar.dartmouth.edu (Jonathan Altman) Subject: Re: 3.198 citing e-documents, cont. (50) Date: Thu, 6 Jul 89 08:15:45 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 220 (408) There are two issues in the e-mail citation issue that I wish to address. One has been well discussed, one mentioned only in passing but I feel the latter is important. 1. On using the electronic mail address of the originator of an electronic mail message. Somebody suggested using RFC 822 compliant e-mail paths. I concur that this is what should be used. The reason is that RFC 822 is a standard on electronic e-mail addresses. This standard is not likely to disappear, although it may be subsumed into a later standard. Those who write and maintain computer systems and network software will make sure that RFC 822 addresses work, much the same as the U.S. Postal service (or anybody else's postal service presumably) makes sure that zipcodes work, or the phone company makes sure that area codes, exchanges, and so forth work. We should decide instead how to simplify things. One contributor listed two address which Humanist arrive from: HUMANIST%UTORONTO.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (or some such) and HUMANIST@UTORONTO.BITNET Out of these two addresses, we can consider the top address to be like a street address, or routing address. It seems in most citations we do not need the street address, nor directions on how to get to a particular publisher's office, just the city. So, I suggest we standardize on using the latter (domain) address whenever possible. In the case of journals such as HUMANIST, this is easy, because the address is constant. The latter address uses domain format. Humanist SHOULD be reachable at that address from any computer which can send e-mail to BITNET. Mail programs that can't reach the latter address above are, to my knowledge, non-compliant mailers and therefore there is a problem with THAT mail program, not the address. This should be fixed by the computer people who maintain that computer, NOT by our citation style. Computer scientists have not finished standardizing yet, but e-mail sites are gradually becoming more accessible by addresses such as the latter above. 2. On journals such as Humanist. One thing that has been left ouf of the discussion so far is acknowledging the editors of e-journals such as Humanist. I watched over Willard's shoulder as he composed an issue of Humanist while at the Dynamic Text conference. Changes are occasionally made (such as including historical information about a message, or apologia, or announcement). Further, to be strict, Willard must also edit EVERY message that goes out on Humanist to remove the e-mail headers and assign issue numbers. So, he needs to be included as the editor of the journal, to recognize his influence on the final journal product (and no, this is not a plug for Willard, necessarily. This should be the case for ALL e-journals and their editors). Enough for now on this. Jonathan Altman jonathan@eleazar.Dartmouth.edu Database Consultant jonathan.altman@Dartmouth.edu Dartmouth Dante Project From: Subject: CD disk Date: Thu, 6 Jul 89 08:22 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 302 (409) Thank God I misread your message. I thought you were going to put all HUMANISTS on a CD-ROM. I wonder how many would fit, what with the new personality compression algorithm and N.V. Phillips company's new DSS (digital soul storage) device. Oh, wait... I have my time machine set for 1989, not 2089. Rats, where is that .... (Wade Schuette) From: JACKA@PENNDRLS Subject: On films transferred to Video Disc, what else? Date: Thursday, 6 July 1989 0949-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 303 (410) I received a private communication concerning available material on video disc that I would like to answer in public. The question concerned what material is now available on video disc in the US and Japan. Currently there are some 5000 titles available in the US. Most of these are English speaking movies, many of which are unsuitable for academic use unless you are studying Americana. For foreign movies, the Japanese division of Pioneer has been reproducing films of well-known European directors. There is a wealth of material from Japan in French, Italian and Swedish. Unfortunately, there are no Arabic films, but we are working on that with Janus films. Of course, there is a wealth of Japanese titles available in Japan. In the US, you should contact the Criteron Collection, a venture of Janus Films and Voyager Press. You can dial their 800 number for service: 800 446-2001. The current collection includes 70 titles of which half are foreign films. The collection will increase by another 30 titles by the end of the year. Most of the movies we use in German, French and Italian classes are on video disc. You just have to search for them. If anyone needs more details on this I would be happy to send you a description that includes sources for video disc material. JACK From: Steven J. DeRose Subject: Humanist biographies again Date: Sat, 08 Jul 89 12:47:27 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 222 (411) The Humanist biographies have reached a pretty good state of organization. There is a HyperCard stack which displays them nicely, with appropriate indexing, search, etc., and which can write them out either in SGML or as formatted text files. However, the later supplements still need to be added; this involves adding some tags to each biography, a task which several Humanists helped with earlier. I've been asked to complete the database quickly, so would appreciate any volunteers who could spend an hour or so to tag one file of biographies each. I have a file of tagging instructions, and it really is a pretty quick and straightforward task; it just gets large if one person has to do it all.... Any volunteers who can get to it quickly (say, within about a week) would be *extremely* appreciated (and, of course, will be appreciatively cited in the stack). Please contact me directly if you can help, and I'll send you a file to do. Many thanks, Steve DeRose From: Christian Koch Subject: Scanners and the law Date: Fri, 7 Jul 89 14:47 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 223 (412) I am looking for some clarification on the matter of text scanning (or, I suppose, the matter of possession of machine-readable texts) and the law. I realize this has been dealt with from time to time in various contexts on HUMANIST, but I don't feel that I have a clear picture at the moment. Here at Oberlin there are a number of us who would like the institution to buy a relatively high quality text scanner so we can place books, articles, and documents onto disk for computer manipulation in personal research as well as in class instruction. A request for approximately $17,000 for a Kurzweil 5100 scanner went to the powers that be, who have indicated in the past that they are receptive to the idea of the institution's acquiring such an instrument. The request was, however, turned down not necessarily because of the money, although it is a matter of concern, but because they say there is currently pending in the U.S. congress some legislation that will clarify the issue of copyright infringement as it relates to machine-readable texts. In the meantime, the administration argues, it is just too risky to make available a high quality scanner to faculty members. They are not too concerned about the individual scholar who might want to make a single copy of some text or the other in the course of personal research, but they are very concerned at the thought that some persons, like myself, might want to make ten or twenty machine-readable copies of a given text for use by students in a course. The administration insists that the matter is of such gravity that nothing can be done until the U.S. congress acts. I am wondering if the Oberlin adminstration's position in this matter sounds reasonable to those of you with expertise in this area? I really don't know what legislation they are talking about, how great a risk is involved, what might be done to protect ourselves prior to legislation, etc. I am also wondering if the Kurzweil 5100 at about $17,000 seems to be a good choice (I know there has been extensive commentary about scanners on HUMANIST -- I'm more or less looking for a yes or no on the 5100). The administration says that if the 5100 represents the cutting edge of technology they might prefer to pass since they "have been burned before on state-of-the-art machines" which have later proved to be a bad idea and therefore abandoned by the manufacturer. I did not personally investigate the type of scanner to recommend, so I don't know if the Kurzweil 5100 is cutting edge or tried and true in its technology. My unenlightened attitude is that if Kurzweil brings it out, it can't be that bad. The Oberlin administration says that in spite of their having turned down an initial request for a scanner they are open to new suggestions in the matter. They are, however, not clear on whose budget should really pay for it or where it should be made available to institutional persons -- the library, the computing center, secretarial services, graphics services, etc. They are also not clear whether each user should be charged by the page or whether the institution should make the machine available free of charge to, particularly, faculty. Since Oberlin is an institution of about 2700 students, there is not much chance that several high quality scanners will be purchased by individual departments. A good scanner will have to be shared. Perhaps some of you out there may have discovered the ideal campus logistics for scanners? Christian ("Chris") Koch Computer Science (emphasis: Computing in the Liberal Arts) Oberlin College Oberlin, Ohio BITNET: fkoch@oberlin From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.216 Dynamic Text conference statistics (84) Date: Thu, 06 Jul 89 19:19:18 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 304 (413) I would like to hear what attendees thought about the Dynamic Text Conf. If those who attended could tell us the nature of the presentations and topics discussed, perhaps those of us who were unable to attend could glean some part of what we might had gained if we were able to be there (and we could make a concerted effort to get to the next one). Thank you, Michael S. Hart (Please respond to Humanist, so all concerned may benefit) From: "Ouden Eimi " Subject: gorillas in the mist? Date: 6 July 1989 14:25:40 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 305 (414) Sorry -- bad movie but suggestive title. I am wondering if anyone here knows of studies in the history of technology that deal with the general question just raised in conjunction with electronic communications. What usually happens when a new technology enters the scene? How does it tend to disrupt the domains of other technologies, replacing or transforming some, redefining others? Or, to ask about communications in particular, is the electronic medium in fact turned out to be significantly like orality? (McLuhan, yes, I know, but to what extent has experience with electronic mail or things like Humanist changed our ideas? The "global village" is a sexy idea, but Humanist, for example, differs quite significantly from any village, even an artificial one made up only of computing humanists and their friends. (What a thought.....) Stir the pot. OE From: "Patrick W. Conner" Subject: Historian of Roman Rite wanted Date: Friday, 7 Jul 1989 04:34:39 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 306 (415) I won't bore all of HUMANIST with my problem, but I have a couple of questions about the relationship of the Fulda sacramentary of the tenth century to the developing Roman Missal in England with which I need some advice of the 'why don't you read so-and-so' sort. Any takers? - Pat Conner U47C2@WVUVM.BITNET From: Roy Rada Subject: thesauri Date: Fri, 07 Jul 89 19:08:09 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 307 (416) [Any replies to this query should go directly to the questioner.] I'm a professor of computer science and exploring collaborative authoring systems. Authors express their ideas in a semantic net whose edges point to blocks of text. To facilitate the labeling of edges we would like to require that each label be identified as a verb within Roget's thesaurus. The hierarchical structure within Roget's supports inferencing about the relationships among edges. We need an online thesaurus for this purpose. Can anyone help? (I'll be in the USA from July 8 through July 22 but will answer my email after July 22). Thank you, Roy Rada From: Merri Beth Lavagnino Subject: Trivialities Date: Fri, 07 Jul 89 13:31:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 225 (417) You asked for comments, and I have one. I'd like to point out that correspondence, while not usually formal, is an important source of information for scholars. I can think of several archival collections in libraries that consist of purely correspondence. While these usually focus on one or more important persons, what would we do today if no one had kept any of the letters they received from persons who were not especially important in their day? Or even from ones who WERE important? Some of you humanists, I am sure, will one day be considered important enough for future graduate students and scholars to study. Wouldn't it be wonderful for them to be able to locate information about you? Even better, to locate this "informal" communication, which may reveal more of your character and personality than a "published" work would? I can envision a library in the future cataloging a CD-ROM of early HUMANIST correspondence, feeling grateful that they were able to acquire such an early example of electronic mail. Then I can see the scholar poring over its contents, able to get a vision of intellectual life in 1989, how technology advanced, and how the 1989 scholar reacted. Perhaps a bit farfetched, but perhaps not. Merri Beth Lavagnino Yale University Libraries From: John McDaid Subject: Response to Richmond Date: Thu, 6 Jul 89 14:51 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 308 (418) In 3.212, Sheldon Richmond writes: [deleted quotation] With regard to ad hominem remarks, I would like to remind Professor Richmond that it was his initial posting which referred to quantum humanists as "anti-intellectual," "dogmatic," and "hyper-rational" (which hurts worse than being called anti-intellectual, let me tell you, Sheldon...) protecting their "self-congratulatory" quantum doctrinal adhesions because it gives them "a free ride" with "meaningless content," since people who think quantum mechanics is a reasonable approximation will construe the university as a "big joke." He then goes on to respond to me personally. The next paragraph is my summation, which he quotes, followed by his response. [deleted quotation] The statement makes no such move. The statement says that the desire to deny the indeterminacy of our knowledge of the universe is an attempt to crawl back into the womb of naive realism. [deleted quotation] This is the opposite of what the statement says. Anyone who reads Popper should see that his notion of the enterprise of physics is phenomenology writ large. (Or at least, the pragmatic American flavor characterized by C.I. Lewis) We are therefore _doing_ physics all the time, in the sense of creating falsifiable hypotheses about experience. What I am arguing _against_ is the characterization (which Richmond seems committed to) that entertaining indeterminist hypotheses rots the mind. [deleted quotation] I am not now, nor have I ever been, a hyper-rationalist. I _am_ a phenomenologist, and as such, I reject the twisted construal of my text as a passive acceptance of ultimate knowledge. The text, in fact, says the opposite: that there are things which cannot be known. I do not accept quantum mechanics as the "true state of reality," but rather, as a philosophically interesting and pragmatically fruitful perspective, from which follow certain implications. (The Copenhagen Interpretation does not, however, imply that the university is a joke.) [deleted quotation] What I actually said about anthropocentrism was, "We have, finally, to give up our anthropocentric notion that reality on the quantum level must be just like the world we grew up in so we can understand it." I think it does violence to this sentence to characterize it as enshrining _any_ view of physics--or any human perception--as dogma. Except, of course, for Popperian fallibilism, which is of course, infallible. :) In criticising Douglas de Lacey's response, Richmond says: [deleted quotation] I think that ultimately, it's kind of sad to think that we humanists have such a low resistance to general malaise; that admitting our perceptions are mediated and hence fallible leads us so inevitably to a total destruction of value. As Lucy once said in a Peanuts cartoon, "I was outside skipping rope, and suddenly it all seemed so pointless..." While I agree that postmodern uncertainty requires an intellectual rigor that wasn't required When We Knew The World, it seems facile to couple this challenge to our alleged quantum hopelessness. If to shake off this creeping malaise, if to be an intellectual, I must believe that the mind does not create fictional worlds, then I would rather not be thought of as an intellectual. So be it. But that does not mean that I take the products of our minds to be "chimerical," but rather that the central task of consciousness, hence, the central task of mind as enactment of cosmic evolution, (to paraphrase Paul Levinson) is the search for meaning-making patterns. This does not make my limited "knowing" valueless, rather, it gives it an honest urgency in the face of a bewildering, challenging universe. If believing that human thought and its Sisyphean self-evolution are the most important thing is anti-intellectual, then heck, I guess that's what I am. -John G. McDaid mcdaid@nyuacf From: DEL2@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk Subject: Re: [3.218 uncertainty, science, the humanities (63)] Date: Fri, 7 Jul 89 09:52:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 309 (419) David Megginson's comment about the impossiblility of accurate tuning of a TV reminded me forcefully of a splendid book replete with comparable and evocative analogies, for those interested in this discussion. It is Douglas Hofstadter, *Goedel, Escher, Bach; an Eternal Golden Braid*, published (I think) by Harvester in UK and I don't know who in US. I would be interested to know what other HUMANISTs think of it. And does anyone know how to transmit an umlaut over e-mail? Douglas de Lacey. From: "Kenneth B. Steele" Subject: Noisy Keyboards & Libraries Date: Thu, 06 Jul 89 23:55:04 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 227 (420) Those of us accustomed to composing at the typewriter keyboard have quickly embraced the computer as a boon for research, note-taking, and writing. Unless libraries wish their users to borrow all the works they find of use in order to take notes in the privacy of their own homes (something neither feasible nor desirable, I should think), some form of compromise must be found to keep reading and typing together in the libraries. (And I don't believe it should be necessary to relegate computer users to "typing carrels" to avoid disturbing others, either -- typewriters combined keyboard and printer, after all, and no-one is suggesting hard copy or sheet feeders in the reading room.) My first point is not likely to win many advocates, but I have been led to understand, by speed-reading experts, that a manageable level of background noise actually IMPROVES reading comprehension, because it drives the mind from aural to visual reading. We are indeed oblivious to a considerable amount of background noise already, and I agree with those who claim that it would be possible to get used to keyboards in the library -- but then I am also one who has become accustomed to living near one of the noisiest street corners in Canada. My second point, however, is that no-one should HAVE to get used to keyboard noise. Computer users have demonstrated a phenomenal lust for clattering keys -- perhaps so that they can HEAR how hard they're working. Keyboard manufacturers have expended enormous energy attempting to duplicate the "IBM tactile feel" [sic], because people covet keyboard percussion even more than 256 colours as an indicator of computing power. I myself can't preach too much on this point, because it was not so long ago that I bought a second keyboard for my PCjr (which has long since been put out to pasture), just because the original "chicklet" keyboard was spongy and, above all, SILENT. It is important to observe, however, that this spongy, silent keyboard WORKED -- and it was not particularly awkward or error-prone, once familiar. Surely there MUST be a laptop computer out there which has a similar keyboard construction. As for the incessant beeping of spell-checkers -- no self-respecting humanist would want to be seen using one of those in public, anyway, now would s/he? Ken Steele (KSTEELE@utorepas) From: Jim McSwain Subject: Date: THU 06 JUL 1989 15:19:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 228 (421) re: THE CLASSICAL BULLETIN Please note THE CLASSICAL BULLETIN, vol. 65 (nos. 1&2 1989), is devoted to "Computers and the Study of Greek & Latin Classics." Among the useful and interesting articles in this issue is "Greek- English Word Processing" by Michael J. Harstad which examines in detail software such as 'ChiWriter' and 'DuangJan.' Also worth- while is "Telecommunications and the Classics" by Jeffrey L. Buller. In addition to a glossary of technical terms and what off-line databases offer, it contains vendor addresses, public access and commercial services (CompuServe, etc.), as well as information on databases with access costs, phone numbers and so forth. Footnotes and bibliographies provide the curious further channels and sources of information. And of course for HUMANIST participants the articles illuminate the way in which classics scholars are making the transition to working with machine-based information. From: "Matthew Gilmore, Special Collections GW" Subject: CACM/Communications of the ACM Date: Sun, 09 Jul 89 23:50:07 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 310 (422) The latest CACM // July 1989 // is on interactive technology and would probably be of interest to many HUMANISTS out there. Matthew Gilmore From: CAMERON@EXETER.AC.UK Subject: CALL for papers Date: Mon, 10 Jul 89 18:09:54 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 311 (423) Notice and call for contributions CALL COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING An International Journal Editorial Board General Editor: Keith Cameron (Exeter) Associate Editors: Jeremy Fox (East Anglia) Henry Hamburger (George Mason, Virginia) Masoud Yazdani (Exeter) Advisory Board: Stephano Cerri (Milan) Brian Farrington (Aberdeen) Ralph Ginsberg (Pennsylvania) Rex Last (Dundee) Dana Paramskas (Guelph) Camilla Schwind (Marseille) Dieter Wolff (Duesseldorf) Over the last few years interest has been growing in Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL). The role of the computer in the classroom is being investigated both from the pedagogical aspect and from the programmer's point of view. The `big dream' for some is the creation of an `Intelligent' Tutoring System (ITS), one that would incorporate the techniques of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and that would be flexible enough for the teacher of Modern Languages to use without a specialist knowledge of computing. Until an Artificial Intelligent machine has been perfected, however, there is a need to explore other techniques as well and to test them in learning situations. It has become apparent from conferences we have organised at Exeter, and elsewhere, and from correspondence with colleagues at home and overseas, that it is essential that there be an easily accessible means of information distribution about current research and its findings. To facilitate an interchange of ideas and knowledge, we have decided to create a new periodical which will be devoted to all aspects of CALL : e.g. Pedagogical principles and their application to CALL Observations on, and evaluation of, commercial and proto- type software Intelligent Tutoring Systems Use of CALL with other forms of Educational Technology, in particular conventional, interactive, and Audio-Visual devices. Application of AI to language teaching A Forum where information relative to CALL users can be exchanged. While the primary focus of the journal is CALL, it is also intended to keep readers fully informed of developments in other language technologies. In particular, papers dealing with computer assisted translation, computer assisted compostion, with multi-lingual systems, etc., will be welcome. Articles should be sent in hardcopy and either on disk or via e/mail (preferably the latter) to the Editor. Details of forthcoming conferences or points to be raised in the Forum section should also be sent as soon as possible to : Dr Keith Cameron (General Editor), Computer Assisted Language Learning, Queen's Building, The University, EXETER, EX4 4QH, (UK) or by e/mail to : . The first number of the journal will appear in February, 1990. For subscription information and a specimen copy of CALL, please contact: Intellect Books, Suite 2, 108/110 London Road, Oxford, OX3 9AW. From: Willard McCarty Subject: notice of an interesting book Date: 10 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 312 (424) Just this evening I found in the new OUP "General Books Autumn 1989" catalogue the following: Roger Penrose, _The Emperor's New Mind: On computers, minds, and the laws of physics_ (Oxford, 1989). As some of you will doubtless know, Penrose (Mathematics, Oxford) is a colleague of Stephen Hawking and has shared with him the Wolf Prize (1988) for work on the nature of the cosmos, and the Dirac Prize (1989). According to the blurb, this "frequently contentious book" introduces the informed layman "to the concepts of classical and quantum mechanics, the principles of computability, fractals, Turing machines, cosmology, artificial intelligence, and brain function". Its aim is to "explain why the current laws of physics, considered by many to be of fundamental importance and more or less immutable, must be re-evaluated in the light of their application to the nature of consciousness and intelligence". I for one am very interested to know what's behind the allusion to the famous story about the emperor's new clothes. Reports on this book welcome. Willard McCarty From: Don D Roberts (Philosophy) Subject: Date: Sun, 9 Jul 89 00:41:25 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 313 (425) Douglas de Lacey asks about GODEL, ESCHER, BACH. I think it is a wonderful book (much better than THE MIND'S I (done with Dennett) and METAMAGICAL THEMAS, in my estimation). I have used it 5 times or so in seminars, and it has attracted bright students at UW which made teaching enjoyable for me. I am aware that some people found Hofstadter's punning and fooling around excessive, but for some reason it doesn't bother me, in part, I suppose, because the book provides such an unusual variety of excellent things--on the logic side, for instance, the introductions to formal systems and to recursive functions, and the treatment of Godel's incompleteness proof. The dialogues are delightful. My students enjoyed the "games" contained in the book, even the relatively hidden ones (for instance, look up "ATTACCA" and "Hofstadter" in the index (add a reference to page 702 for the latter)). From: DEL2@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk Subject: Goedel et al Date: Mon, 10 Jul 89 01:44 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 314 (426) [deleted quotation]Thank you for reminding me, it is long overdue that I reread this book. I have enjoyed every attempt at it (about 4 or 5 now I think) but never actualy finished it as I have always tried to do all the "exercises" and it was taking weeks to the chapter. Symbolic logic is not exactly my forte. [deleted quotation]If you were using TeX it would be G\"oedel. If you were using LaTeX then to get Goedel right it would be G\"{o}edel. My problem with G\"{o}edel is how to pronounce it. From: Peter D. Junger Subject: More on the interpretations of quantum mechanics Date: Mon, 10 Jul 89 19:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 315 (427) The discussion of the Copenhagen 'interpretation' of the 'formalism' of quantum mechanics--or is it the 'formalism' of the uncertainty principle?-- and the somehow consequent charges of anti-intellectualism have me very confused. Perhaps my confusion supports the position that humanists should not talk--or read--about quantum mechanics, but I would still like to know where I have gone wrong. In the first place, as I understand it, the so-called Copenhagen interpretation is an interpretation of quantum mechanics (or quantum dynamics) as a model of physical 'reality'; it is no more an interpretation of a formalism than Newtonian mechanics is an interpretation of the formalism "F = MA" (and a bunch of other formalisms dressed up as differential equations). Newtonian mechanics is about--is an interpretation of the observed behavior of--apples and moons and billiard balls and things like that. Not as a matter of physics, but as a matter of cultural history, Newtonian physics represented a triumph for those--who did not include Newton, who was into alchemy and things like that--who believed that the rational mind could 'see'--i.e., anschauen or intuit--the ultimate reality of the world by abstracting from the world all thought of, or reference to, anything subjective, anything merely human. The triumph of this view was, of course, a defeat for anyone who was interested in human thought, culture, or desires. Erstwhile humanists tried to turn themselves into scientists and excluded everything subjective from their ontologies, lisped in numbers, and brought forth monsters, as neo-classical economics did with its rational--but uninterpreted-- formalisms who go about maximizing transitory desires by slithering along indifference curves. Those humanists who remained true to their cause were told that their interests were positively meaningless, and meaningless at least in part because the poor humanists could not abstract their subjectivity from the part of the world that they were attempting to describe. With this history, it is understandable that humanists tended to snigger when they heard rumors out of Copenhagen that the physicists were discovering that their own observations were changing the outcome of their experiments. But, as I understand it, the problem with quantum mechanics is much more serious than that. It was not just that physicists found that they were trying to do the equivalent of plotting both the position and velocity of an invisible baseball by throwing invisible pingpong balls at the baseball and observing how the pingpong balls bounced. The physicists' difficulty was that they could only predict the probability of where the baseball, or one of the pingpong balls, would turn up and--and this is the rough part--that that probability distribution described the behavior of a wave, not of a ball or some other type of particle. I can't recall the details of the double slit experiments, but it was quite clear--and had been clear to Newton--that light behaves like some sort of wave rather than like a particle. But when something actually interacts with light, then the light equally clearly appears to be made up of photons, i.e., particles. Equations (formalisms) were written which could predict what one would observe in any given experiment involving photons or other subatomic particles, but the physicists could not come up with any noncontradictory interpretation of what light (or anything else that exists in the subatomic world) was. The variables in some of those equations could only be interpreted as particles, while the variables in other equations could only be interpreted as waves. But the two sets of equations described the same reality, and, I believe, that it was discovered that they could be rewritten so that they could not be interpreted at all. But whatever form the equations took, they worked fine, in the sense that they precisely predicted the probability that during an experiment an observer would observe a particle at a given time and place, provided always that that time and place were both large enough to admit of an observation. As I understand it, the Copenhagen interpretation can be stated in two complementary ways: i) there is just the observations and there is no underlying reality other than those observations and the uninterpreted equations predicting what will be observed or ii) for one type of experiment the underlying reality can be considered to be waves while for a complementary experiment the underlying reality can only be considered to be particles. So one can take one's choice: no reality or multiple inconsistent (but complementary) realities. With this interpretation the whole idea of some sort of Platonic reality, idealistic or materialistic, was cast aside. One ended up with true statements that did not refer to anything or with 'things' about which one could not make a noncontradictory statement. This interpretation is not, however, part of quantum mechanics. There are other interpretations that one can choose. One of them is to posit hidden variables, some reality at a level deeper than the wave/particles. The only trouble with this interpretation is that there is experimental evidence, so I understand, that any such hidden variables would have to be so well hidden that no experiment in quantum mechanics could reveal them. Another possibility--one that makes me most uncomfortable--is that everything that could happen with some probability does in fact happen, each in a different universe. No one has suggested anyway of testing this interpretation either. And then there are those who argue that it is only an observation by a human being that can actually bring a quantum particle into existence and postulate the strong anthropic principle that we are here because the universe is--against all probability--the perfect place for critters like us and that the universe exists as it does--in esse, not just in posse--only because we are here to observe it; another untestable interpretation. Physicists working with quantum mechanics do not need to worry about these interpretations. A computer chip can be designed in accordance with the principles of quantum mechanics and it will work, no matter how the designer interprets--or fails to interpret--the underlying quantum mechanisms (if there are any underlying quantum mechanisms). Something may someday replace quantum mechanics that is not confronted with these problems, but that something will not be quantum mechanics. It will supply answers to different questions, and the problems of interpreting quantum mechanics will be forgotten, along with quantum mechanics. Perhaps this new and as yet undreamed of theory will admit more easily of interpretation and allow the physicists to delude themselves once again that they have been able to view reality in the raw. I would not, however, hold my breath awaiting that day on which old Plato will be, for a while, vindicated. It seems to me that the importance of all this--to the extent that I have not gotten it all muddled up--to humanists, is that our last best hope of actually seeing reality, nature, what-have-you, as-it-is has blown up like bubble gum in the physicists' faces. Some may find it nervous making, but I should think that most humanists would be delighted that our advance guard has returned from Plato's cave and reported that the shadows are there, all right, but that there is nothing projecting them. It may not be true that things are what they seem, but it seems to be true that there is nothing else that they can be. Am I an anti-intellectual for hoping--and assuming--that reality is dead? The world has not been changed after all by the development of quantum mechanics. There is still plenty to think about; especially if one is not a physicist. I await the correction of my misconceptions. Peter D. Junger--CWRU Law School--Cleveland, OH--bitnet: JUNGER@CWRU From: Oxford Text Archive Subject: A note on copyright Date: Mon, 10 Jul 89 17:07 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 231 (428) This is a brief statement of my current understanding of British copyright law, or rather those parts of it which relate to the Text Archive's concerns. It has been obtained at considerable expense, both financial and intellectual, with the help of the University's solicitor and Judith Proud's dogged research, but I accept full responsibility for what follows (i.e. it may be wrong). There is no such thing as copyright (singular). The law provides for a number of rights (plural) with respect to a published literary work. These are:- 1. The author's right in the content of the text. This applies to any literary or artistic work and it lasts for 50 years after the author's death. 2. In the case of a published work, the publisher's right in the typographic arrangement, presentation, look and feel (if you will) of any work. This applies for 25 years, and is renewable every time the publisher produces a new edition. 3. In the case of an electronic work, where significant intellectual effort has gone into the process of tagging or otherwise transforming or editing the text, the creator of that electronic form may have rights in that. 4. There is also in French law a concept of `moral right' additional to (1): this is the author's right not to have inferior adaptations of a work passed off as authentic. It has not yet entered English law, but may do so. For any text any combination of the above rights may exist and therefore be infringed by the act of copying. `Copying' includes:- transcribing all the words of a text or substantial portions of it (infringes 1); transcribing instructions sufficient to mimic the appearance and content of a published text, transmitting by FAX etc. (infringes 2); making unlicensed electronic copies (infringes 3). You can mix and match infringements ad lib. Further to complicate affairs, any of these rights can of course be passed on to others, licensed for particular purposes etc. etc. And of course there will be copyrights in some parts of texts, (notes appendixes, illustrations etc) independent of other parts. Previously unpublished texts are treated rather strangely in British law. When a text (e.g. a mediaeval manuscript) which would otherwise be in the public domain is published for the first time, then its first publishers have rights in it for 50 years from the date of first publication. This right is abolished in the 1989 Copyright Act, but with the proviso that all works currently so protected are given a last 50 years (from 1989) to run. With reference to scanning texts, it's my understanding that the simple process of making a text machine-readable confers no rights at all on the owner of the resulting electronic text, any more than making a xerox copy or a manual transcript would. To own electronic rights in something you have to have created something analagous to an original work. So, my answer to "Chris" Koch is to say that yes, alas, your administrators are quite correct. You may not make electronic versions of work not in the public domain without permission from the authors (or whoever owns their rights). And such electronic texts as you make from public domain texts will themselves be in the public domain unless you put a lot of work into them. As this posting is already rather long, I'll defer discussion of how the Text Archive intends to continue functioning now that we finally understand the law until another time... Lou Burnard, Oxford Text Archive From: stephen clark Subject: Wild Boys etc Date: Mon, 10 Jul 89 10:03:09 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 316 (429) See Lucien Malson Les Enfants Sauvages, and Memoire et rapport sur Victoire de l'Aveyron (Paris 1964) Also Jean-Claude Armen, Gazelle Boy (Bodley Head: London 1974) - evocative but could do with more convincing evidence. See also (debunkingly) C.Levi-Strauss, Elementary Structures of Kinship chapter I: "it seems clear that most of these children were congenital defectives, and that their imbecility was the cause of their initial abandonment and not, as might sometimes be insisted, the result" - it isn't clear to me (but then neither is the opposite). Stephen From: grgo@uhura.cc.rochester.edu (Greg Goode) Subject: Re: Re: [3.218 uncertainty] and umlauts Date: Mon, 10 Jul 89 15:06:21 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 317 (430) [deleted quotation] Two ways, at least. You can type the letter followed by a " symbol, as follows: a" as in Universita"t o" as in Ko"ln u" as in fru"h A" as in A"mte U" as in U"ber Or, if it's German, you can follow the umlauted vowel by an e. --Greg Goode From: Donald J. Mabry Subject: Re: 3.227 noisy keyboards (laptops) (56) Date: Sat, 8 Jul 89 17:38:47 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 318 (431) In re KSTEELE@UTOREPAS's comments (and those of others) regarding beeps of spell-checkers, my versions of WordPerfect allow me to turn off the beeps. Perhaps this is true with other word processing programs. From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.227 noisy keyboards (laptops) (56) Date: Sat, 08 Jul 89 22:10:31 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 319 (432) For those of us who actually know how to type and learned before the advent of computer keyboards, especially those of us referred to by others as "touch typists," the physical and audible feel of the keys hitting home is the fastest and surest indicator we have that a key has actually been struck home. I, myself, have never been able to stand either quiet or spongy keyboards, since I usually type at between 50 and 100 words per minute and I don't look at the screen to get my feedback. In fact (and contrary to the previous argument - that no self-respecting Humanist would be seen in public using a spelling program) my typing has actually improved in speed because I no longer go back to correct typos, but leave that for the spell checkers. I realize that real typists are a true rarity amongst computer users, or this point would have been made far earlier. I particularly like the genuine IBM keyboards, and hit the keys quite firmly to hear and feel what is going on. From: Steven J. DeRose Subject: Computers in libraries Date: Mon, 10 Jul 89 09:39:51 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 320 (433) How about wiring an earphone plug into your laptop, so the keyboard noise (at least on some models, generated electronically) can go to a pair of Walkman(tm?) earphones? That way the user can have clicks, while the surroundings can remain in blissful quietude. The modification no doubt would void the warranty, but most machines are out of warranty anyway. All of 2 wires would likely need changing, and the typical earphone plug is built to automatically disconnect the main speaker when and only when an earphone is in fact plugged in. SJD, momentarily overcome by technoid-mode.... From: David Megginson Subject: E-Mail Address Date: Mon, 10 Jul 89 11:40:33 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 233 (434) Wanted: an e-mail address for Robert Birchfield. Please reply to meggin@vm.epas.utoronto.ca OR meggin@utorepas. Thanks. From: Axel Wupper Subject: Quoting e-journals Date: Fri, 07 Jul 89 11:09:54 MEZ X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 234 (435) The ISBN is not usable for quoting, but what about the ISSN (International Standard Serial Number). The ISSN together with the keytitle should allow easy and accurate desciption of a journal. Everybody who publishes (or want to publish) something like a journal can get a ISSN. Example for "electronic ISSN" is JBH-Online. Regards Axel Wupper Department of Historical Geography - University of Bonn Konviktstr. 11 - D-5300 Bonn 1 (Fed. Rep. of Germany) Bitnet: UPG202@DBNRHRZ1 Noisenet: +49 (2 28) 73 36 90 All opinions expressed here are my own, not neccesarily those of Bonn University From: Rudolf WYTEK Subject: Re: 3.223 scanning and the law (78) Date: Sun, 9 Jul 89 08:11:55 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 235 (436) My reply is not about sanning and the law but about scanning and the humanists. At University of Vienna we had until now three tentative tests of scanners (also Kurzuweil) and our humanists came until now always to the conclusion to wait some (5 or so) years longer, since the bad printing quality of the interesting older originals surpasses the possibilities of the scanners currently on market. Our Indogermanists, Tibetologists, Egyptologists, Numismatologists, 'Paper mill water sign'ologists, clinical psychologists and last but not least our historians are very eager to use these possibilities, but until now we see no practical chance for the unspecialized humanist to use it effectively. In my opinion until now it will bring mostly a transfer of workload and not a real bettering of the common situation. But maybe we Austrians are again some years behind you in the USA. Nice greetings from Vienna, RWY. From: Gisele Sapiro Subject: Query about basic color terms Date: Tue, 11 Jul 89 14:05:24 IST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 321 (437) [Please send replies directly to the questioner. --W.M.] I am interested to obtain up to date information of any kind, and especially bibliographical references (articles, abstracts...) about basic color terms. I am working on the experiments done in the seventies in cognitive and developmental psychology and cognitive anthropology, including Berlin & Kay, Elinor Heider Rosh, etc., and I would like to know if there are some new issues (in the eighties) about both color perception and semantic universals in color vocabulary. I am mostly interested in finding material against the universalism claim in this domain. I wonder if *Nature* and/or *Science*, for instance, have recently published anything valuable in this domain. Thank you very much for your help. Gisele Sapiro Porter Institute for Poetics and Semiotics Tel Aviv University PORTER2@TAUNIVM.BITNET From: Malcolm Brown Subject: Chinese word processing for the Mac Date: Tue, 11 Jul 89 13:12:57 -0800 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 322 (438) Does anyone know of word processing programs for the Mac that support Chinese? Please send directly to me and I'll summarize the responses back to Humanist. many thanks Malcolm Brown, Stanford Internet: mbb@jessica.stanford.edu bitnet: gx.mbb@stanford.bitnet From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: ListServ Additions Date: Monday, 10 July 1989 2355-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 323 (439) Appended is the Author List from TLG-C CD-ROM sorted by date as described in an earlier notice. It is based on the materials supplied by William Johnson on behalf of IBYCUS Systems. In a separate file I will send the same list with the dates removed, for easy import to the IBYCUS list function. Bob Kraft (CCAT) -------------------- [A complete version of this list is now available on the file-server, s.v. TLGCDROM AUTHORS. A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Offline 17 now on the file-server Date: Tuesday, 11 July 1989 0001-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 324 (440) <> by Robert A. Kraft [containing a listing of the contents of the PHI/CCAT CD-ROM with a brief discussion, a complete version of which is now available on the file-server, s.v. OFFLINE 17. A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: Michael Sperberg-McQueen 312 996-2477 -2981 Subject: TEI Report from Toronto Date: Tue, 11 Jul 89 12:29:29 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 325 (441) Herewith a general report from the editors on the Toronto meetings: Text Encoding Initiative Progress Report The Text Encoding Initiative of the ACH, ALLC and ACL has begun in earnest the work sketched out for it. (Subscribers to this list will no doubt have seen various reports announcing the inception of the project; we won't repeat their content here.) -------------------- [A complete version of this report is now available on the file-server, s.v. TXT_ENCD REPORT. A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: Leslie Morgan Subject: CAI/CALL failures Date: 11 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 326 (442) Those interested in CAI/CALL should have a look at the July 17 Business Week. There is a three page (+/-) article called "Why computers flunk out." Some of the points raised are the standard ones (e.g., teachers not trained in use) but the problem of useable software, not page-turners, is hit upon with full force. Maybe it will help some of the computer companies become interested in developing some useful courseware. Happy reading- Leslie Morgan MORGAN@LOYVAX (Loyola College in Maryland) From: Willard McCarty Subject: humanities computing centres and offices Date: 11 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 238 (443) For the Humanities Computing Yearbook 1989, now in progress, we would like to publish the most up-to-date information about all humanities computing centres and offices world-wide. Following is an edited version of the list in the previous volume of the Yearbook. We would be very grateful if you would contact us, via the e-mail address YEARBOOK@UTOREPAS, with information about any such centre or office *not* listed below. Each of those listed will be receiving a form letter requesting an update of the relevant entry. Please circulate this list as appropriate. Thank you very much. Ian Lancashire Willard McCarty - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Humanities Computing Centres and Offices extracted from _The Humanities Computing Yearbook 1988_ (11 July 1989) Analyse du Discours, URL 7, INaLF-CNRS Groupe de Recherches Se'mio-linguistiques, E'cole des hautes e'tudes en sciences sociales, 10 rue Monsieur le Prince 75006 Paris ARTEM-CNRS Atelier de Recherche sur les Textes Me'die'vaux et leur Traitement Assiste' Universite' de Nancy 2, BP 3397, 23, blvd. Albert 1er 54015 Nancy CEDEX France Arts Computing Office, University of Waterloo. PAS Building, Waterloo, Ont. N2L 3G1 Canada Bell Communications Research, 435 South St., MRE 2A379, Morristown, NJ 07960-1961 U.S.A. CAAL Centro per l'Automazione dell'Analisi Linguistica, Gallarate, Italy. CATAB-CNRS Centre d'Analyse et de Traitement Automatique de la Bible et des Traditions E'crites, Universite' de Lyon 3, Ba^timent The'mis, 43 rue du 11 Novembre 1918 69622 Villeurbanne France CASTLOTS Computer-Assisted Statistical Linguistic Old Testament Studies, Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. CCALI Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction, Law Center, 229 Nineteenth Ave. S., Minneapolis, Minn. 55455; U.S.A. CCAT Center for Computer Analysis of Texts Box 36, College Hall, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Penn. 19104. U.S.A. CDMB-CNRS Centre de Documentation sur les Manuscrits de la Bible, Centre Universitaire Protestant, 13, rue Louis Perrier, 34000 Montpellier France CELTA-CNRS Centre d'Etudes Linguistiques pour la Traduction Automatique, Universite' de Nancy 2, 23, bld. Albert 1er 54015 Nancy CEDEX U.S.A. Center for Computer Applications in the Humanities, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada 89154 U.S.A. Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities, 525 Middlefield Road, Suite 120, Menlo Park, Calif. 94025 U.S.A. Center for Computer Research in the Humanities, Texas A & M University College Station, Texas 77843 U.S.A. Center for Design of Educational Computing, Carnegie Mellon University, Bureau of Mines, Bldg. B, 5000 Forbes, Pittsburgh, Penn. 15213--3890 U.S.A. Centre d'Analyse Syntaxique, Universite' de Metz [? address] Centre d'ATO, Universite' du Que'bec a` Montre'al, PO Box 8888, `A', Montre'al, Que'bec H3C 3P8 Canada Centre de Recherche sur les Traitements automatise's en Arche'ologie Classique---CNRS, Universite' de Paris X, 200, Ave. de la Re'publique, 92001-Nanterre Cedex France Centre for the New OED University of Waterloo Waterloo, Ont. N2L 3G1 Canada Centre for Computer Analysis of Language and Speech, AI Division, School of Computer Studies, Leeds University, Leeds LS2 9JT. U.K. Centre for Research into the Applications of Computers to Music, Music Dept., University of Lancaster, Lancaster LA1 4YW U.K. CIB Centre Informatique et Bible de l'Abbaye de Maredsous, B-5198 Dene'e, Belgium CERL Computer-based Education Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. 61801 U.S.A. CERTAL-CNRS Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches en Traitement Automatique des Langues, Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales, 2 rue de Lille 75007 Paris France CETEDOC Centre de traitement electronique des documents, 1, place Blaise Pascal, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium CILT. Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research, Regent's College, Inner Circle, Regent's Park, London NW1 4NS U.K. CIPL Centre Informatique de Philosophie et Lettres, Universite' de Lie`ge, place du 20-Aou^t, 32, 4000-Lie`ge, Belgium Computer Centre for Research in the Humanities, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado. CNRS. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 15 Quai Anatole France, F-75700 Paris, France. CRAL-CNRS. Centre de Recherches et d'Applications Linguistiques, Universite' de Nancy II, 23, bld. Albert 1er, BP 3397 54015 Nancy France. CRIN-CNRS Centre de Recherche en Informatique de Nancy, BP 239, 54509-Vandoeuvre France CRTT. Centre for Research in Terminology and Translation, Faculte' des Langues, Universite' Lumie`re -- Lyon 2, 86 rue Pasteur, 69365 Lyon Cedex 07, France CSLI. Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University, Ventura Hall, Stanford, Calif. 94305--4115. U.S.A. DBMIST. Direction des Bibliothe`ques, des Muse'es et de l'Information Scientifique et Technique, Ministe`re de l'Education Nationale, 3 blvd. Pasteur, 75015-Paris France Dictionnaire de la Langue Franc,aise des XIX et XX Sie`cles, URL 2 INaLF-CNRS 44 avenue de la Libe'ration 54014 Nancy France Elektronische Sprachforschung, Universitaet des Saarlandes, Saarbruecken, Federal Republic of Germany ERATTO-CNRS. Equipe de Recherche sur l'Analyse et Transcription des Tablatures par Ordinateur, 27, rue Paul Bert 94200 Ivry-sur-Seine France E'tude Statistique du Tre'sor Litte'raire, URL 9, INaLF-CNRS Universite' de Nice, 98 bld. Edouard Herriot 06007 Nice France GETA-CNRS. Groupe d'e'tudes pour la Traduction Automatique, Universite' de Grenoble, Domaine universitaire, BT 68, 38402-St. Martin d'He`res, Grenoble France GITA. Le Groupe d'Informatique et de Traitement Automatique, Universite' Libre de Bruxelles Belgium Groupe d'e'tudes Lexicologiques et Lexicographiques des XVI et XVII Sie`cles, URL 6, INaLF-CNRS Universite' de Lyon 2, 86 rue Pasteur 69365 Lyon CEDEX 7 France Groupe Paragraphe. Universite' de Paris VIII, 2, rue de la Liberte', 93526-St. Denis Cedex 02 France GRTC-CNRS. 31, Chemin J. Aiguier, 13402 -- Marseille Cedex 09 France HESO-CNRS. Histoire et Structure des Orthographes et Syste`mes d'e'critures, 27, rue Paul Bert, 94204 -- Ivry-sur-Seine France History Computing Laboratory, 2 University Gardens, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ Scotland Humanities and Arts Computing Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 U.S.A. Humanities Computing Centre, CNH-428, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. West, Hamilton, Ont. L8S 4L9, Canada Humanities Computing Facility, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287 U.S.A. Humanities Computing Facility, Duke University, 104 Languages Bldg., Durham, NC 27706 U.S.A. Humanities Computing Facility, 2221B Bunche Hall, UCLA, 405 Hilgard Ave., Los Angeles, Calif. 90024--1499 U.S.A. Humanities Division, Computer Centre, King's College, London, Strand, London WC2R 2LS U.S. Humanities Research Center, Brigham Young University, 3060 JKHB, Provo, Utah 84602 U.S.A. Humanities Research Center, Washington State University, Pullman, Wash. 99164--5020 U.S.A. ICJL. Institute for Computers in Jewish Life, 845 North Michigan Ave., Suite 843, Chicago, Ill. 60611 U.S.A. ICRH. Institute for Computer Research in the Humanities, New York University, University Heights, New York, NY 10453 U.S.A. IdS. Institut fuer deutsche Sprache, Postfach 5409, D-6800 Mannheim, Friedrich-Karl-Strasse 12, Federal Republic of Germany IKP. Institut fuer Kommunikationsforschung und Phonetik, Poppelsdorfer Allee 47, D-5300 Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany ILC. Istituto Linguistica Computazionale -- CNR Via della Faggiola 32, I-56100 Pisa, Italy INaLF-CNRS. Institut Nationale de la Langue Franc,aise 52, boulevard Magenta 75010 Paris France Unite' de Recherche sur le Franc,ais Ancien, URL 10, INaLF-CNRS Universite' de Nancy 2, 23 bld. Albert 1, BP 3397 54015 Nancy CEDEX France Informatica e Discipline Umanistiche, c/o Dip. di Studi Storico-Religiosi, Universita` di Roma (`La Sapienza'), Fac. di Lettere P. le A. Moro 5, 1 00185 Roma, Italia Infoterm. The International Information Centre for Terminology, Oesterreichisches Normungsinstitut, Postfach 130, A-1021 Wein, Austria IRCOL. Institute for Information Retrieval and Computational Linguistics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel 52100 IRHT-CNRS. L'Institut de Recherche et d'Histoire des Textes, Section d'in~formatique, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre Fe'lix Grat, 40 avenue d'Ie'na, F-75116 Paris France IRIS. Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship, Brown University, Box 1946, Providence, RI 02912. U.S.A. Langue et Informatique, Universite' de Savoie, BP 1104, 73011-Chambe'ry Cedex France Language Laboratories University of Western Ontario London, Ont. Language Research Center, Room 345, Modern Languages, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85702 U.S.A. LART. Laboratoire d'Analyse Relationnelle des Textes, Universite' de Paris VIII, 2, rue de la Liberte', 93526 St. Denis Cedex 02 France LASLA. Laboratoire d'Analyse Statistique des Langues Anciennes, Universite' de Lie`ge, 110 boul. de la Sauvenie`re, Lie`ge Belgium Lexicologie et Terminologie Litte'raires Contemporaines, URL 5, INaLF-CNRS 1 place Aristide Briand 92195-Meudon France Lexicologie et Textes Politiques, URL 3, INaLF-CNRS E'cole Normale Supe'rieure de Saint Cloud, 2 ave. du Palais 92211 Saint Cloud France Lexiques de l'e'conomie du Be'tail et du Circuit des Viandes, URL 8, INaLF-CNRS Universite' de Toulouse 2, 5 alle'es Antonio Machado 31058 Toulouse CEDEX France LIE. Lessico Intellettuale Europeo -- CNR, via Nomentana 118, I-00161 Roma Italy LISH-CNRS. Laboratoire d'Informatique pour les Sciences de l'Homme, 54, bld. Raspail, 75006-Paris CEDEX France Literary and Linguistic Computing Centre, Sidgwick Site, Cambridge University, Cambridge CB3 9DA U.K. LRC. Linguistics Research Center, University of Texas, PO Box 7247, U. T. Station, Austin, Texas 78712 U.S.A. MESY Arbeitsgruppe fuer Mathematisch-Empirische Systemforschung, Germanistisches Institut, Technische Universitaet Aachen Federal Republic of Germany MIS. Mathe'matiques, Informatique, Statistique, Faculte' des Lettres et Sciences Humaines de Besanc,on [? address] NCCALL. National Centre for Computer-Assisted Language Learning, School of Language Studies, Ealing College of Higher Education, St. Mary's Road, London W5 5RF U.K. Norwegian Computing Centre for the Humanities, Harald Haarfagresgt. 31, PO Box 53, N-5014 Bergen Norway Observation et Enseignement/Apprentissage du Franc,ais Contemporain, URL 4, INaLF-CNRS Universite' 13 93430 Villetaneuse France Office for Humanities Communication, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH U.K. Oxford University Computing Service, Computing in the Arts, 13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN U.K. PHI. The Packard Humanities Institute, 300 Second St., Suite 201, Los Altos, Calif. 94022 U.S.A. Phonetics Laboratory, University of Michigan 2096 Frieze Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109 U.S.A. Research Unit for Computational Linguistics, University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland Research Unit for Computer Applications to the Language and Text of the Old Testament, Dept. of Semitic Languages, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa Russian Text Analysis Facility, Center for Soviet and East European Studies, 641 Williams Hall, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Penn. 19104--6305 U.S.A. Seminary of Medieval Spanish Studies, University of Wisconsin, Van Hise Hall, Madison, Wisconsin 53706 U.S.A. Spraakdata. The Department of Computational Linguistics, University of Goteborg, S-412 98, Goteborg, Sweden Traitement Automatique des Sources du Bas Moyen Age, Universite' de Paris 1, Bibliothe`que Halphen, 17 rue de la Sorbonne 75231 Paris CEDEX France Tre'sor Ge'ne'ral des Langues et Parlers Franc,ais, URL 1 INaLF-CNRS 52 boulevard Magenta 75010 Paris France UCREL. Unit for Computer Research on the English Language, Lancaster University Lancaster U.K. Uppsala Centre for Computational Linguistics Uppsala University Uppsala, Sweden. Werkgroep Informatika, Faculty of Theology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands ZDV. Zentrum fuer Datenverarbeitung, Brunnenstr. 27, D-7400 Tuebingen Federal Republic of Germany Zentrum fuer Historische Sozialforschung, Universitaetsstrasse 20, D-5000 Koeln 41, Federal Republic of Germany. ZUMA. Zentrum fuer Umfragen, Methoden & Analysen, Postfach 5969, D-6800 Mannheim, Federal Republic of Germany *****END***** From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.231 British copyright law (85) Date: Mon, 10 Jul 89 22:23:19 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 327 (444) re: Lou Burnard's posting of British Copyright(s) Law Second Topic Lou mentioned that one may not make electronic copies of works not in the public domain. Does this limitation exist more extensively than the right to make xerox copies? I was under the impression that certain academic usages were given more freedom. From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.231 British copyright law (85) Date: Mon, 10 Jul 89 22:14:34 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 328 (445) re: Lou Burnard's posting of British Copyright(s) Law Am I to understand that it might be possible, for example, to remove all the "markup" from something like the CD-ROM OED, so that it resembles nothing more than a scanned version of the first edition, and that this electronic edition would then be in the public domain - as a copy of the first edition which is, I have heard, public domain due to its having been published in 1888 and years following, but always prior to dates having current copyright protection? Can anyone clarify such position on the texts made from works certainly in the public domain, such as BYU/WordCruncher's editions of Tom Sawyer, etc? I would greatly appreciate information on this subject, pro or con, from any and all. Thank you. From: DEL2@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk Subject: Re: [3.230 uncertainty, etc. (204)] Date: Tue, 11 Jul 89 06:39:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 240 (446) I'm grateful for the responses to my message. Those on umlaut manifest what I assumed anyway; that there is no agreed standard. Here at Cambridge we follow the character by vertical bar (|); and encode other accents comparably (eg < = acute; > = grave; ~ = cedilla or tilde as appropriate). Would it be worth having a standard at least for communications to HUMANIST? Douglas de Lacey From: Jim McSwain Subject: baptism, infant baptism Date: WED 12 JUL 1989 16:28:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 241 (447) Anyone who has information, particularly book/article citations, about baptism as a subject of discourse, a literary metaphor, a rite of passage or part of a "mentalitie," please send it along to me at f0a8@usouthal. For example, work has been published on how baptism is used as a motif in the works of Flannery O'Conner. My interest focuses upon 17th and 18th c. England, but I wish to "cast" my bibliographic net as widely as possible, and I solicit input from fellow HUMANISTS whose training in anthropology, linguistics and contemporary literary theory may offer them perspectives on aspects of the rite or its role in language-games otherwise unimaginable to me!! THANKS! From: EVENS@UTORPHYS Subject: Coping with Copenhaggen Date: Tue, 11 Jul 89 23:31 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 329 (448) I have been unable to find any references which explain EXACTLY what the Copenhaggen interpretation of quantum mechanics is. Several refs. said things like Bohr was the originator of this interp., and talked about the observer/observed relationship, but they never pinned down just what the interpretaion was. Any suggestions? (Besides learning to spell etc.) dan evens From: Subject: Uncertainty, etc. Date: Wed, 12 Jul 89 12:21 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 330 (449) Uncertainty about the intellectual value of intellect ----------------------------------------------------- Intellectuals like to read, write, and talk, among other things. One of the hazards of intellectualizing is clouding issues in pretentious jargon. Let me try, in a neutral and jargon-free manner as possible, pose the question that has been discussed here in a rather confrontational manner. Is the current, intellectual culture fraught with a fundamentally anti-intellectual approach? Usually anti-intellectuals are people who try to avoid reading, writing, and talking about intellectual matters. One of the reasons may be just a simple lack of interest. However, another reason is a definite distate and antipathy towards intellectual matters and intellectuals. Remember the slogan of a former U.S. Vice-President, "effete intellectuals". Unfortunately, I have found, or more correctly, I have proposed the fallible hypothesis that intellectual culture, itself, and to its own detriment, has an anti-intellectual attitude. One of the ways to determine whether intellectuals do have this attitude is to examine how intellectuals value their own products and their own efforts at intellectual understanding. The question to ask is--how do intellectuals, in general, confront the chief issue of their intellectual life? The chief issue for an intellectual, at one time or other, in the intellectual's life time, is whether reading, writing, and talking get the goods that an intellectual might expect. One of the goods, apart from some form of income rewarding labour in our 'information economy', is an improved understanding of issues that one had prior to reading, writing, and talking. Of course intellectuals are fallible. However, we may wonder whether the universe that we explore is just a product of minds or is real. True, we may never get hold of the final answer, but do we in any way, and in any sense, get somewhat closer to reality by our fallible efforts at using our intellects? This some people treat as an open question, and perhaps fundamentally unanswerable, but still worth asking, and reading, writing, and talking about. Other people write the question off as not worth asking just because it may be unanswerable. And some other people hold it as virtually axiomatic that the answer is no-- the only things our minds can do is create illusions for it to study, including the illusion of a physical world. Are people who hold the products of intellect to be in some fundamental manner illusory, and hold that all we can do by way of reading, writing, and talking is to construct fictional interpretations that do not gain any foothold either on physical or mental life, anti-intellectual? Let me explain why I think that people, who may enjoy reading, writing and talking, and may be quite fine and honest people in all matters, are deluding themselves when they think that they are not anti-intellectual when denying the effectiveness of mind to gain some foothold on the real world. I am sure at some time or other one has hired the services of a lawyer, accountant, carpenter, or optician, or some other professional who hates his or her work. This person feels totally disatisfied, and reveals that he or she is only in it for external rewards, such as status, money, or good holidays. This person, obviously, does not gain satisfaction through their work, but seeks other means for gaining self-satisfaction-- another part-time occupation, or a hobby. After many years of working at the hated job the person only looks to retirement as the means of escape. You may wonder, well why wait for retirement. Why doesn't this disatisfied person look for another occupation? What holds this person to a job that is so personally distatesful? It may be that the external rewards, the side benefits, outweigh the intrinsic detriments. It may be that the person actually seeks a form of self-punishment. For whatever reason the person persists working in an occupation loathsome to that person, you find that the person is actually undermining his or her profession. They may not perform as well as they could. And worse, you may find that the person gossips about those who think highly of the profession, and tries to convince you that those people are really silly, narrow-minded, short-sighted and are really inferior types of humanity. In short, after many years of self-forced labour in an occupation that one despises, one tacitly joins the ranks of those who may be outside the profession but who share the same dim view of the profession. Suppose after much survey of one profession, say law, that one found that most lawyers hate law, and share the attitudes of those outside the legal profession who think that lawyers are con-artists. I, for one, would agree with the hypothetical surveyer of the legal profession that the culture of the legal profession is tacitly anti-law. To what end do humanists assist in the self-evolution of mind? Is it to gain an objective understanding of the real situation of humans in a cosmos that is an objective reality? Or, is it to assist in the self-evolution of a self-perpetuating game that has no other meaning than the game itself? How one answers these questions, whether explicitly or implicitly through one's valuation of the products and processes of intellectual labour, one indicates whether one is anti-intellectual or not. One of the other signs of anti-intellectualism is how one engages in intellectual debate. For instance, one device of the witting and unwitting anti-intellectual is to define one's alternatives and the supposed position of one's interlocutor in a very limited manner. Specifically, there are non-Platonist and non 'naive-realist' alternatives to anti-realism. To identify realism with Platonism or naive-realism is to overly limit the discussion of realism and objectivity, and is a form of intellectual cheating. One takes the weakest form of the alternative theory, identifies it as the only alternative, and then claims an easy victory. One cheats oneself, for the questionable benefit of self-satisfaction, by not examining the full range of alternatives and by hiding one's view from open criticism. One also does damage to the intellectual status of the activity of dialogue by undermining that forum of intellectual pursuit for those who do value the activity of dialogue as a means for contributing to the growth of objective knowledge. Another tact of the witting and unwitting anti-intellectual is to provide mythological histories. Comprehension and appreciation of difficult issues are inhibited by providing histories of a complex debate which omit alternative positions, and which lead up to the desired position as the supposed victor of the debate. By the way, some of the realist and objectivist alternatives to naive realism and Platonism are the critical realism of Popper, Einstein, and Piaget; the Absolute Idealism of various Hegelians, including Hegel, and Bradley; and the dialectical materialism of various Marxists, including Marx and L. Vygotsky. --------------- Sheldon Richmond From: Jim McSwain Subject: Chronicle of Higher Education Date: THU 13 JUL 1989 17:04:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 243 (450) At the risk of directing fellow participants to what can sometimes be an absurd and parochial publication reeking with insider bias and educational nonsense, I take note of an article in THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, 12 July 1989, pp. A6-A8, entitled "Humanities Researchers Experience a 'Sea Change' . . ." In addition to favorable comments on the research possibilities of "Thesaurus Linguae Graecae" or T.L.G. it introduces Constance Gould, historian and officer with RLIN, who makes some interesting comments and is someone participants should know in as much as she is involved with the RLIN database projects. Also mentioned is ACADEMIC COMPUTING, a useful magazine free to many academic computer users whose authors kindly included their BITNET addresses, a practice which should be routine in the credits of all journal/magazine publications. Imagine instantly challenging or offering comments on periodical material to the author without the usual obstacles of gender, regional background, tint of language or the shame of employment at a third-rate institution . . . The article also mentions LITERARY COMPUTING AND LITERARY CRITICISM (Univ. of Pa. 1989) by Paul Fortier of Winnipeg (are you out there Prof. Fortier??), which is a work with which I am not familiar but will now investigate. Although the article concludes with a familiar instance of using the computers "dumb" calculating power to catalogue a vast collection of Greek artifacts, it nonetheless ends provocatively by asserting that graduate students (lowly though they may be) have sharply increased their research skills by using computer search techniques and databases that allow one to draw upon data from outside one's alleged field of expertise. Which brings me to some silly thoughts I wish to throw out to my . .--listeners(?), readers(?)--fellow participants. One change brought to humanists by computers is to expand, modify and then transform the field of experience with which we all work to make comprehensible, to integrate with past knowledge and insight and to therefore shed "light" on our existence--isn't that what humanists do? if not, tell me now before I go further. If Foucoult is correct that categories or structures of meaning are often carried by inertia from the past, emptied and then given new and sometimes surprising "meanings," then computers, as a way of dealing with experience, may empty old categories--literacy, communication, power, description or explanation--and then refill them with a mode of interacting with experience shaped, tuned and focused by the progressively complex and speedy capabilities of machine-based intelligence. If we take part in this, will the outcome be a product of our present ways of dealing with experience, or will we gradually and unconsciously substitute perhaps narrow and limited machine capabilities for the frightening and terribly powerful ability which God put into our brain to analyze, comprehend and integrate experience? Or will it turn out to be the reverse--the substitution of superior machine capabilities for our limited natural abilities with unknown consequences for the nature and (oops, jargon) destiny of man? Pardon me for thinking out loud, it can be embarassing and dangerous. Regards, JMcSwain f0a8@usouthal From: "John K. Baima" Subject: uncertainty and faith Date: Thu, 13 Jul 89 12:35 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 244 (451) This long debate about Physics leaves me wondering about another topic: faith. Has the necessity of faith in today's world ever been discussed in the Humanist forum? If so, please excuse me. No, I am not refering to "religious" faith, but faith in a larger context. I have listened to long and detailed arguments about an important topic, but how much do I have to accept on faith and how much can I directly observe or reason? I'm still not sure that I have not read a description of Heisenberg's "uncertainty" that I like. Take, for example, the correction by John McDaid: [deleted quotation] This is almost true. Or maybe sort of true. The REASON as Heisenberg originally understood it, I beleive, is that particles behave as waves. The wave equations of de Broglie and others leads to the "uncertainty". The idea of expressing an electrical or other force as the exchange of a particle (a quantum) is much later (I believe it was Feynman in 1949) and it is not necessary to deduce "uncertainty". These problems are difficult even without any math, most of which is far beyond the schooling (not the ability) of most humanists. Am I right about uncertainty? Am I wrong? Most who read this will either have no opinion or they will accept one position on faith. Even for those of us who have studied such things in detail, how much can we remember out of the distant and murky past? How much is faith? There was a time when a single person could know a lot of what was known in the world, at least as far as science and technology was concerned. Those days are long past and now we live by faith. How does a modern car work? I like my 71 Volvo because I think I understand it. I have faith in today's cars, not understanding. Take the computers that we all love and hate. Does anyone really understand how they work in all their detail? I wonder. I do not. But I have faith. Although I do not have as much faith as others. I make frequent backups. True believers in computers often do not make backups and suffer. Does anyone think that because we have to accept such things as "Uncertainty" by faith that it should temper the results we derive from it? How many layers of faith can or should we build on? Is faith necessary for progress? John Baima d024jkb@utarlg From: bobh@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Robert Hollander) Subject: A proposed U.S. National Center for Machine-Readable Texts Date: Thu, 13 Jul 89 23:43:04 -0400 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 331 (452) in the Humanities Brief Description of Project In 1981 the Council of Library Resources gave start-up funds in the amount of $10,000 to Rutgers University so that the Inventory of Machine-Readable Texts might come into existence. The Mellon Foundation followed with a grant of $30,000 in 1982. These funds enabled the project, directed by Marianne Gaunt of the Alexander Library at Rutgers University, to establish itself as the only organism in the world dedicated to the cataloguing of all machine-readable texts in the various disciplines of the humanities. In May 1989 NEH offered $30,000 in response to a proposal made on behalf of a new initiative directed by Marianne Gaunt (for Rutgers, the Project Director) and Robert Hollander (for Princeton). What is envisioned is a National Center for Machine- Readable Texts in the Humanities. NEH has insisted, in response to the concerns expressed by various reviewers, that this year of planning include a conference, national in scope and with international collaborators, to be sure that the leading figures in this inceasingly important area of humanistic research are consulted and have a chance to offer advice as Rutgers and Princeton decide how this project may best be implemented. In order to have a schedule of work that might become functional after a year of planning, a good deal of work needs to be done in preparation. As a result, since the conference itself will cost approximately $20,000 and the planning activities between $20,000 and $30,000, Rutgers and Princeton are seeking between $10,000 and $20,000 from other sources during the planning year and some $20,000 in "bridge" funds to keep the project moving until significantly larger amounts of money may become available from NEH and other sources in 1991-92 to put the project into fully operational mode. We have begun seeking help from six other funding organizations at this time. We hope to be successful with at least some of these in order to be able to implement as much as we can as soon as possible. In May of 1989 nineteen interested parties, five of them not associated with Princeton or Rutgers (these people have now become our advisory board), met at Dunwalke, a Princeton facility, to discuss the nature of the proposed center and the collaboration envisioned between Princeton and Rutgers and between the proposed Center and the rest of the universe of librarians, personnel of computer centers, and academics who have the most at stake in the existence of such a center. A second meeting, involving roughly half of those present at Dunwalke, took place during the large "computer fair" at Toronto in June. On both occasions the importance and desirability of establishing such a center were strongly supported by all present. The time seems ripe (it is perhaps overdue). We should add that Princeton has now established two "Listservers" for the project, overseen by Robert Hollander. These are both now operational, the first for continuing consultation among those who met at Dunwalke, the second for that group and others who have demonstrated interest in being aware of our plans and in offering advice for our future initiatives. All of us involved in this project are gratified by the enthusiastic response the enterprise has already had. We are optimistic that the Center will be off the drawing board and in operation in a year or so. We will shortly be inviting some fifty experts in this field to a two-day conference early in March of 1990. In the meantime we are proceeding with our own studies and plans. What the Center is intended to accomplish is to bring into being a mechanism which will facilitate the growth of interest in the use of technological improvements in the way in which people consult texts on computers. (We are not announcing the death of the printed book. On the contrary, all experience indicates that the existence of computerized texts has the effect of increasing consultation of printed ones.) Thousands of texts already have been computerized. What is needed is a central clearing house to which those interested, scholars and students as well as the general public, may apply for the following purposes: 1) to know if a particular text has been made machine- readable, 2) to find out how and where to gain access to this material, 3) if it is not available, to discover how to have such a text produced for their use. This is a large undertaking with significant implications for the future of study in the humanities. As of now it is clear that the Center will perform the function originally conceived for the Inventory. In the coming year we will need to consider the extent to which the Center itself will collect datafiles not already available in other holdings of these materials, how it will preserve and disseminate these, and whether it should also develop the capacity to produce machine-readable texts itself. We believe that the conjoined resources of two major research institutions, one public, one private, will not only be sufficient to the task, but also serve as a model to others in a time of increasing need for major projects in the humanities and no visible sign that more resources will be made available for this need. Marianne Gaunt and Robert Hollander 29 June 1989 [NB: Those who are interested in becoming members of the ListServ group should contact Robert Hollander, bobh@phoenix.princeton.edu, who will also serve as the liaison member between this group and Humanist. See also the note that follows. --W.M.] From: Willard McCarty Subject: liaisons with other discussion groups Date: 14 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 332 (453) Robert Hollander's ListServ seminar for scholars interested in the (U.S.) National Center for Machine-Readable Texts in the Humanities is a welcome development. Like TEI-L, a similar group serving the Text Encoding Initiative, Hollander's seminar will allow interested Humanists to discuss aspects of his project that would be far too specialized for our membership. At the same time, Hollander has agreed to watch for items of general interest in his seminar and submit them to Humanist so that valuable contributions of a more general nature are not lost to us. I would like to request somewhat more formally than before that any Humanist who happens to edit another electronic seminar contact me about a similar arrangement. Of course, things that appear here can by tacit agreement be published elsewhere (read your Guide to Humanist), but I would like to make sure that sharing takes place in a somewhat less haphazard fashion than may have been the case so far. I will be more than happy to help anyone interested in setting up a related ListServ group, mostly with -- caveat computor -- good advice. Willard McCarty From: jdg@eleazar.Dartmouth.EDU (Joel D. Goldfield) Subject: "Literary computing & comments of 13 July by Jim McSwain" Date: Fri, 14 Jul 89 17:11:05 -0400 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 246 (454) Thanks to Jim for listing publications and products of great interest to Humanist. My colleagues and I find _Academic Computing_ worthwhile. We have been impressed by TLG equipment, information access and content at various conferences. _Literary Computing and Literary Criticism. Theoretical and Practical Essays on Theme and Rhetoric_ is edited by Rosanne G. Potter (Iowa State University); our colleague's (Paul Fortier's) essay is one of 12. I'd be interested in hearing about any other comments or reviews that may be appearing about this recent publication (May 31, 1989). --Joel D. Goldfield J_GOLDFI@UNHH.bitnet From: Willard McCarty Subject: the ideal language and literature lab Date: 13 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 333 (455) If you could have what software you wanted to equip an IBM-and-Macintosh instructional computing laboratory for language departments such as English, French, Italian, and German, what would you ask for? Let us say that you wanted to provide for all levels of university students and that you would be taking into account all the various applications instructors might require or should require, e.g., elementary writing, grammar and style checking, wordprocessing, dictionary access, machine-assisted translation, note-taking and keeping, language-learning, text-analysis, and so forth. I think it would be instructive to see arguments over what the categories of things should be and what should be put into them. We need not argue about which wordprocessor is best, but I think recommendations in the other categories might be illuminating. Willard McCarty From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Courses on Genealogical Research Date: Thursday, 13 July 1989 2220-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 334 (456) Having worked myself into the literatures, approaches, and rewards of genealogical research, I am contemplating proposing a credit course on the subject in our College of General Studies (evening school, summer programs). It occurs to me that it would be useful, in preparing to submit the necessary paperwork to the curriculum committee, to know whether such courses exist elsewhere and if so, under what departmental auspices? My experience thus far is that there is a great deal to be learned in terms of historical "method" through systematic research into genealogical and biographical matters, but I don't recall having come across developed University programs in such subjects. Any pertinent information will be appreciated. Obviously, the computer assisted aspects of such research make it all the more exciting and teachable. I suspect it would make a very desirable evening/extension type course, for openers. Thanks, Bob Kraft (Univ. of Pennsylvania) From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Genealogy, Psychology, Religious Experience Date: Thursday, 13 July 1989 2231-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 335 (457) In an article presented in 1982, William M. Shea argues that much of what the Puritan-Calvinist revivalist Rev Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) had to say about personal Christian experience may have been derived from conversations with his wife, Sarah Pierpont, about her special experiences ("Jonathan Edwards and Sarah Pierpont: and Uncommon Union," pp.107-126 in Foundations of Religious Literacy, ed. John V. Apczynski; Scholars Press, 1983). Apparently Sarah had such "wonderful seasons" of religious experience as early as 1715 (at age 6), and again (at least) in 1735, 1739, and 1740. Since I have been compiling genealogical information on the Pierponts for several years (my great grandmother was a Pierpont), it occurred to me in my historian's inquisitiveness to search the genealogical file to determine whether those dates fit into any pattern of events in the lives of Sarah and her immediate family. To my delight, if not amazement, each of Sarah's special experiences seems to come in the immediate wake of deaths within the family -- her father on 22 Nov 1714, three of her oldest sister's children in 1734/5 and 1739 (that sister lost most of her children when they were very young, while Sarah lost NONE of hers!), her own sister Mary (on 24 June) and her own mother (on 1 Nov) in 1740. (Other deaths in her immediate family occurred in 1718, 1722/23, 1727, 1728, 1741, 1748, and 1758.) That she struggled with the problem of death in relation to God's justice and goodness is clear from her letter to her daughter Esther upon the death of Jonathan Edwards in 1758 (quoted by Shea, p.121). The fact that her father died when Sarah was not yet 6 years old may have set a pattern. In any event, my question is whether anyone on HUMANIST knows of studies of the relationship between death to loved ones and heightened religious experience? My hunch that Sarah's experiences might be related to her struggles with accepting death would be strengthened if such a connection has been observed in other instances. And the value of access to systematic genealogical data for this sort of historical research would be further enhanced. Bob Kraft (Religious Studies, Univ. of Pennsylvania) From: Malcolm Brown Subject: Nota Bene 3.0 on PS/2's: any caveat's?? Date: Fri, 14 Jul 89 07:37:59 -0800 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 336 (458) The folks in our department of Slavic Languages are considering the purchase of some IBM PS/2's in order to run Nota Bene. They would be using Nota Bene's Cyrllic language system. If anyone is aware of any problems with this combination or has any sort of caveat in this regard, I'd be most grateful if you'd share them with me. Please send directly to me, and if anything significant turns up, I'll summarize back to the list. many thanks, Malcolm Brown INTERNET: mbb@jessica.stanford.edu BITNET: gx.mbb@stanford.bitnet From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Uncertainty and Academic Discussion Date: Friday, 14 July 1989 0923-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 337 (459) I suspect that many HUMANISTs like myself have followed the recent discussion of Heisenberg, etc., with great interest but also with feelings of discomfort, even dispair, at the tone and direction of some of the comments. As a person who comes from a conservative protestant biblicistic religious and educational background, I have often heard people appeal to "Heisenberg's Principle of Indeterminancy" as a way to avoid or defuse certain attempts at consistent rational discussion aimed at "objective" results. Usually the appeal to "Heisenberg" has been simplistic and irrelevant to the discussion. It has served as an escape from looking carefully and with "academic discipline" at the issues at hand. Thus I think I understand the sorts of things that often lie below the surface, or sometimes on the surface, of the recent HUMANIST exchanges, and I have felt comforted and further enlightened in my own suspicion about misuses of "Heisenberg." Nevertheless, I find the tone of the discussion frequently to be counterproductive to what I would consider appropriate academic and wissenschaftlich communication. Although Sheldon Richmond may not intend this to be so (or perhaps he does!), the use of such terms as "anti-intellectual" or "hyper-rational" do little or nothing to further open discussion. They ring out as confrontational, encouraging defensiveness rather than open discussion of issues. As some HUMANISTs have already pointed out, "intellectual" and "rational" and similar terms need to be contextualized in relation to some set of standards commonly agreed on by the discussants. If one wanted to play Richmond's epithet game (and I do not want to do so!), it could be said that the very use of such terms is itself "anti-intellectual" insofar as it tends to restrict the sort of open discussion that it claims to want to foster! Most of the people I know have a point at which they cease to be "open" for one reason or another, although usually many of them are quite "intellectual" and normally "rational" in their academic discussions that take place in the framework in which they are willing to be "open." Why should I brand them "anti-intellectual"? John Baima introduces into the discussion another term, "faith," that seems to me to represent legitimate issues but is so loaded in other ways (and multi-valent) as to be largely unhelpful. But I do agree that it is very important to recognize that at various points in such a discussion we each need to determine what authorities we trust (and why) for matters not subject to our own individual investigation, what assumptions we use (or take for granted) as building blocks and operational principles (e.g. regarding the possibilities and limits of human rational investigation, goals such as "objectivity," etc.), whether we impose any limits on the context of acceptable discussion (and why), etc. Many of our supposed points of difference in many of our academic (and other!) discussions are really differences in assumptions and perspectives, but until this is explicated we go around in circles seeming to be arguing about firm "evidence." Somewhat in this context, and to pick again on Sheldon Richmond (didn't he get us into all this in the first place?) in a friendly way, what IS the difference between a "scientific" theory and a "philosophical" theory or interpretation? I think the answer to that sort of (what I see as a jargon) issue may help me to see just where Sheldon is coming from, in terms of assumptions and contextualization. Bob Kraft (Religious Studies, Univ. of Pennsylvania) From: EVENS@UTORPHYS Subject: haising Heisenberg Date: Thu, 13 Jul 89 21:30 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 338 (460) I can't figure out if we are discussing Heisenberg in order to understand the theory of quantum mechanics (or perhaps the philosophy of the ...) or if we are trying to understand those who DO quantum mechanics. (Quantum mechanics are people too!) Perhaps the issue of the existence and nature of what has been called here "anti-intellectual activity" could be illustrated with something else. For me it is very difficult to seperate the two, especially when I am having to work so hard to try to understand if the statements on quantum mechanics are correct. And just to make that clear, the reason I'm finding that hard is because they are in "English" when statements about quantum mechanics are really much easier to understand in the mathematical language invented for it. Translating the English symbols into the math symbols, and then seeing if they are correct is hard work. For example, I could state the derivation of Heisenberg's uncertainty relation in about 20 lines of mathematics, but it would take many pages in English. So what I would like to suggest is that the discussion split in two, one part discussing the anti-intellectual issue, and the other discussing the ideas of quantum mechanics. I'd be quite happy to listen/participate in eithor, but I'm getting confused doing both at the same time. dan evens From: "Matthew Gilmore, Special Collections GW" Subject: Chronicle of Higher Ed. Article Date: Thu, 13 Jul 89 23:01:24 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 339 (461) I was hoping that someone else would see and comment on the article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, as Jim McSwain (F0A8@USOUTHAL) did. Of note: Linguistics and then classics are given pride of place in adopting computers. Mark V. Olsen, a HUMANIST is quoted, in re ARTFL. An interview Theodore Brunner, of TLG, anchors the article. A passage worth noting: "Scholars suggest that having such extensive evidence (TLG) reliably at one's fingertips will lessen the weight given to exquisitely crafted explantions based on not large numbers of cases, but on the force of argument." The more I look at that sentence the less clear it becomes--anyway, IS that what scholars are suggesting? The paragraph continues: "It may also make it easier for a newcomer to the field, drawing on extensive and replicable examples, to have his or her unorthodox interpretation accepted. Or so says the French scholar Paul A. Fortier of the University of Winnepeg in a new book, >>Literary Computing and Literary Criticism<< (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989). It is unclear whether Fortier is suggesting both sentences ("Scholars... and "It may...) or just the second. But it sounds as if the trend is toward a more SCIENTIFIC METHOD type of scholarship, especially with the mention of replicability. The article continues with more on RLIN, ARTFL, and Intermedia. Interesting, but maybe we could find the author, Chris Raymond, and sign him/her up on HUMANIST and/or send copies of the logs from the server, for a followup article. Matthew Gilmore From: "Matthew Gilmore, Special Collections GW" Subject: Telemann Date: Thu, 13 Jul 89 23:34:22 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 340 (462) As a Telemann fan, I was pleased to see, also in the July 12, 1989 Chronicle of Higher Education, that Brian Stewart of Penn State is "working with the Center for Computer Assisted Research in the Humanities--a think-tank in Menlo Park, Cal.--to computerize, categorize, and eventually analyze Telemann's work electronically." (p.A17) Matthew Gilmore From: Jim McSwain Subject: reply to Gilmore (Chronicle of Higher Education article) Date: SUN 16 JUL 1989 15:11:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 250 (463) Well done to Matthew Gilmore (LIBRSPE@GWUVM) for his comments on the CHE article of 12 July 1989. I think the statement "extensive evidence . . will lessen the weight given to exquisitely crafted explanations based not on large numbers of cases, but on the force of argument" refers back to an earlier statement that computers are "absolutely trustworthy . . ."; i.e. they can seach an enormous datebase and not leave out anything which human fatigue or carelessness might leave untouched. I add the caution, however, that quite obviously a database is only as "trustworthy" as the humans who compiled it, and they may leave out data deemed irrelevant or emphemeral. Computers do repetitive tasks quite well, the drudgery of looking through stacks of records and texts for key words, dates, etc., but they cannot anticipate the relevancy of previously unimagined data based on new insights into the nature of the problems being pursued, which is for me a tentative definition of one type of human thinking which AI and microprocessors cannot as yet perform. Perhaps that is because contrary to contemporary sentiments the mind is more than just brain . . As for the original quote, I call to mind Keith Thomas's book, RELIGION AND THE DECLINE OF MAGIC (1971?). In a critical review Margaret Bowker objected that citing examples and counter-examples of "cunning" men did not establish the extent of their influence among the English masses. Large numbers of cases found through computer searches still require human thought and imagination before they make sense, and computers cannot do that for you. One must consider for example what percentage surviving records were of the original number of records, so that even apparently large numbers of cases taken from existing records still may not tell one the significance of the event or idea in the time under investigation. I welcome massive databases and the equipment to use them, but human skill and thought remain indispensable ingredients in the scholarly process. What I am enthusiastic about in this article is the remark that "computerized data bases . . . open up a new range of questions that can be asked that would hitherto have been unthinkable . . ." Again I see this as part of the humanistic task of ordering experience, expanded in the case of computers and databases simply because our practical range of speculation, examination and proof has been enlarged relative to the fixed limitations of human energy, vision and integration of vast amounts of data. Breath-taking stuff for the lowly . . . JMcSwain From: "Eric Johnson DSU, Madison, SD 57042" Subject: Icon for VM/CMS Date: Fri, 14 Jul 89 21:09:03 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 341 (464) Version 7.5 of Icon is now available for IBM 370 computers running VM/CMS. It should run on the IBM 30xx and 43xx families of processors and on other 370-type processors that use the VM/CMS operating system. This system is available from the Icon project on a 1600 bpi magnetic tape. The tape includes executables and source code (which compiles under Waterloo C 3.0 and should be easily adaptable to other production- quality C compilers). The tape is available from Icon Project Department of Computer Science Gould-Simpson Building The University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 USA The cost is $30, payable by Visa, MasterCard, or check. Checks must be in US dollars, written on a bank with a branch in the United States, and made payable to The University of Arizona. See Icon Newsletter 30 for more information on ordering. There is no charge for shipping in the United States and Canada. There is a $10 charge for shipment overseas, which is by air. This version of Icon is not available via FTP or RBBS. Please address any questions to: Ralph Griswold / Dept of Computer Science / Univ of Arizona / Tucson, AZ 85721 +1 602 621 6609 ralph@Arizona.EDU uunet!arizona!ralph From: ANDREWO at UTOREPAS Subject: Date: 16 July 1989, 11:42:19 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 342 (465) A belated response to Lou Burnard's request for information concerning electronic versions of works by Gide inter alia. Lou's enquiry poses a much broader problem, that of copyright. To my knowledge - I am a Gide specialist - there exists no legitimate electronic version of any Gide text. By "legitimate" I mean an electronic version authorized by the holders of the copyright, in this case Gallimard and Gide's daughter, Mme Catherine Gide. There are unquestionably scores of unauthorized versions on private computers around the globe. However, none has been made available to any electronic archive as far as I am aware and it would be highly imprudent for any individual to communicate his/her electronic copy of a Gide text to a third party. To do so would be to invite an immediate law suit for infringement of copyright. Moreover it would constitute a disservice to the scholarly community in that it would raise the ire of the publisher/copyright holder(s) who would be more reticent than they already are in cooperating in scholarly enterprises. Scholars must take questions of copyright seriously. In an ideal world the scholarly enterprise would be totally open, untramelled by commercial interests or quirks of personality of the offspring or heirs of famous authors: at least that is our usual perspective as academics. We must realize, however, that publishers have their own legitimate perspective, that they have rights which may NOT be disregarded in the name of free intellectual inquiry. In the present example, I think it fair to say that Gide studies have, in the recent past, been set back decades by the overenthusiasm of scholars who were not as careful as they should have been with copyrighted material. Here endeth the lesson. From: Subject: Archeologists and the Ark of the Covenant Date: Fri, 14 Jul 89 15:31 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 343 (466) A student of mine claims to have seen a news clip on CNN (the Cable News Network run by Turner Broadcasting) concerning a current archeological dig in Israel. Supposedly there was an exciting find of a bottle of perfume made from a now-extinct plant, and as he understood it, the archeologists felt they were "close to finding the Ark..." Since my understanding had been that serious archeologists had stopped looking for the Ark after the disastrous events at the beginning of this century, I would be interested in any solid information on these develoments. Thank you! Philip E. Yevics Theology/Religious Studies BITNET%"PEY365@SCRANTON" University of Scranton (PA - USA) From: Jim McSwain Subject: e-mail to the USSR? Date: SAT 15 JUL 1989 16:19:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 344 (467) My colleague, Larry Holmes, will spend next year in the USSR as an IREX scholar. Does anyone know if he will be able to stay in touch with our department through BITNET? Is there a BITNET node or means of access in the USSR which does not require elaborate clearances to use? Would it have to be arranged in advance of his trip? Thanks. James McSwain f0a8@usouthal From: David Megginson Subject: Re: 3.247 ideal lab? genealogy? Nota Bene? (138) Date: Fri, 14 Jul 89 23:26:04 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 253 (468) Whatever software you choose to do the actual language work, I cannot stress too strongly that you _must_ provide a friendly environment where the users will not feel intimidated by the machines. The macs will be no problem, but you might consider Windows 386 on the IBM machines. By the way, I've heard rumours of a Windows version of Wordcruncher coming out. S'truth? From: Peter D. Junger Subject: Objective reality and the anti-intellectualism of Date: Fri, 14 Jul 89 21:28 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 254 (469) intellectuals Sheldon Richmond raises the question: "Are people who hold the products of intellect to be in some fundamental manner illusory, and hold that all we can do by way of reading, writing, and talking is to construct fictional interpretations that do not gain any foothold either on physical or mental life, anti-intellectual?" And then seems to argue that the answer is: "yes." Since I cannot understand what it means to "gain [a] foothold on mental life"--or on physical life for that matter--I have some difficulty in figuring out what he is trying to say or whom he is attacking, if he is attacking anyone. I doubt, however, that there is anyone who believes that all "we can do by way of reading, writing and talking is to construct fictional interpretations." But then I don't understand what a "fictional interpretation" could be. It is pretty clear that Richmond's vocabulary differs so radically from mine--and I think from that of most of us who reacted to his original posting about the uncertainty principle--that we cannot argue with each other or carry on anything resembling a discussion. But perhaps there is someone out there on HUMANIST with a large enough vocabulary to explain to each of us what the other is saying. I think that this unspeakable difference between Richmond and myself is important enough to justify an attempt on my part to say something--even if I can't say anything to him--especially as I am a lawyer turned law professor and Richmond attacks the anti-intellectual intellectual--the apparent villain of his piece--for being like a lawyer who dislikes lawyers. For the life of me I can't figure out why he didn't cite the poet who said of her craft: "I too dislike it." Or perhaps I can .... A few years ago a law school dean named Carrington indulged himself in a--quite well written for a decanal work, but really rather nasty--diatribe against the closest thing to a good old-fashioned, mitteleuropaischen (even if he is Brazilian) intellectual that we have in legal academia: Roberto Unger, the doyen of the Critical Legal Studies movement, often mistaken for a Christian Hegelian idealist, and a professor at the law school at Harvard. The charge was nihilism; the specification was, in effect, that Unger, and the other Crits, didn't believe in the reality of the law, seeing it only as the contingent consequence of--or perhaps a rationalization for--the illegitimate exercise of power by those who profit from the liberal conception of the state. For their truth telling, Carrington would have banished the Crits from the legal trade schools, purportedly to protect the innocence of their pupils. I say 'purportedly,' because it is quite clear that Carrington was--as I suspect Richmond is--trying to protect himself from the knowledge of his own nihilism, from the knowledge that he could not rejoice that all his work had come to nothing--something that is, admittedly, difficult to do. I don't mean to suggest that Richmond has ever heard of Carrington, I'm just saying that I'm saying this because I hear echoes of Carrington in Richmond's message. Just as Richmond undoubtedly heard echoes of .... Of whom? Wittgenstein? Kuhn? Rorty? Foucault? Habermas? Poor old Niels Bohr? The Lord Buddha? ... echoes of some one or another of his bugbears in our naive babblings about--nasty! nasty!--quantum mechanics. Since the difference between Richmond and myself is probably one of vocabulary, I have looked the word "intellectual" up in the OED II. The surprising thing to me--wouldn't it be nice if English had an ethical dative?--is that I cannot find a definition there that suggests that being an intellectual can mean having a profession or a job in the way that a lawyer does. The closest I could find--and it is not close--is: "an intellectual being; a person possessing or supposed to possess superior powers of intellect." That doesn't help much. But one of the examples appended to this definition perhaps gives us--that is, gives people like me--a clue as to what concerns Richmond: "1898 _Daily News_ 30 Nov. 5/1 Proceeding to refer to the so-called intellectuals of Constantinople, who were engaged in discussion while the Turks were taking possession of the city." I get the impression that both 'intellectual' and 'anti-intellectual' are most frequently used as insults, rather than as praise. But, though the OED failed me, the first sentence of the article on Intellectuals at page 399 of the 7th volume of the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences came to the rescue: "Intellectuals are the aggregate of persons in any society who employ in their communication and expression, with relatively higher frequency than most other members of their society, symbols of general scope and abstract reference, concerning man, society, nature and the cosmos." "Symbols of general scope and abstract reference" are, of course, likely to get so general in scope, and so abstract in reference, that they just go 'pop.' To provide a mythological history--and what other kind of history it there?--of western intellectuals since the Seventeenth century, one would only have to record the snap, crackle and pop of their multifarious realities selfdeconstructing. (What is the opposite of autopoesis?) Listen: "[S]ome of the realist and objectivist alternatives to naive realism and Platonism are the critical realism of Popper, Einstein, and Piaget; the Absolute Idealism of various Hegelians, including Hegel, and Bradley; and the dialectical materialism of various Marxists, including Marx and L. Vygotsky." So many realities. So many inconsistent realities. If one doesn't cancel itself out, one of the others will get it in the end. All gone. Even the last one, the reality Richmond clings to so desperately, the reality that must--I mean, it's just got to!--be the reality of realities, the meaning of meanings, the essence of essences, the object of objects, the .... Listen: Pfffft. Whence did all this fury--this need for objective realities, apparently the more the merrier--come? Why the anguished--and if I cannot understand Richmond's words, I can still sense something close to agony in his voice--the anguished, as I was saying, need to believe that there could be some objective reality--some 'thingity'--behind all the quotidian things; trees, gods, words, and frying pans, among which we live our lives. A tree is not enough for Richmond. What he demands is some ineffable something that he can speak about--as if one can eff the unspeakable, speak the ineffable--that ... that what? ... that guarantees that the tree remains a tree? that guarantees that the tree itself is "real"? If there is a tree in front of you and you say "there's a tree"; would you be saying anything more if you were to add: "Really, it's a real tree"? If you added that, I should think that your listeners would begin to wonder whether there was something wrong with the tree, or with you, or with your use of English. In any case, the tree would--of course--not care what you happened to say about it. The trouble is that I don't think that Richmond cares much about trees; he's more concerned bout his relation to the cosmos. (By the way, do you remember that passage in Archie and Mehitabel, where Archie talks to the Cosmos and says: "see, i exist," and the Cosmos replies and says, "well, perhaps, but that really doesn't concern me, does it?"--or words to that effect?) Here's a quote from Richmond: "To what end do humanists assist in the self-evolution of mind? Is it to gain an objective understanding of the real situation of humans in a cosmos that is an objective reality? Or, is it to assist in the self-evolution of a self-perpetuating game that has no other meaning than the game itself? How one answers these questions, whether explicitly or implicitly through one's valuation of the products and processes of intellectual labour, one indicates whether one is anti-intellectual or not." Let us not worry about the fact that the paired questions are unanswerable, being incomprehensible unless one happens to speak some sort of neo-Hegelian; rather let us simply compare this passage with a quotation from that--I presume in Richmond's thought--fons et origo of anti-intellectualism, Niels Bohr. Here--TA RA RA!--Ladies and Gentlemen, in Niels Bohr's own words--if one believes the Encyclopedia of Britannica--is the infamous, parental guidance required, COPENHAGEN INTERPRETATION!!!: "EVIDENCE OBTAINED UNDER DIFFERENT EXPERIMENTAL CONDITIONS CANNOT BE COMPREHENDED WITHIN A SINGLE PICTURE, BUT MUST BE REGARDED AS COMPLEMENTARY IN THE SENSE THAT ONLY THE TOTALITY OF THE PHENOMENA EXHAUSTS THE POSSIBLE INFORMATION ABOUT THE OBJECTS." Now I am sorry, and I am sure that Bohr would have been sorry if he could have known, that this simple statement from a great and decent man has caused Richmond so much pain; but that pain really does seem disproportionate to the offense. Once again the question arises, whence did all this fury come? One possibility is that Richmond got tripped up by his propensity to indulge in category mistakes. Someone who concludes that a lawyer who dislikes lawyers--pour moi-je, I quite like them--is, ipso facto, anti-law--whatever law may be--, such a person might be capable of fearing that his own existence-- whatever that may be--, his very self will turn out to be an illusion. What is the opposite of solipsism? But how could one believe in the "self-evolution of mind" and still believe that his self is something more than a soon to be forgotten doubting thought? On the other hand, how could anyone begin to make sense out of the phrase, "the self-evolution of mind"? But then, of course, there is always Tertullian ... but, on the other hand, Tertullian was pretty weird in his own right .... These speculations don't seem very profitable. So perhaps we had better just take Richmond at his word. He will hate his job--like his lawyer hated his--if it turns out that there is no objective reality to make him "self-satisfied." And it just isn't fair that those of us who get paid for doing real work, rebuilding Neurath's raft in the middle of a contingent ocean, should actually have fun "reading, writing and talking" and generally carrying on like intellectuals, while Richmond fears that he may be stuck in "a job that is so personally distatesful [sic]"?. It just isn't fair, but that's what happens to someone who mistakes that broad, brae road winding over the lily leaven--or however one really spells that word--for the royal road to reality. Sorry to be so long winded, but I think my goat done got gotten. Peter D. Junger--CWRU Law School--Cleveland, OH--bitnet: JUNGER@CWRU From: Yechiel Greenbaum Subject: World Union of Jewish Studies Congress Schedule Date: Thu, 13 Jul 1989 19:00 IST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 255 (470) Tenth World Congress of Jewish Studies Jerusalem, Israel Aug 16-24, 1989 DIVISION A: THE PERIOD OF THE BIBLE DIVISION B: THE HISTORY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE DIVISION C: JEWISH THOUGHT AND LITERATURE DIVISION D: LANGUAGES AND ARTS -------------------- [A complete version of this announcement is now available on the file-server, s.v. WUJS CONFRNCE. A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: Subject: TEXT-BASE MANAGERS Date: Mon, 17 Jul 89 09:28:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 345 (471) I'm a new Humanist subscriber, so forgive me if you guys have already discussed this stuff. I am analyzing verbatim transcripts of interviews. I'd like to be able to do this on the computer. However, I do not want to use pre-established keywords. I want to be able to identify "chunks" that fit with other "chunks" before I decide what label to attach to them. I have looked at "ASK SAM", and "THE ETHNOGRAPH", but both seem to require premeature labeling. I use NOTA BENE as a wordprocesser, but have not figured out how to use it as a text-base precesser, nor even if it would work for the purpose I have in mind. Anybody out there with similar problems and potential solutions? Thanks. From: TBESTUL@crcvms.unl.edu Subject: Bibliographic database software Date: Mon, 17 Jul 89 17:19:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 346 (472) We are in the process of selecting a bibliographic software package for our Humanities Research Facility that would be supported by our campus computing center. We know about NoteBook II and Pro-Cite for the DOS environment, and EndNote, Pro-Cite, Publish or Perish 4.0 (as well as Geoffrey Rockwell's Bib 1.0) for the Mac. We have read the reviews of Pro-Cite in Bits and Bytes Dec 88, and of bibliographic software for the Mac in MacGuide June 89 and Macuser February 89. Does anyone have any advice about these packages or recommendations for other software we should consider, or know about other reviews we should look at? We want to find something that the average computer literate faculty member in the humanities (i.e. can use a word processor) would feel comfortable using. Thank you. Thomas H. Bestul, Director Humanities Research Facility, University of Nebraska-Lincoln tbestul@crcvms.unl.edu From: "Guy L. Pace" Subject: the ideal language and lit lab Date: Mon, 17 Jul 89 09:42:08 PLT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 347 (473) Okay, you asked for it. Of course, my concept is based on what I think would make a manageable lab. I cannot address machine-assisted translation or language learning since I have no background in that area. The ideal lab using IBM compatible and Macintosh systems would be networked into the university's mainframe computer (we have a similar lab set up for training purposes). Elementary writing and wordprocessing would be supported by use of WordPerfect (give 'em the tools they'll likely use on the outside). I favor RightWriter as a grammar and style checker since it creates a separate file of markups and the user can turn rules and features on or off. On the point of dictionary access, WordPerfect has foriegn language dictionaries available, so that is not a problem. When it comes to notetaking and keeping, one of the outline processors available would be best suited. WordPerfect's outline feature is the only part of that package that is disappointing. I use ThoughtLine (which may or may not be available now), but PC-Outline and other products are adequate. With the capability of accessing the mainframe from the lab, powerful applications for other tasks would be available for text-analysis, translation and language-learning. Our own training lab uses IBM PS/2 Model 30/286 and Macintosh SE computers. Each station has its own hard disk and the software is purchased under site license and loaded onto each system. There is also a printer for each station. Sound a little like overkill? Well, the concept was to create an environment similar to individual workstations to reduce confusion and provide the trainee a familiar, comfortable set up. I think a similar lab could be established for much less money using compatible systems, rather than IBM's. For instance, the PS/2 described above costs about $2,000. A compatible with similar memory, hard disk and speed runs about $1200 to $1800 (government bid prices). For now, there is no substitute for the Mac, so you're stuck with paying Apple's prices. As far as providing a "friendly" user interface for the IBM types, a simple front end (i.e. WordPerfect Library) would sufice. It's hard to justify the costs (memory and $) for something like Windows386 for a lab. My own ideal lab would have a minimum requirement of AT type machines. If they were 386 systems, and multitasking were required, I'd use Quarterdeck's DesqView 386. The balance of price and performance is much better (and you don't have to have special versions of programs to run them under it). The main purpose of a lab of this type, of course, is to provide the tools for learning. Managing such a project is a prime consideration in the concept and design. A manageable lab will be more successful in its purpose than one which is unmanageable. Guy L. Pace Consultant WSU CSC Information Center From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.253 the ideal lab (19) Date: Mon, 17 Jul 89 11:46:37 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 253 (474) [deleted quotation] Are you suggesting WordCruncher as the friendly environment? From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.245 Center for e-texts, ListServ group, liaisons (157) Date: Sat, 15 Jul 89 11:31:59 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 258 (475) As you may be aware, I have been promoting a National Clearinghouse for Machine Readable Texts for some time and thus had great pleasure in reading Bob Hollander's posting in HUMANIST today. I have already sent him a message requesting a subscription and offering encouragement and discussion. He and Marianne Gaunt are to be congratulated on this posting and encouraged in the pursuit of Machine Readable Text concept which has definitely reached its time. I will include the posting in the materials going out this week to the informally named "Machine Readable Text" listserv group. I am sure from the description in the posting that a great mutual benefit will be derived from these groups and others. From: Subject: mail to the USSR Date: Sun, 16 Jul 89 23:04 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 348 (476) I'm not sure of the location, but there was some man on the west coast that was written up in Business Week and the New York Times aboue two months ago that had secured e-mail routes to USSR (CCCP?) and, I presume, from it as well, and was a gateway for interested users. I'll try to track down the reference. - wade Schuette, Cornell University. From: Emmanuel Tov Subject: Re: 3.252 dig for the Ark? e-mail to the USSR? (48) Date: Mon, 17 Jul 89 08:44:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 349 (477) your news agency may have gotten something wrong with regard to the perfume flask recently found in israel. maybe something went astray between the hebrew and english. in any event, the announcements about this find may have been strange and somewhat unscientific, but I've not seen any connection been the perfume and the ark. besides, would noah have used perfume only for his wife? From: Sebastian Rahtz Subject: Bibliographic database software Date: 18 July 1989 09:39:03 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 354 (483) In selecting a bibliographic software package for humanities users, I would recommend taking a look at DataPerfect (which is a newer version of SSI Data), put out by the Word Perfect people. I am only familiar with SSI Data, but I assume that Data Perfect will have retained the nice features and overcome the bugs. SSI Data is fairly user friendly and not over-intimidating for the person who knows (only) word processing; it's nicely compatible with Word Perfect--while also having facilities for ex/importing material in formats besides WP. I particularly liked its so-called "look-up" facility: the upper half of the screen could be set up to scroll past you in alpha or numeric order a selected key field with other fields attached, i.e., there was immediate and automatic sorting. You could, thus, immediately sort through a bibliography arranged according to date, or to publisher, or to language, or whatever else, once you'd set it up. Caveats: SSI Data was not forgiving of (my) mistakes. It crashed on me numerous times when I hit a wrong key and when I did things I thought I should have been able to do but it didn't. And the manual was a problem: it was ok for walking through your first time putting together a database, but was not much help for reference or for answering moderately demanding questions. Finally, I believe some sites will want a data base system that's more powerful and comes with its own programming language, which SSI Data didn't; I don't know about Data Perfect. But I think that a lot of humanists will be able to do all they want with what SSI Data offered and what I presume DP offers. My hope is that SSI Data's reincarnation as Data Perfect is more stable and that its manual is better. WP people have promised me the latter on the phone. The former would have to come out in testing. In any case: I think it would be worth looking at. Marian Sperberg-McQueen U15440 at UICVM From: Subject: (Humanist) the Ideal Lab Date: Tue, 18 Jul 89 15:01 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 355 (484) Being a language lab director I attended a workshop in Boston last week sponsored by the International Association of Learning Laboratories. I was floored by the wonders possible already. At MIT (the Athena project) and Iowa (PICS) there are some very inter- esting adaptations of technology already in place. The projects, sponsored by Annenberg and the Corp. for Public Broadcasting (USA), make very good use of Macintosh computers, videodisc players, and carefully tailored software. Thus my answer to the question of the ideal lab would have to include numerous student workstations which had monitors and computers hooked into videodisc players as well as a centralized controlling facility. Then truly interactive lab would be a reality. I would also be sure that the facility, as a whole, remained flexible. The furniture would be set up in a way to allow for varying sizes of group interaction. There would be places for group video use as well as the more private one-to-one student to video equipment. If any of the membership wants to know more details about any of the above they can contact me at Ledgerwo(od)@Rhodes From: David.A.Bantz@mac.Dartmouth.EDU Subject: Re: 3.256 bibliographic and textbase managers? Date: Tue, 18 Jul 89 13:18:03 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 356 (485) At Dartmouth, we are making EndNote a part of the Freshman computing package: that is, all entering students are advised to purchase EndNote with their Macintoshes (in a package which also includes Microsoft Word, SuperPaint, True Basic, and local communications software). Though EndNote is more of a bare bones package than ProCite, and has some quirks that make it slightly awkward, it's a modest cost solution to maintaining bibliographies and producing papers with acceptably formatted reference list. From: RGLYNN@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK Subject: Date: Tue, 18 Jul 89 09:28:31 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 263 (486) [At my suggestion Ruth Glynn of OUP Electronic Publishing here passes along a list of words for which the editor of the Oxford English Dictionary would like to find occurrences. OUP is a commercial venture, true, but the Dictionary is of such immense value to scholars in English, and responding to such queries is so much fun in itself, that I think such a query appropriate for Humanist. Any who disagree are, of course, free to argue the point. After all, we do nothing better than argue about things. In any case, please circulate this list. --W.M.] Appeal List no. 16 Dictionary entries for new words, sense, and expressions are now being prepared for the OED and for other Oxford dictionaries. Additional quotations for the following words would usefully complement the entries now under consideration. Unless otherwise stated, examples are needed which predate the bracketed date in each request. Please send quotations to John Simpson, Co-Editor, OED Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK. Or to JSIMPSON at UK.AC.OXFORD.VAX. (Please do *NOT* send them to RGLYNN.) In your reply please say that you are responding to the appeal list posted on the HUMANIST. Thanks in advance for your help. The words are listed as ITEM, followed by the REQUEST on the second line. Asterisk indicates italics. oaf = boorish, ill-mannered person (any exx.) obfuscatory (a.) (1961) obituarial (a.) = characteristic of an obituary notice (1978) obliteration = postmark used to cancel a stamp (recent exx.) under observation in *Mil.* use, of an enemy patrol, enemy activities, etc. (1975) obsess (v.i.) = to worry obsessively (any exx.) obviously (in reply to question) = yes, of course (any exx.) occlusion (fig.) = blocking out, as of an event from one's memory (1980) off (prep.) = with a handicap of, as in 'off 6' (any exx. outside golf) off (prep.) = not in communication via, as in 'off the air' (1940) off (prep.) = abstaining from, as in 'off drink', 'off drugs' (post 1958) off exx. of 'claws off', 'fingers off', 'feet off', but *not* 'hands off' or 'paws off' off (adv.) = out of the question, 'not on' (any exx.) offendedness (any exx.) oggy = Cornish pasty (1976) O.K., Okay introductory exclam., as in 'Okay, now listen to me', 'Okay, so I lost my temper' (1970) O.K., Okay (a.) = mediocre, as in 'it was O.K. but not wonderful' (any exx.) old (a.) = familiar through constant repetition or recurrence, as in 'I felt that old hurt welling up inside me' (recent exx.) olim = at one time, formerly, as in 'Jakarta (*olim* Batavia)' (any exx. between 1645 and 1975) omerta *trans.* from Mafia, = oath or code of silence (any exx. *not* Mafia) on as in 'come on down' (recent exx.) one = I, used to suggest social superiority (1978) oojimaflip (and varr.) (any exx.) oomph = power, esp. in a car (1975) open date = unspecified future date (for ticket, meeting etc.) (1967) order (v.t.) = to set in numerical or alphabetical order (any exx.) orangish (a.) (1977) ordain (v.t.) = to decide upon (a time, an appointment, etc.) (1934) organ = penis (1922) organize (v.t.) = to arrange, as in 'to organize the chairs round the table' (1950) organized (a.) of a person, as in 'he's so organized he gets up at 6 every morning' (1976) otherness = the state of being different from other people (exx. between 1919 and 1980) otherwhere (n.) as in 'an artificial otherwhere peopled by gorgeous phantoms' otherwhere (a.) as in ' he still wore a glazed, otherwhere look' (any exx.) our as in 'no-one objected to our going' (any 20th C. exx.) out (1) of the tide, at its lowest ebb (recent exx.) out (2) = out of doors, as in 'is it cold out?' (1961) out (3) =out of the closet (1979) out (4) = out of order (of telephone, radio, etc.) (1975) outs (sb. pl.) = those who lack money, status, popularity, etc. (1955; post 1980) outboard (of) = to the outside of (*not* boats) (1966) pan (v.t.) = to strike, hit, punch (1942) pancrack = social security benefit, or the Dept. that pays it (?etymology?) (1986) panic (v.t.) = to delight (an audience), esp. to make them laugh (post 1960) panoptic (a.) *fig.,* of a writer or piece of writing, = covering every aspect of a subject (1972) parade (v.i.) = to strut (not necessarily in public) (1961) parade (v.t.) to expose (e.g. one's ignorance) (any exx.) parade (v.i.) = as in 'prurience and disgust parade under the banner of social studies' (any exx.) paralysed = drunk (recent ex.) parking = an area to park in, as in 'ample parking will be provided' (any exx.) partner (1) = a lover (homo- or heterosexual) (any exx.) (2) = one who accompanies another to an entertainment (any exx.) patchwork (v.) (any exx.) pea-brain (1959) pea-brained (a.) (1975) peal (v.t.) esp. to peal bells (any exx.) peal (v.i.) as in 'the telephone pealed loudly' (any exx.) pearly whites (also pearlies) = teeth (any exx.) ped-xing short for 'pedestrian crossing' (1984) peep = a short high-pitched sound produced mechanically or electronically (1957) pend (v.t.) = to put off, postpone (1953) penetration in Sport, = the ability to get through opponent's defence (any exx.) penetrating (a.) and penetrative =having this ability (any exx.) pennanted (a.) = decorated with a pennant (1972) perform (v.i.) (1) = to do well, as in 'people are coming under pressure to perform' (any exx.) perform (v.i.) (2) = to copulate (successfully) (1977) peripatetic (a.) (1) = carried about from place to place (and recent exx.) peripatetic (a.) (2) of a way of life, involving much being away from home, moving house, etc. (1954) peripatetic (a.) (3) of e.g. a theatre company or event, performing or held in a series of locations (1970) permission = a written authorization to do something (exx. between 1867 and 1979) perpetuate (v.t.) as in ' the press perpetuates the notion that ... etc.' (any exx.) a person = anyone, as in 'that wind really goes through a person' (any exx.) pessimal = opposite of 'optimal' (1977) petition (v.i.) as in 'local residents petitioned against the new road' (any exx.) physis = nature (in any sense) (any exx.) pickily (any exx.) pit = bed (R.A.F. slang) (any exx.) From: RGLYNN@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK Subject: Date: Tue, 18 Jul 89 09:16:39 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 264 (487) There hasn't been much correspondence on this subject -- perhaps because none of us is in a position to offer legal advice on such a complex issue, though Lou's contribution was helpful and reasonable in its interpretation. Although I have no intention of offering any advice on the matter because I am not qualified to do so, it is, however, probably worth pointing out that publishers are generally quite agreeable to individual scholars' using their material for purely research purposes. But of course scholars must first ask permission and then operate purely within the terms of their agreement with the publisher. For many years OUP has granted such permissions, and the terms under which the material may be used have of course been restricted. The agreement between scholar and publisher (or copyright holder if not the publisher himself) are not open-ended. If the scholar wishes to use the material for purposes other than that for which permission was originally granted (e.g. making multiple copies of a text for classroom use), then he must negotiate a different type of agreement. Surely the message is simple: if you wish to capture electronically a text that is not your own, for whatever purpose, *ask permission*. It is at the very least courteous to do so. This is a trivial matter of writing a letter and stating the purpose(s) for which permission is sought. Invariably a publisher will be happy to help you in your research and you can then wave the permissions letter at the appropriate university body who is (rightly) concerned about infringement of copyright. Ruth Glynn From: Donald Spaeth (0532) 33 3573 Subject: Date: Tue, 18 Jul 89 10:15:51 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 265 (488) I am reading the discussion of the recent Chronicle of Higher Education article with much interest. Unfortunately, I do not have access to the Chronicle (no-one I've mentioned it to in Britain appears to have heard of it!), so I can only comment second hand. But I am nervous about the implication that the computer will make the humanities more scientific, in that hard facts will render obsolete arguments which are crafted to obscure lack of evidence. Jim McSwain's comments on this point are well made, at least in the context of history. The documents which survive are a sample, and unfortunately not a random one. This means that 100 cases prove no more than 10 examples (the number Keith Thomas tended to find, more or less, for each point). One common problem is how to decide how significant a small number of documented cases of a phenomenon is. They may be a small proportion of a much larger number of episodes which occurred but were either not recorded or were recorded in documents that were later lost. Or they may represent the only occasions when such behavior occurred. There is no way of solving this dilemma, although the historian may prefer to believe the first possibility! With or without a computer, the historian must rely upon his/her overall understanding of the documents, their provenance, their biases and their flavor (an expression that may cause me trouble on my next visit to the archives!) to judge how typical an example is. The reason for giving a number of examples is less to swamp the reader with the mass of evidence than to give a sense of how a trend being described manifested itself in practice in various different ways and to place the evidence in clear sight so that the reader may evaluate it. In the case of Keith Thomas, for example, because he was so liberal with his examples it is often possible for someone who is familiar with an example he uses to dispute his interpretation. If the computer will render obsolete the well-crafted bit of rhetoric, based on weak foundations, I want no part of it. Such arguments can be among the most enjoyable to read. (I'll cite no examples lest I be had up for libel!) After all, that's what graduate school is for: to teach us to see through such arguments. Don Spaeth Arts Computing Development Officer University of Leeds email: uk: d.a.spaeth at uk.ac.leeds Janet/earn: d.a.spaeth at leeds.ac.uk From: "Guy L. Pace" Subject: Electronic Text Date: Wed, 19 Jul 89 10:02:41 PLT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 357 (489) Robert Hollander's note prompted this thought. Has anyone contacted the publishers of texts about the possibility of getting a copy of the publisher's electronic version of a specific text to clean up and modify for use in scholarly research? I know most, if not all, publishers today use some form of electronic entry of text for typesetting, page layout, whathaveyou. Wouldn't it make more sense (cents? dollars?) to capture a copy of the publisher's electronic version of a text, rather than duplicating the effort to re-keyboard everything? I would think that if a publisher grants permission for use of a text in scholarly research, it would be just as simple to send the requestor a disk or tape (for a nominal fee, of course) of the electronic version of that text. In most cases, a text entered for typesetting will have special markup required by a particular typesetter. Those markups would likely need to be stripped from the file, then text database markup would need to be added. However, that process would be much less costly than re-keyboarding. Would publishers be interested in this? Am I being naive? It's a thought, though. Maybe someone with closer ties to the East Coast publishing world could check this out? From: bobh@phoenix (Robert Hollander) Subject: Re: 3.259 Israeli perfume flask (40) Date: Mon, 17 Jul 89 19:02:32 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 358 (490) The name of the perfume, barely legible after all these years, is Raising Cain. From: "Guy L. Pace" Subject: Database software, Etc. Date: Wed, 19 Jul 89 09:02:02 PLT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 267 (491) My thanks to Sperberg_McQueen for bringing up DataPerfect. I've demonstrated that program to several people and departments recently. It's a flexible, powerful database management environment, and very underrated in the database field. I designed my own accounting system, order entry screens, and a simple bibliographic database/notetaker with DataPerfect. So far, there have been no bugs, no crashes, no errors. Importing and exporting is much easier than with dBase. Since I have no experience with SSI Data, I cannot comment on past sins. However, DataPerfect works well and the manual is well designed and written. The manual, by the way, is in two parts. One part is for the system designer, the other is for the user. There are excellent tutorials as well. Another thanks to Willard for the word list from OUP. I'm going over the words, puzzling out when was the first time I heard or read them. What fun! From: "Matthew Gilmore, Special Collections GW" Subject: return of CHE Date: Tue, 18 Jul 89 23:21:30 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 359 (492) I get the Chronicle of Higher Education for a number of reasons, so I don't want to seem to be pushing it but, this week's issue (July 19) seems also relevant to HUMANIST. Cover page--article by Katherine Mangan "Trinity's 'Logical Detectives' stalk Jack the Ripper: Would Socrates have approved?" Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas has a Center for Undergraduate Philosophical Analysis. The article explains that students can practice their skill of logic, critical reasoning, and moral responsibility in decision making. They have game played through Jack the Ripper's killings, reviewing the evidence and deciding on motives via querying the computer. (The kicker is that the professor has the answer programmed in already and students have to come closest to HIS answer. Hmm?) (Of course I am summarizing from a summary in the CHE, so doubtless this explanation could be expanded.) Students also created an AIDS experts system, and are working on "a report to the drug czar." I'm not a philosopher, so would some HUMANIST philosopher provide some commentary on work at Trinity? Matthew Gilmore From: "Matthew Gilmore, Special Collections GW" Subject: AIIM Date: Tue, 18 Jul 89 23:37:51 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 360 (493) Reviewing the HUMANIST logs (my sparetime fun) I see lots of technical questions. One source of information on all sorts of "information management" concerns is AIIM--the Association for Image and Information Management. This note is prompted by the catalog I received from them today which has a number of items on optical technologies and on scanners and expert systems, etc., as well as a lot of information on micrographics. If anyone wants any more information: Matthew Gilmore LIBRSPE@GWUVM "History adds a dignity to life and a charm to existence." Polybius From: "Matthew Gilmore, Special Collections GW" Subject: information needs--scholars Date: Tue, 18 Jul 89 23:46:48 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 361 (494) A more general note. In thinking about what the role of technology should be in the humanities, HUMANISTs might want to check into what scholars are working on in lis (library and information science schools). The whole aim of l/is (library and information science) is to organise information (data/knowledge/etc.) for use and train people to provide it. A recent emphasis has been to try to find out what the research process consists of and how l/is can be better involved, so there is a literature of information needs (& uses) connected with research methods and scholarly communication. So l/is(ers) are thinking about e-mail and electronic publishing and databases and online catalogs, etc. Cites to follow. Matthew Gilmore LIBRSPE@GWUVM From: iwml@UKC.AC.UK Subject: BIBLICAL DATABASE EXHIBITION Date: Wed, 19 Jul 89 15:05:30 +0100 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 362 (495) I was fortunate to call in at the Abbaye de Maresous in Belgium on the day that they were launching the exhibition of computer applications in biblical studies. It is an exhibition which is open until the first week in October, and this message is to alert you to it, and encourage you to call in as well, if you are in the region. The Abbaye is just south of Namur, and I can provide directions if you are interested. The exhibition records the fifteen years during which the monks have been committed to exploring the biblical text with the help of the computer. They are led by the notorious Br Ferdinand Poswick, who threatens to join the BITNET network one day! The surprise is the extensiveness of the displays. They take up half of the c cloister area, and cover historical development, varying approaches to examining the biblical text through the ages and the place the computer has in that development. On hands experience is available for adults and children to explore databases, together with a video presentation created especially for the event. Maredsous is responsible for the complete and most modern translation of the Bible in French, and the stages of that process are on view, together with sensitive and honest recognition of the contribution of Judaism. The Abbaye is worth visiting in its own right, and is used by trippers as a place for quiet and picnicking (an English pasttime where you take your meal out with you and eat it in the country!) quite apart from the value of experiencing the simplicity of the church itself. Well worth visiting, and entry fees are low and reasonable. Ian Mitchell Lambert From: Steven J. DeRose Subject: Evidence Date: Tue, 18 Jul 89 21:53:17 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 269 (496) In general I agree with Donald Spaeth's note, pointing out that one cannot prove a literary point by heaping up examples; but I would suggest a small adjustment. While it is sometimes the case that 100 examples prove no more than 10, it is also *only* sometimes the case. It all depends on just what claim the author is making. For example, in the realms of linguistics and philology, one can examine (say) the TLG or GramCord or what-have-you and say with substantial authority that such an event does or does not occur, or always occurs when another does, **in the extant literature**. The proviso is important, of course, since as DS rightly pointed out the surviving works may not be representative. But such a claim, for example that a particular Greek verb occurs *only* in funeral narrations in the surviving literature, may be a significant and interesting one. Another use for the computer is in finding not *positive* but *negative* truths. If one is planning to state a universal claim, one is well advised to check as thoroughly as possible for counterexample. Writing a paper on certain syntactic constructions in Greek, I found a source which made a universal claim about syntax; so I scanned the TLG for the verbs involved, and found that while the claim was true, common elements in all the syntactic contexts made it predictable on other grounds, and therefore less significant. Without checking a large number of examples, the more comprehensive generalization would have been hard to see. Steve DeRose From: "Michael Sperberg-McQueen 312 996-2477 -2981" Subject: publishers and permissions Date: 18 July 1989 19:29:22 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 270 (497) Ruth Glynn makes excellent sense in her note on publishers and permissions. But if I ask permission to do something which by law I have the right to do, and receive the reply that I may not do it (because, say, the publisher believes I have no such right, and does not wish to give any ground) -- have I not conceded in advance that it is something that I do *not* have the right to do? Otherwise why did I ask permission? Whereas if I rudely do not ask permission, I at least have the chance of arguing that I have not already conceded that what I do is not fair use. Not so tortured logic: consider the arguments in Ariel Sharon's suit against Time magazine, where checking a story proved to Time's legal detriment, and printing it without checking was legally easier to defend. I don't know if it's just copyright law, or law in general, or just Cravath Swaine and whoever, but it's certainly depressing. Makes me glad I work with medieval texts which are (I think) out of copyright (unless, of course, I use a good edition ...) Bemused, Michael Sperberg-McQueen, University of Illinois at Chicago From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Typsetting Tapes Date: Thursday, 20 July 1989 0003-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 363 (498) Guy Pace (re)raises an issue of great importance, of rescuing and using for electronic research purposes the typesetting tapes used in publication preparation. Neither scholars nor publishers seem to be doing very much about the problem, and I have been told by publishers in some instances that the tapes are under the control of the typesetters (who tend to reuse them) .... I have been urging scholars to make it part of contracts with publishers that the author recovers the best electronic form for his/her purposes (revision, excerpting, etc.), and I have seen some recent contracts that include such provisions. Progress. But publishers and sponsors (e.g. scholarly societies, publication series, etc.) also need to become systematically responsible for preserving (and reformatting) these materials, and depositing them in appropriate "archives" at the very least. Some attention to these issues was given at the recent Toronto ACH/ALLC meeting in the Archive Panel discussion. On the practical level, we at CCAT have reformatted typesetting tapes for some publishers, for reuse as electronic texts. Once the program shell is in place, it is not a difficult task. I have heard publishers claim that it would be too difficult to be worthwhile, but I have yet to see a typesetting tape that comes anywhere close to living up to that billing! Indeed, if the tape was used for automatic typesetting, it can without undue effort be reformatted for appropriate electronic access. In short, we need to put pressure on at all levels -- as authors, editors, users, buyers, members of professional societies, etc. -- to encourage and, where appropriate, demand that the electronic "byproducts" of current publishing technology not be discarded or lost. The time will be soon upon us when the electronic version will be primary, and the printed version a "byproduct," in many instances! Bob Kraft (Center for Computer Analysis of Texts, Univ. of Penn.) From: Donald Spaeth (0532) 33 3573 Subject: Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 09:14:20 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 364 (499) Subject 3.266 Electronic Text (Pace) Concerning using publisher's/printer's tapes as the basic for electronic text...it's not that sample, as Ruth Glynn made clear at the Toronto conference. Ruth and others are much better able to explain why than I am, so I leave it them. Don From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Gaining permission to use publishers' electronic texts. Date: Wed, 19 Jul 89 22:34:02 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 365 (500) On the other hand, what about the greater proportion of books which are still under copyright protection, but were published over 10 years ago. Does anyone know if any publishers might be willing to allow someone to create machine readable editions? From: Oxford Text Archive Subject: why publishers' may be of little use Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 18:07 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 366 (501) Here are some reasons why the electronic form into which texts may be put by publishers before prublication are usually of depressingly little use to anyone else: 1. It has been prepared by a jobbing printer or typesetting agency using its own inhouse equipment and standards which are almost certainly incompatible with anyone elses. Or even more than one such. 2. It has nearly always been revised again after the initial data capture - sometimes substantially and sometimes even after the stage where it leaves electronic form as bromide or whatever 3. It is in a REALLY obscure encoding, using for example special nonascii sequences to indicate common ligatures as well as formatting instructions 4. It is structured as bits and pieces of galley proof, not as a continuous text 5. Even if you can understand its markup, the purpose of that markup will have been the production of a printed page. This, as I believe has been remarked elsewhere, is not enough for any sort of satisfactory textual analysis. Dare I mention that the answer to all the technical problems would be the widespread acceptance of SGML without the publishing industry? Then all we'd have to worry about would be the copyright problems.... Lou From: JACKA@PENNDRLS Subject: DON'T ASK, JUST DO SOMETIMES ! Date: Wednesday, 19 July 1989 2047-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 367 (502) Michael is correct and here is a case in point! We are in the process of submitting to WISC-WARE our data file and control program for CINEMA. The major problem we are having is not with the programming but with the University lawyers who worry about copyright infringement. We have been extremely careful to follow the letter of the infamous FBI warning. We don't resell video discs though we could. We don't capture any parts of the video material though we could. We properly cited all material taken from the video, published material, etc. We use it in the prescribed manner under the restrictions of the FBI warning; that is, for classroom use and for face-to-face instruction as defined in that murky law. And yet, the University lawyers are hesitant to let us put this material, our own work to a large extent in the public arena, because the copyright law could be interpreted to define what we have done as derivative, that is, legal jargon for plagarism. In short, our lawyers don't want to even take the remotest chance of a suit. Now, I think that says something about copyright, doesn't it? To me, I would not rely on a University lawyer to define worthwhile instruction and research material. Well, we are now asking permission of the holders of copyright and have received oral and soon written permission. Funny. My last conversation with our lawyer here was this: "We have received permission from the holder of copyright to distribute." (JACK) "Well do they really hold copyright?" (LAWYER) "Should we find that out?" Lawyers! You got a love them! Too bad there are more of them in the Congress who are putting further restrictions on computing such as the new rewrites of copyright law. From: Peter D. Junger Subject: Copying Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 13:29 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 368 (503) The bemusement expressed by Michael Sperberg-McQueen in his recent posting about "publishers and permissions" is very reasonable. I have, as a former lawyer turned academic, been very reluctant to join in the discussion about copyright law because the 'law' in this area is so unruly. I believe that Sperberg-McQueen is wise in suggesting that if one asks for permission to do something that one is already privileged to do, one may discover, when the permission is denied, that one has lost one's former privilege. Although publishers and authors would often like to control the use that is made of copyrighted materials, and sometimes succeed in doing so, in theory all that a copyright owner has is the legally enforceable right to forbid copies being made of his work. Furthermore, though the degree of freedom from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, the legitimate possessor of a copy of a copyrighted is allowed to make "fair use" of that copy, including to some ill-defined extent, the privilege to make copies of that copy. To copy a copyrighted passage into your personal notebook either by typing (if the notebook is paper) or 'keyboarding' (if the notebook is on a computer) is not going to constitute a copyright violation and will not require any permission from the copyright owner. I do not think that use of an optical scanner or a xerograph machine should change this conclusion. If, however, you should later publish your notebooks, or use the material in them in a published work,--and publishing may amount to nothing more than circulating a few copies to your friends, although I hope that that would be fair use--those acts might constitute a copyright violation. There is also the danger that comes from doing things in excess. If you use a scanner to copy the entire 300 volumes of the 1989 edition of the Readers Digest edition of the Waverly Novels into your personal computer, I could imagine that someone might claim that you had violated the Readers Digest's copyright, even though I think that it is still fair use. On the other hand, if you use a laser printer to run off two hundred copies of the volume containing Ivanhoe, and sell those copies to your students in Medieval Literature 101, you have probably crossed the line and are no longer protected by the concept of fair use. From: "Guy L. Pace" Subject: Anyone there at University of Rochester? Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 11:20:28 PLT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 369 (504) A friend here is looking for someone from University of Rochester, New York. Anyone out there from URNY? The person we're trying to contact has the last name of MODRAK. Any BITNET data would be welcome. Thanx. From: kurthern Subject: request for text analysis and retrieval program Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 16:16:12 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 370 (505) [Please send all replies BOTH to Humanist and to Dr. Kurthern at the above address. He is not on Humanist, but his question is interesting. Thanks. --W.M.] I am a Visiting Scholar from West-Germany at the Department of Sociology. At the moment I'm looking for a PC-computer program which fits best for my needs of text analysis or retrieval of WORD4.0 and SPSS files. The program should be - cheap or free of charge - good enough for searching multiple files (100-150) in different directories with altogether 1-5 MB - find words, combinations of words (by Boolean logic), blocks of text/phrases and numbers/symbols; retrieve them, manipulate them, record where they are and copy them from one file or text to another (not necessary, but helpful would be indexing, word frequency or vocabulary statistics) I was told that TACT or Gofer are not the most suitable programs for my purpose. Maybe you could give me some advice? Thank you very much for your help! Hermann Kurthen From: Willard McCarty Subject: call for publications, HCY 1989 Date: 20 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 273 (506) Authors who want to be certain that their work is included in The Humanities Computing Yearbook 1989 should send offprints or copies to the general editors immediately. Both current software and conventional publications issued during 1988-89 are eligible. The HCY aims to present the very best work in all areas of humanities computing wherever it is done and in whatever language. Work done in previous years but still current is also of interest. All material needs to be in our hands by 31 August 1989. We would in general welcome regular submission of work to us for consideration in the subsequent volume of the Yearbook. Thanks very much. Ian Lancashire Willard McCarty General Editors, HCY Willard McCarty From: Donald Spaeth (0532) 33 3573 Subject: Evidence (and CHEd) Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 09:20:32 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 371 (507) I agree wholeheartedly with Steven DeRose's adjustments to my comments that the the attempt to count cases is often invalidated by the poor nature of the evidence. I did not wish to suggest that counting is never valid, nor that the computer does not make it possible to improve the quality of research. There are many areas of my specialisation, history, where quantitative methods are very useful; that's why I stressed the importance of knowing one's sources (a point Joseph Rudman has made well in the context of Authorship Attribution studies, a highly quantitative field). I was reacting against two commonly-stated (but, I hope, rarely believed!) arguments: that the citing of examples ("cut and paste history", it's been called) is in some way less valid than the citing of numbers--each is appropriate to particular types of sources and fields; and that computers will make for more scientific, by which is (wrongly) meant more objective, results. In the golden age of humanities computing, I expect conflicts over interpretations to continue to rage! Cheers, Don (Spaeth) Arts Computing Development Officer University of Leeds From: P.Burnhill@edinburgh.ac.uk Subject: Re: 3.265 computers in the humanities, cont. (54) Date: Wed, 19 Jul 89 17:30:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 372 (508) The term 'sample' implies notions of representativeness, which may be why John W Tukey, a Princeton statistician of some note, when confronted with some observations for the first time liked to refer to a 'batch' of data, rather than grace it with undeserved status. If we know something of the 'sampling method', that is, how the data arose (survived) then we may risk the term. Big batches in themselves should not inspire confidence, except to let us know that an occurrence was more than an isolated incident. For us to estimate (or judge) whether such occurrences were widespread or major happenings requires access to a 'sample' which we reckon to have come from some 'population' in some predictable way. Surely the fact that computers are high speed idiots capable of doing sums across very large batches of data shouldn't mean that we should believe what these high speed idiots conclude. Peter Burnhill . From: Leslie Burkholder Subject: Re: Logical detectives, issue 3.268 Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 09:17:49 -0400 (EDT) X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 373 (509) Matthew Gilmore refers us to an article in the 19 July 1989 issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education on some programs written largely by philosophy undergraduates at Trinity University. The group of students writing the programs is called the Logical Detectives. There are several programs with various topics. One is about Jack the Ripper, one about a wierd treasure pit in Nova Scotia, one about AIDS, and one about the drug problem. I attended a session at a recent IBM ACIS conference during which Peter French, the organizer of the project and a professor of philosophy at Trinity, gave a talk about the programs and demonstrated parts of some of them. Anyone interested in the programs should read the article. I'll not summarize it here. Professor Gilmore asks for comments from someone in philosophy. I'll give some. In general the programs look exciting and interesting. What is exciting and interesting about them is that they (at least the Jack the Ripper and the Money Pit Madness programs) are more involving and more detailed exercises than those usually provided in critical thinking or logic classes. I wonder about some claims made about them: (1) That in writing the programs, the students exercised skills they were taught in philosophy classes. Perhaps. A strong version of this would be: If they had not taken some or other philosophy classes, they would not have been able to write the programs at all or would at least have produced worse programs or would have had a harder time producing the programs. A weaker version of this would be: If the students writing the programs had not certain skills and knowledge (wherever they obtained the skills or knowledge, in a philosophy class or elsewhere), they would not have been able to write the programs at all or would at least have produced worse programs or would have had a harder time producing the programs. Are either of these true? What are the skills that are supposed to be employed? (2) That in using the programs, students exercise skills they are taught in philosophy classes (especially in critical thinking or logic classes). This remark is relevant only to Jack the Ripper and Money Pit Madness. Again, a strong version of this would be: If a student does not understand some of things taught in these classes or have the skills that are supposed to be acquired from these classes (whether or not the knowledge and skills were acquired in the philosophy classes or somewhere else), then they won't be able to solve the problems the programs pose. Is this true? Another possibility would be that: Solving the problems the programs pose, like doing any other exercise, helps students to understand or acquire the knowledge that they are supposed to be acquiring in certain philosophy classes. What knowledge or skills is this? LB From: Subject: status of intellectual culture Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 08:46 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 275 (510) On the status of intellectual culture --------------------------------------- Is it permissable to ask questions about the status of intellectual culture? Is it permissable to present tentative, and fallible answers to those questions? Is it permissable to propose for open discussion a thesis that may turn out to be false, but nevertheless a thesis which asserts that the state of intellectual culture is self-defeating, i.e. anti-intellectual? Moreover, is it permissable to attempt to provide a hypothesis or explanation for this proposed 'diagnosis', an 'etiology' that states that the self-defeating status of intellectual culture is due to a largely tacit framework, that has many variations and applications: a framework which presumes that all cultures are wholly rational; and so that the concept rational, and all putatively invariant standards for truth, reality, and rationality are contextually sensitive? If these questions and tentative answers are not permissable, by which authority and according to which standards? There is an argument which renders such general questions about the status of language and cultural systems, intellectually illegitimate. The authority which denies the permissability of raising meta-questions, is a standard of intellectual legitimacy that involves restricting questions about truth, reality ,and rationality to specified and limited contexts. So, any discussion of the over-all intellectual status of a culture is ruled out of court. Consequently, the intellectual status of intellectual culture, is self-legitimating. However, this self-legitimating strategy of intellectual culture ignores some fundamental distinctions in linguistics and logic in order to legislate and arbitrate on how one may properly use language, and what questions one may meaningfully ask. In linguistics, there is a fundamental distinction between semantics and pragmatics. All words have psycho-social effects, apart from their meaning. If a doctor tells one that one has cancer, the doctor not only conveys a neutral diagnosis, but also may frighten or upset his patient. It can't be helped. When a patient confuses the meaning of the term 'cancer' with the patient's emotional reaction, and treats the term 'cancer' as a term of verbal abuse, the patient is confusing the semantics of the term with its pragmatics. Even verbal abuse, has a semantics apart from its pragmatics: the term 'liar' is most often used to abuse someone, rather than to describe someone's customary deceptive use of language. But, the words spoken with evil intent may still describe a factual situation. Just as there can be truth spoken in jest where the pragmatics of jests are to arouse laughter, there can be truth spoken with the use of insulting words. When one is interested in truth, one ignores the motivation and the pragmatics of the spoken words; one concentrates on the semantics of the words. Likewise, when one proposes a diagnosis and etiology for the current status of intellectual culture, one may offend some people, and please others. If intellectual culture is in perfect shape and if our standards for intellectual pursuits are top notch, most would be pleased. However, what if there are many indicators that the state of intellectual culture is suffering, is in great pain, is one to hide one's eyes from the pain? Are we to only accept diagnoses that are pleasant, and wish-fulfilling? I expect that most intellectuals would like medical doctors to tell us the truth, and as a matter of commonsense, are careful to heed the semantics of the diagnoses, apart from their pragmatics. However, when intellectuals do not like to hear a possible truth that is negative, then intellectuals are forgetting their commonsense when reacting to the words spoken about ourselves. Of course, there are circumstances when the pragmatics of some descriptions can over-ride concern with semantics: though the civil law allows true descriptions to be told about persons that have the pragmatic effect of damaging one's reputation (i.e. 'gossip'); the Talmudic code prohibits gossip, even when true. So, even in Law and in the Talmud, the distinction between semantics and pragmatics is clearly recognized. Another important distinction that is often confused is the one between asserting an hypothesis or theorem for intellectual discussion, and stating a belief. The beliefs of a person reveal their character, and often to understand their character and their beliefs, it is useful to know "where are you coming from?". However, theories are person-independent and belief-independent: a person may not believe in a hypothesis, but propose it for debate as a likely solution to a problem. Indeed there can be discrepancies between the personal background of an individual and the theoretical background of the hypotheses the person proposes for discussion. For instance, if one only knew the personal biography of Newton, one could neither predict nor understand Newton's classical physics. Those who write histories of science often express amazement at the discrepancies between the personal characteristics of certain scientific innovators and the nature of their theories. The answer to this puzzle is simple: theories are nested in logical networks, consisting of layers of premisses and infinite sets of consequences. These logical networks, though produced and modified by humans are beyond the complete understanding of their creators, and of the individuals who study, criticize, and change them. So, to understand the nature of our current intellectual culture, we require to examine the underlying logical structure of the various methodological theories that abound, and that are apparently unconnected and context-relative. In other words, the cultural historian/critic employs a methodology akin to the structuralist in linguistics and cultural anthropology: one looks for patterns of similarity and difference to find the rules of transformation for deriving the variations upon the basic thematic invariant. The invariant I propose for intellectual culture is what I term 'hyper-rationalism'. This invariant consists of the following thematic structure: 1. All cultures are wholly rational. 2. Cultures are historical. 3. Reason, or rationality achieves truth and attains reality. 4. Since rationality is culturally bound, so standards of truth and reality are culturally bound. 5. Also, since culture is historical, reason, truth and reality are historical. The rule of transformation for this invariant thema in our intellectual culture is this: in place of the word, 'culture' substitute such terms as 'interpretation', 'paradigms', 'methodologies', 'minds', 'objectivity', 'language-games', 'thinking', 'law','ethics', 'politics','norms'. In this way one derives the meta-theorems guiding the various enterprises of intellectual culture. One of the variants of the hyper-rational thema is the commitment oriented notion of communication and language that permeates hermeneutics. For instance, hermeneutics holds that interpretations (including philosophical theories, scientific hypotheses and empirical statements) as constructions are time-bound, and action dominated. The notion that scientific hypotheses , as opposed both to literary interpretations and philosophical theories, are falsifiable by reference to empirical statements, is rejected. All are interpretations that are constructed from culturally bound meaning-patterns. Thinking, or interpretation, is either a result of a break-down in action, or a form of commitment to action and its continuation. So, distinctions among belief, logical content, meaning and psychological impact are rejected in favour of the notion that a person's utterances are made as forms of social engagement. One speaks only to enjoin others in action. So, if one speaks words that offend, one does so to engage those offended in some form of confrontation; a verbal fight as a socially regulated form of hostility--as in courts of law or in seminars. The aim can only be victory. To return to my earlier analogy of being displeased with the diagnosis of the medical doctor: one who treats the words of a doctor as only fighting words because the words happen to indicate a negative diagnosis that is emotionally painful, one will react to the doctor by totally ignoring her suggested therapy, or by redirecting one's frustrations to the doctor. As everyone in the healing professions admit, the first axiom of doctor-patient relationships is that the patient will not respond to advice unless the patient treats the diagnoses as descriptive statements as opposed to labels or epithets. In the situation of diagnosing the state of intellectual culture, we all have to be our own doctors--since what we are assessing is our own mental culture. It is a common finding of psycho-analysis, a commonplace, that psychotics cannot be treated because they treat all diagnoses as hostile statements; neurotics can be treated because they recognize that there is a problem, and realize that their neuroses are fundamentally solutions to problems that further entrench the problems. The way to treat a neurotic problem is to leap out of the 'solution' and to find a totally new way of defining both the problem and the alternatives. As Dr. Seuss says, "Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the Thinks you can think up if only you try!." If we must be our own doctors, and if we treat all descriptions of the status of intellectual culture as verbal abuse, then we will become 'psychotic', and destroy our culture. However, if we at least recognize that there is a malaise, we are only 'neurotic', and might be able to heal our culture if we are willing to look for alternative meta-themes for intellectual enterprises, rather than stick to one thema, and refuse to see it as a single thema that guides our various intellectual activities; and reinforces our malaise. Another commonplace of psycho-analysis is that the troubled patient is on the road to cure, when the patient can jump out of the patient's single perspective and see the world from the viewpoint of the object of hate/love. So, perhaps if the intellectual can jump out of the perspective of viewing reality from the point of view of the intellectual and the methods of the intellectual, and view our products from the viewpoint of a reality that doesn't admit of inconsistency, and that is deep, partially incomprehensible, and transcendent, we might realize that our cultures can be incomplete, and have deep inconsistencies that require resolution, and have irrationalities that require further understanding. In sum, here are some steps we can take to combat the malaise of current intellectual life: The first step is to admit fallibility. The second step is to admit that there is a transcendent reality. The third step is to admit that our historical standards of rationality, truth, and reality require improvement. The fourth step is to identify the techniques we use to narrow the debate so that the desired outcome must win, or so that the troublesome questions are evaded. Some of these techniques are: i)playing the definition game and pretending not to understand; ii)claiming that what the person says is either obviously ridiculous or unintelligle, and so dismissing what the person says without having to respond to the argument or present an actual argument--i.e. series of statements with premisses and conclusions where if the premisses are true, the conclusions are true ('x implies y, however y is false, theorefore x is false' is an example of a typical form of logicl argument called modus tollens); iii)seeking allies to buttress one's position rather than to stand on one's own feet--i.e. appealing to the 'jury'; iv)poking fun at the opposed position rather than simply stating it, and finding inconsistencies, or shortcomings given the question under discussion; v)imputing terrible motives to the person with whom one disagrees rather than examing the issue; vi)justifying one's position as opposed to the alternative by appealing to the authority and fine character of the "saints" who supposedly are the originators of one's position; vii)treating language in a rigorous fashion, as an endi-in-itself, and viewing the use of metaphors as deep errors (i.e. Gilbert Ryle's "category mistakes") rather than viewing language as a means for articulating aspects of the logical content of holistic, networks of theories; viii)claiming that one is on the side of the angels, avante-garde, or the pure of heart, and that one's interlocutor is part of a rear-guard, reactionary, movement with vested interests in some form of pernicious status quo; ix)identifying one's interlocutor with some hated figure, thereby shutting one's ears to the words of the interlocutor; x)treating one's interlocutor as an opponent, where the object is to defeat the person as opposed to the theorems reported or presented by the interlocutor. -------------------- Sheldon Richmond From: Johnfox@RCN Subject: EUROPE TRIP Date: Fri, 21 Jul 89 19:59:40 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 374 (511) AM A PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY AT A SMALL, PUBLIC, LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE IN MASSACHUSETTS. WILL BE IN EUROPE/IRELAND WITH FAMILY AUG 4 - 25. WOULD LIKE TO MEET WITH UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE LEVEL COLLEAGUES WHO ARE INTERESTED IN ORAL HISTORY, COMMUNITY HISTORY, HISTORY OF THE WORKPLACE AND TEACHER TRAINING. ITINERARY: AUG 4-6 ROME AUG 7-9 ZURICH AUG 10-12 BERLIN AUG 13-15 AMSTERDAM AUG 16-18 PARIS AUG 19-21 DUBLIN AUG 21-25 DONEGAL/SLIGO/LIMERICK WOULD ALSO APPRECIATE TIPS FOR SIGHT SEEING THAT WOULD HELP TO KEEP COST WITHIN REASON WHILE AT SAME TIME SEEING THE MOST. ESPECIALLY WOULD APPRECIATE RECOMMEDATIONS FOR MODERATELY PRICED RESTAURANTS. *****PLEASE E-MAIL TO JOHNFOXTAYLOR.RCC.RCN.EDU***** (not to Humanist) THANK YOU. From: Geoff Rockwell Subject: Greek Reading Date: Sat, 22 Jul 89 14:49:19 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 375 (512) I have been told that the ancient Greeks did not read silently. Does anyone know of any evidence that they read out loud (even to themselves)? Does anyone know of a work that summarizes the evidence? Thanks in advance, Geoffrey Rockwell rockwell@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca From: hans@leif.mun.ca Subject: RE: 3.272 anyone there? text retrieval program? (50) Date: 22 Jul 89 09:55 -0330 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 376 (513) There is an excellent little shareware programme for text searches, etc., which rivals GOFER but is faster. It is called LOOKFOR. If you wish to have it, I can make it available in a uuencoded version. HANS ROLLMANN. From: Itamar Even-Zohar Subject: TEXTBASE Date: Sat, 22 Jul 89 11:29:06 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 377 (514) MSWENSON@IUBACS writes (HUMANIST, Vol. 3, No. 256, 17 July 1989): [deleted quotation] Nota Bene's Text-Base is still the most flexible I know, that is, if you work with Nota Bene as a word processor. In spite of many advantages ASK-SAM offers, I think for most purposes Nota Bene's is still less tiresome. In addition to a number of pre-defined formats, there is a possibility to user customize formats, or use both in a more sophisticated way if combined with extra codes and prompts or labels. For the purpose indicated, I think the ideal format would be the one where the borders between the units is the word QUESTION, or just Q. This format is explained in Nota Bene's Manual, Section F2, pp. 24-- 27. This allows no preparation of any extra text (though such text can easily be added whenever wished), but a very quick and efficient retrieval of the "QUESTION-ANSWER" material. For some sophisticated uses of Nota Bene's TB, order file TEXTBASE DOC from NOTABENE LIST. If it's not yet uploaded, send me a short notice and I will send it to you. There is still much to be desired for Nota Bene's TB. Willard McCarty has prepared about a year ago a list of desiderata, which he might be willing to reproduce in HUMANIST for new members. Dragonfly has promised that the next version of the TB will make this one shameful... Still it's a magnificent tool for those of us who work with flexible texts which cannot be handled by databases. From: Itamar Even-Zohar Subject: Bibliographic Utility Date: Sat, 22 Jul 89 11:34:22 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 378 (515) Thomas A. Bestul (HUMANIST, Vol. 3, No. 256, 17 July 1989) looks for a bibliographic software package. I think Nota Bene's new bibliographic utility may be what he is looking for. Here are excerpts from *WINGS*, Spring/Summer 1989, about the new bibliography program by Dragonfly Software: NOTA BENE has always offered basic bibliographic management, but our innovative program promises to open up a new world. Now you'll be able to: * Enter titles only once: Simply type in the author's last name and/or a short title, and a pop-up window presents possible matches that you've already entered. Select one of the existing titles or add an entry on the spot. You'll only have to type a full bibliographic reference once, no matter how many papers you write. * Enter citations effortlessly Prompts tell you where to type the author, title, date and other relevant information. The program then arranges this data in the correct sequence. Worrying about capitalization, punctuation, abbreviations, and all those other details is a thing of the past: It's the program's task to provide the appropriate punctuation, to capitalize titles, and to convert page numbers. * Format citations in a variety of styles Entries may be formatted according to APA, ASPA, Chicago A, Chicago B, MLA, and Turabian styles instead of just the form in which they're entered. With a few keystrokes, you can even *reformat* a bibliography entirely and *accurately* from one format to another. * Take advantage of enhanced sorting possibilities In addition to alphabetization by author, date, or title, you can also sort significant works before short works, or singly-authored works before jointly-authored works, and all of these before translated or compiled works. The new program * Works from within Nota Bene Simply pop up a window and add, edit, or cite an entry. * Enviable formatting capabilities * Unmatched sophistication and accuracy * Sophisticated multilingual support Rules, exceptions to rules, exceptions to exceptions, and more: We've paid close attention to the minutiae of academic style sheets so that you don't have to. * Output is, as before, full ASCII files Registered Nota Bene users can order this utility for 40% discount, i.e., $99 instead of $165. (Competing packages cost as much as $495.) (I don't know for how long this offer stands now -- I.E-Z.) For more information write to Dragonfly Software 285 West Broadway, Suite 600 New York, NY 10013-2204 (Phone: 212-334-0445) Itamar Even-Zohar Porter Institute Tel Aviv University From: hans@leif.mun.ca Subject: RE: 3.267 database software, cont. (28) Date: 22 Jul 89 09:29 -0330 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 379 (516) I, too, am using DATAPERFECT with great success. All of my note-taking is accomplished with Dataperfect. I also have a biographical dictionary with a complete MLA-style bibliographical database in Dataperfect. Better than Dbase III PLus is DATAPERFECT's text handling. All alphanumeric fields are totally searchable. I can store an entire paper in such a field and search any string. THe latest version of DATAPERFECT is also fully compatible with WordPerfect 5.0. Wordperfect, WordPErfect Library, and Dataperfect are invaluable tools for computing in the Humanities. One drawback is the rather cumbersome adding or deleting of a field once records are in the database. The records have to be exported, then the modifications of the dbase accomplished, and finally the records have to be imported again. This is to change in future releases. But the drawback can be endured in view of the other good features, especially its text handling capabilities. I store my notes in Dataperfect, send them to a file or to the Library's clipboard, take them into Wperfect, split the screen, and write my paper in one screen portion, while displaying the notes in the other. It speeds up paper writing and stores notes in an efficient and easily retrievable fashion. I also have all my student records with their marks on Dataperfect. HANS. From: Subject: physics as metaphor Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 22:06:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 380 (517) Rhetoricians often warn against the dangers of pursuing every conceivable parallel implicit in a metaphor (or, conversely, of rejecting a metaphor apt on its major levels of correspondence because other parts of the comparison do not mesh). I confess that quantum mechanics make me dizzy, and assure my colleagues that I do not consider myself in any way qualified to join the debate about the essential meaning of this (to me) arcane realm of thought. Still, since I have observed that most humanists who refer to it are actually poaching in other disciplines, part of the endless search for curious likenesses, analogies, similitudes, models, gnomic or parabolical explanations, &c. --- and not really leaping into the pit among the active, professional theory brokers. It's valuable if we can use it, even if we don't use it absolutely correctly. Indeed, in some ways, our misunderstandings may be valuable, too. Anyway, let me recommend to all readers of HUMANIST a remarkable story that has just appeared in _Harper's_, Jane Hamilton's "When I Began to Understand Quantum Mechanics" (Vol. 279, No. 1671, August, 1989, pp. 41-9). The protagonist's uncle, a physicist, has been feeding her "brain food" for some time; the intellectual formulae she has absorbed help her explain (understand?) occurrences that otherwise seem inexplicable. When, for instance, she and her sister have to sing "All things wise and wonder- ful, / The Lord God made them all. / Each little flower that opens, / Each little bird that sings...", she substitutes "fart" for "flower", her action is hard to understand: [deleted quotation] Without giving away the events of the story, I can say that the heroine undergoes what Joyce calls an "epiphany" in her perception of life, a life that changes in part *because* it is being perceived. Things aren't as they seem. *The fact that the world shifts when it is measured means simply that you cannot make precise predictions about it.* This principle, together with Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty and the notion of particles as waves (& vice versa), all contribute to a woozy shock of recognition. I would be very glad to hear from other HUMANISTs how they respond to Hamilton's story. -- Kevin Berland, Penn State (BCJ@PSUVM) From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: Intellectualism, Rationality and Method Date: Friday, 21 July 1989 1036-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 381 (518) I have read Sheldon Richmond's recent lengthy and meaty posting on the "status of intellectual culture" twice, and despite the recognition that I probably cannot avoid employing some of the "techniques" listed at the end (to point out that SR himself dabbles in some of these "techniques" is itself to use one of them, and to say "so I won't do so" is to use another!), I would like to reply to a couple of points. In an earlier HUMANIST posting, I bemoaned the fact that I was unable to get clear from the previous discussion just what SR meant by such terms as "intellectual" and "hyper-rational" and the like. His recent discussion helps, although not as much (or in as rigorous fashion) as I would like. Nevertheless, a couple of things seem clearer to me now: 1. By the definitional criteria presented by SR for "hyper-rationalism," I don't seem to qualify (and I wonder who does qualify?) -- I certainly would not affirm that "all cultures are wholly rational" (or that most individuals, who after all, make up "cultures," are rational, by which I mean AT LEAST consistent and coherent in terms of the categories of western logic and reason by which I function), or that "cultures are historical" except in the sense that everything that happens is "history" and thus potentially subject to "historical" analysis. Nor would I be happy embracing the statement that "reason, or rationality achieves truth and attains reality" -- indeed, I find that terminology to be very strange from my perspectives. I would, however, feel comfortable about saying that "rationality is culturally bound" and that "standards of truth and reality are culturally bound" -- indeed, I would say that ALL human attempts at knowing, interpreting, expressing and communicating are "culturally bound," and that is why explicating definitions seems so crucial to me. As for SR's "transformations" of "culture" into other terms, I find that on some of the transformations I may come closer to SR's "hyper-rationalism" than on others. For example, to me, BY DEFINITION, all scholarly metholological norms are rational. If they are not rational (in the sense of selfconsciously consistent [see above]) I would not call them methodological norms. But I would not claim that all minds or thinking or politics or law or ethics are "rational"! 2. Despite the fact that SR lists it at the top of the "techniques" to be avoided (presumably), I would argue that the sine qua non of rational and thus perhaps "intellectual" discussion is attention to "the definition game," which sometimes involves "pretending not to understand" since usually it is not "pretending" but a feeling of insecurity about what one thinks is being said ("can the speaker really mean what I understand to be the meaning?"). For example, I think I have learned a great deal from SR's somwhat "in passing" definition of the position he advocates, namely that there is a transcendent, deep and partially incomprehensible reality that doesn't admit of inconsistency, which explains why "our cultures can be incomplete, and have deep inconsistencies that require resolution, and have irrationalities that require further understanding." But in the interests of "the definition game" and "pretending not to understand," I wonder what the function of the element "doesn't admit of inconsistency" may be in the above statement. I suspect that it undergirds SR's goal of continued "further understanding" (that is, reality is potentially consistent and understandable if not actually so since we are "fallible," etc. -- a position with which I would agree as an operating principle, if not as an ontological commitment!) and "resolution" of inconsistencies. But it is not entirely clear. And if SR made it clearer, I think that BY DEFINITION of his position, many of the other matters that seem even less clear would be automatically resolved. My suspicion is that SR will be hard pressed to find many real instances of academics who disagree with his goals of better understanding, etc., but that there is an ontology (we used to call it "metaphysics") implied in his approach that would be subject to much more heated discussion. My own position is pragmatic. Since BY DEFINITION (mine or SR's) I cannot actually (rationally) understand "reality" in its fulness, I don't see much point arguing about it. There is plenty to do in improving understanding of what IS within the ability of human thinking (and doing). Bob Kraft (Religious Studies, Univ. of Penn) From: bobh@phoenix (Robert Hollander) Subject: Re: 3.266 e-texts from publishers? Israeli perfume flask (52) Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 20:19:14 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 279 (519) In response to Guy Pace's inquiry, I would like to report that at the first meeting of the Rutgers/Princeton initiative there was a good deal of talk about exactly the point he makes. Not only would it be helpful to interest publishers in making their tapes of books avail- able to archives (e.g., Oxford), if they do not, they apparently fairly often destroy them, thus making the need to get the word out more pressing. I will pass his good note and this response along to the ca. 45 people who are now on our Listserver. Thanks. From: UDAA270@ELM.CC.KCL.AC.UK Subject: Rose Theatre Update Date: Thu, 20 JUL 89 14:17:44 GMT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 280 (520) The latest on the Rose theatre site, as reported by King's College London's correspondent, Steve Miller ... Susan Kruse ********************************** 17 July 1989 As promised Mr Justice Schiemann delivered this morning his verdict on the request by the Rose Theatre trust for a Judicial Review of the decision of Nicholas Ridley, Secretary of State for the Environment, not to list the Rose Theatre as a National Monument. He said that the Trust were wrong to suggest that Mr Ridley had misapplied any law. The law as it is written does not require Ridley to schedule the site, it only says he "may" schedule a monument based on the advice of English Heritage. But the judge went further and said that the Trust had no right in law to bring the Secretary of State into court in the first place. He strongly hinted that the respondants (the Secretary of State and the property developers) should have asked to have the request for a judicial review by the Trust thrown out of court. The Trust had no more right to challenge in law a decision of the Secretary of State for the Environment than any ordinary citizen which was none since they had no legal "interest" in the matter. In addition, he ruled that the Rose Theatre Trust must pay the costs not only of the lawyers defending the Secretary of State but also the lawyers of the property developers, Imry Merchant, who came into the case to argue their side. As to an appeal, since they have no right to bring such a case the Trust would apparently have to ask for someone to rule that they did have such a right before they could ask for an appeal against the judge's legal ruling on the question of scheduling. (Is this getting a little complicated? I am sorry, I am no legal expert despite my recent hours in court hearing all of this argued.) In any event, the judge limited the Rose Theatre Trust to three days to take further action. Judging as an outsider I do not know how the decision could have been more negative. Certainly it seems agreed that on the question of the right of the Trust to bring the Secretary into court, the judge took a narrow view of what the law allows. On the other hand, he did suggest that the legal argument as to how the Heritage law should be interpreted which was made by the Trust's lawyer, might be the basis for a very good law. The judge stated that his own opinion of the Rose Theatre had nothing to do with the matter of the law. * * * On a different matter, Nicholas Ridley has also refused the request of Southwark Planning Committee to "call in" Imry's Revised plans (those putting a low museum for the Rose remains in the basement of their office building). This would have meant a public inquiry into the plans as I understand it. I believe the Planning Committee need to decide on the plans before 27 July. Over the weekend Imry had the temporary roof covering the Rose site removed so that they can begin work as soon as they wish. I think that this is enough for the moment. While it appears that the plan to preserve a part of the remains of the Rose theatre in a museum in the basement of a new office block will go ahead, the hopes that a general archaeological investigation of the rest of the site will be allowed before drilling begins for foundations for the office block, or that the block might be avoided altogether do not look good. If any readers have better information than mine on this matter or more, could I ask that they let everyone know? It might amuse those readers who have not seen the British press over the past day or two to note that rumours are circulating that Mr. Ridley may be on his way out of his cabinet post and that the Prime Minister will reshuffle her Cabinet in a week or so. I offer no opinion as to what importance to attach to such rumours. Can we presume that any new appointee, if there were one, would be strongly advised not to produce any surprises in this matter? Sincerely, Stephen Miller c/o Dept of English, King's College London, The Strand, London WC2R 2LS England E-Mail JANET UDLE031 @ UK.AC.KCL.CC.OAK From: Ken Steele Subject: Inquiry for HUMANIST Date: Sun, 23 Jul 89 14:52:19 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 382 (521) An acquaintance of mine is interested in locating the source of the following lines, which appeared in the August 26-September 1 1988 _Times Literary Supplement_ (p. 925). The lines describe a centipede, . . . happy, quite, Until a toad, for fun, Enquired which leg came after which Which brought his mind to such a pitch He lay bewildered in the ditch Forgetting how to run. The answer to this question may well be extremely obvious, or nonexistent, but unfortunately I can think of no other efficient way to find out. Thanks. Ken Steele From: James Woolley Subject: Nota Bene bibliographic utility Date: 22 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 383 (522) Some questions concerning the new Nota Bene bibliography utility: --Will it generate footnotes? Most of the world still uses footnotes, MLA notwithstanding. --Will I be able to construct my own style sheet, in effect, if I'm using, say, (British) Oxford University Press style, or MHRA Style Book style? --How will I bring a given bibliography entry into a paper I'm working on? --How much memory will this utility require? how much disk space? --Is there any limit on the length of fields? --Do I correctly understand that this utility capitalizes words in titles as a given style requires? I posed these questions in a letter to Dragonfly two months ago but unfortunately have had no answer. I would welcome comments or discussion from readers of this list. James Woolley, English, Lafayette College, Easton, PA 18042, USA Bitnet: woolleyj@lafayett UUCP: rutgers!lafcol!woolleyj From: Jim McSwain Subject: on-line libraries in Illinois Date: MON 24 JUL 1989 16:15:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 282 (523) A recent issue of ILLINOIS LIBRARIES, 71 (#3-4 March/April 1989): 185-88 contains useful information for HUMANIST participants who wish to gain access to the holdings of major libraries in Illinois including the facility at Champaign-Urbana. ILLINET Online is a statewide online union catalogue network in Illinois. Those outside the state may use it to search for titles and gain bibliographic information. It includes DePaul University, Northern Illinois Univ., Catholic Theological Union (Chicago), in addition to a host of local county and municipal systems with a total of approximately 3,000,000 entries! If you have a modem, you can access the system by setting you software parameters to half duplex, 7 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity, and either 300, 1200 or 2400 baud (it is autobaud, so it sets the system to match your settings). The numbers are 312- 996-8844 or 217-333-2494, 0700-2400 hours M-F, 0800-2400 hours on Sat., and 01200 to 2400 hours on Sun. Once you "connect," hit the "return" key to call up the ILLINET Online logo, and follow the prompts from there. I have used the search procedures before, and if you think you need further instructions call the help desk at 312- 996-7280/217--333-3102 or Kristine Hammerstrand at 312-996-7853/ 217-244-7593. If there are other online catalogues you wish to access, I may have the information you need. Feel free to contact me at f0a8@usouthal. Regards, JMcSwain From: Michael Ossar Subject: ancient israeli perfume Date: Thu, 20 Jul 89 08:36 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 384 (524) The New York Times carried a report about three or four months ago about the archaological expedition in Israel that discovered the ancient perfume. The vial was so well sealed that the perfume was still liquid, although it had lost its aroma. It was made from a plant that has since become extinct. I don't recall any reference to the ark in the Times report, but I believe there was speculation that the perfume had been used to annoint the kings of Israel. From: bobh@phoenix (Robert Hollander) Subject: Re: 3.276 European contacts? Greeks reading? (58) Date: Sun, 23 Jul 89 13:00:21 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 385 (525) In the _Confessions_ Augustine reports his surprise that Ambrose did _not_ read aloud (when reading to himself). That's a small piece of evidence that reading aloud in private was a continuing ancient tradition. From: elli@harvunxw.BITNET (Elli Mylonas) Subject: Silent Reading Date: Sun, 23 Jul 89 19:14:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 386 (526) One article that summarizes information is Knox, BMW. "Silent Reading in Antiquity, " GRBS. 1968. pp. 421-435. There is also a vast literature on orality and literacy, don't know if that addresss the problem per se, however. You might also look under reading or books in the Pauly-Wissowa. I can send some info on orality, if it seems fruitful. --elli mylonas From: gwp%dido.caltech.edu@Hamlet.Bitnet Subject: silent reading in antiquity Date: Sat, 22 Jul 89 13:45:04 -0700 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 387 (527) Geoff Rockwell writes: [deleted quotation] The received wisdom for many years was that silent reading under any circumstances was extraordinary in Greek and Roman antiquity, but sometime in the sixties (I believe it was) Bernard Knox argued that, although the primary method of reading literary texts was aloud, the reading of letters, wills, and everyday matter could be silent without arousing interest. (I think Knox's paper was published in *Greek, Roman, & Byzantine Studies*.) One of the primary passages suggesting the unusualness of silent reading occurs in Augustine, *Confessions* 6.3 (AD 397-98): When he read, his eyes scanned the page and his heart explored the meaning, but his voice was silent and his tongue was still. All could approach him freely, and it was not usual for visitors to be announced, so that often, when we came to see him, we found him reading like this in silence, for he never read aloud. We would sit there quietly, for no one had the heart to disturb him when he was so engrossed in study. After a time we went away again, guessing that in the short time when he was free from the turmoil of other men's affairs and was able to refresh his own mind, he would not wish to be distracted. Perhaps he was afraid that, if he read aloud, some obscure passage in the author he was reading might raise a question in the mind of an attentive listener, and he would then have to explain the meaning or even discuss some of the more difficult points. If he spent his time in this way, he would not manage to read as much as he wished. Perhaps a more likely reason why he read to himself was that he needed to spare his voice, which quite easily became hoarse. But whatever his reason, we may be sure it was a good one. The usual assumption about this passage is that if a man of Augustine's learning and experience could find silent reading so puzzling, it must have been normal to read aloud. I haven't studied the topic for years, so I'd be interested in learning of more recent work. -Mac Pigman gwp@hss.caltech.edu (internet) pigman@caltech.bitnet (bitnet) From: Subject: Re: Greeks reading Date: Mon, 24 Jul 89 09:10 PST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 388 (528) In response to Goeff Rockwell's request for information about how the Greeks read: The evidence for the claim that the Greeks read out loud seems to consist in the fact that it was thought noteworthy when someone read silently. See e.g. Plutarch, Brutus 5, on Julius Caesar and Augustine, Confessions 6.3, on Ambrose. See W. B. Stanford, The Sound of Greek (Berkeley: U. of California Press, 1967) for more. Best wishes, Charles From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.247 ideal lab? genealogy? Nota Bene? (138) Date: Sat, 22 Jul 89 18:23:30 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 389 (529) Someone responded to the ideal lab question with suggestions concerning grammar checkers among other tools. As a result, I swapped an empty xt case for a copy of Grammatik III and tried it out. The results were interesting, to say the most, and befuddling to say the least. The most remarkable "feature" was that when analyzing Alice in Wonderland, one of our most popular machine readable texts, Grammatik reported 1600 sentences, of which over 2500 were shorter than 14 words. However, on a more serious note, it didn't seem to handle single quote marks at all, though it did quite well with regular ones. After it responded that my writing was at grade level 14 (too high for the audience I was addressing in that instance) I fooled it into giving a result of 7, simply by having Word Perfect replace the commas with periods. I would love to hear others' experience with Grammatik III, since I understand it can be a very worthwhile tool in the hands of the experienced user. Michael S. Hart (National Clearinghouse for Machine Readable Texts) From: Michael W Jennings Subject: NB Textbase; FYI 3000 Date: Mon, 24 Jul 89 09:21:28 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 390 (530) On the subject of text bases: frequent reference has been made to Nota Bene's text base facility. That aspect of Nota Bene is based (in slightly modified form) on a program called FYI 3000. There is now a FYI 3000 Plus (available from FYI Inc., P.O. Box 26481, Austin, TX 78755; (512) 346-0134). I have found it easy to use, flexible, and fast. It is compatible with most major word processors (I use it with WordPerfect) and costs a fraction of Nota Bene's (scandalous) price. From: Lou Burnard's 400 lines Subject: conference report - a bit long but quite interesting Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 12:19 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 391 (531) Information Technology and the Research Process. Cranfield Institute of Technology, 18-21 July 1989 Conference Report Lou Burnard All academic communities define themselves partly by regular gatherings dedicated to self-examination; the community of "information scientists", i.e. those skilled in the management and exploitation of library and analogous resources in research, is no exception. During the seventies there had been a regular series of such gatherings known as the Cranfield Conference. These having now fallen into desuetude, when Brian Perry, head of the British Library's Research and Development Department, welcomed us to this reborn version he naturally proposed that it should be called "Not the Cranfield Conference". The four day event, jointly sponsored by the British Library, the University of Pittsburgh's Department of Library Science, and the UK Computer Board, attracted a small but agreeably heterogenous audience. Attendance at sessions averaged 60 from a total registration of just under a hundred, largely composed of information science professionals, computerate librarians, human- factors computing theoreticians, a sprinkling of civil servants and various other varieties of professional research support people, drawn fairly even handedly from universities and polytechnics, with even a few token representatives of industrial concerns such as Shell. Although the British formed the majority, followed by the Americans and the French, several other countries were represented including Sweden, Eire, Canada, Netherlands, Turkey and Bophutatswana. The conference bore every sign of having been carefully arranged to maximise opportunities for informal contact and discussion: there were no parallel sessions, and the timetable was not a tight one, with five keynote speakers, one panel session and a paltry 20 presentations spread over four and a half days. The venue, Cranfield Institute of Technology, notorious for its sybaritic charm as a conference centre, also contributed something to this end. As befits experts in the research process, the organisers had gone out of their way to create a stimulating, agreeable, thought-provoking environment in which creativity and information flow would flourish. But what were we supposed to talk *about*? -------------------- [A complete version of this announcement is now available on the file-server, s.v. INFOTECH REPORT. A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: SUSAN@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK Subject: Reminder - NewOED Conference at Oxford University Date: Wed, 26 JUL 89 10:10:35 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 392 (532) This is a reminder that registrations for the NewOED conference at Oxford University on 18-19 September 1989 must be received by 31 August 1989. Registrations received after that date will be subject to a surcharge of 20 pounds and will only be accepted if there is room. Susan Hockey ----------------------------------------------------------------------- DICTIONARIES IN THE ELECTRONIC AGE Fifth Annual Conference of the University of Waterloo Centre for the New OED Jointly presented by Oxford University Press Oxford University Computing Service University of Waterloo St. Catherine's College, Oxford, England -- 18-19 September 1989 (For associated workshops on Dictionary Assessment and Criticism and on Developing Lexical Resources, see below.) -------------------- [A complete version of this announcement is now available on the file-server, s.v. New_OED CONFRNCE. A copy may be obtained by issuing either an interactive or a batch-job command, addressed to LISTSERV@UTORONTO -- not to HUMANIST. See your Guide to HUMANIST for information about how to issue such a command. Problems should be reported to David Sitman, A79@TAUNIVM, after you have consulted the Guide and tried all appropriate alternatives.] From: "Eric Johnson DSU, Madison, SD 57042" Subject: Grammar and style checkers Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 07:29:26 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 393 (533) As the creator of a grammar and style checker (StrongWriter), I think I understand why Michael Hart got the results he did from Grammatik III. Grammar and style checkers are intended to analyze files consisting of a few hundred words, and should function the same on several thousand words. However, if a checker is given a whole novel consisting of thousands of sentences, it is difficult to know what will result. The sentence count provided by Grammatic III will probably be correct if it is given only a chapter of _Alice_in_Wonderland_ rather than the whole novel at once. Single quotation marks are a problem. Since the same character is also an apostrophe, it must be included in the definition of a word such as CAN'T, but the program must be written in such a way that the single quotation mark is not considered part of a word if the word happens to be the first found within single quotation marks ( I remember saying "He called 'Help me!'" the word is HELP and not 'HELP.) Replacing commas with periods in a text should reduce the grade level, since readability is based (in part) on sentence length. However, the end of a sentence is recognized not only as having a period (or other terminal punctuation) but as a period and two spaces. Therefore, changing commas to periods should increase the sentence count only when the commas were as the ends of lines. Grammar and style checkers are of value to student writers because they point out common blunders and make suggestions for revision. As a writing teacher, I believe any program that turns writers' attention back for additional revision is helpful. Eric Johnson ERIC@SDNET From: David.A.Bantz@mac.Dartmouth.EDU Subject: Re: 3.281 author, author? NB bib utility? (74) Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 08:11:51 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 394 (534) --- James Woolley asked several good questions regarding Nota Bene bibliography utility which a previous contribution praised to the heavens. I thought readers might like answers for End Note & Microsoft Word, a package we are providing at Dartmouth for combined price of $105: --Will it generate footnotes? Most of the world still uses footnotes, MLA notwithstanding. [deleted quotation]text; end notes may be gathered at chapter or section breaks, or at the end of the entire document. --Will I be able to construct my own style sheet, in effect, if I'm using, say, (British) Oxford University Press style, or MHRA Style Book style? [deleted quotation]conference proceedings, etc. as opposed to monographs, journal articles and the like) which have their own formats. Bibliographies may be numbered or not. --How will I bring a given bibliography entry into a paper I'm working on? [deleted quotation]EndNote from the DA menu; you will have a window with author/title list of your references (since it is a desk accessory, you have not quit your word processing application or closed the document). Select the proper reference by clicking on it, or use EndNote's Find command to search for any portion of the reference, including your notes. You can select multiple references. Choose "Copy", return to the paper you're writing and choose "Paste;" the referece(s) is (are) inserted into the text. (They can be automatically formatted according to various styles for references later.) --How much memory will this utility require? how much disk space? [deleted quotation]or create styles, & maintain your master bibliograpy, is 203K (with all the supplied styles). You need some space for the bibliography per se, of course. --Is there any limit on the length of fields? [deleted quotation] --Do I correctly understand that this utility capitalizes words in titles as a given style requires? [deleted quotation]It is possible to get around this by creating an alternative title field, but this is, obviously, less than ideal. From: Subject: bibliography software Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 14:53 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 395 (535) I ask a bibliography program to do two things: 1) to produce bibliographies in many formats from a single bibliography database, and 2) to extract from a large bibliography database only those entries I happen to cite in the article at hand. Scribe can do both of these in the VMS world, and so can Bibtex (which seems to be an extension of LaTeX). Nota Bene seems to be designed to do what Scribe does, but in the DOS world. Pro-Tem software has a program called Bibliography, which does both of these tasks in the cp/m world. The last of these is very cheap--Spite Software in Oregon is selling it at fire-sale prices, perhaps because CP/M is such a dead horse. You can do the first task, but not the second, with Wordperfect and even with Wordstar. All you have to do is to imagine the bibliography as a mailmerge file, with the bibliographic database as the "address list," and a user-defined entry-template as the "letter." All you need to do is to tell the program that you don't want any headers or footers on the pages, no carriage returns, and a page length of six or seven lines (just as you would if you were printing mailing labels) with no page numbers. You can kludge together a bibliography maintenance facility with any text formatter that will permit you to 1. define a string for substitution (as in mailmerging) and 2. call in a file (as in mailmerging). I am now writing a guide to producing bibliographies in many formats from one bibliographic database file using the public domain formatter Roff4. My method is a bit cumbersome, but Roff4 is free. I'll gladly send a copy to anyone who is interested. (I have also written macros to enable Roff4 to format large documents such as dissertations and books, making tables of contents, endnotes, forward and backward cross-references, etc.) John Burt Department of English Brandeis University From: Jim McSwain Subject: 5th generation computers Date: TUE 25 JUL 1989 19:59:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 287 (536) A recent issue of IEE REVIEW, 35 (#6 June 1989): 202, contains an article entitled "The 5th Generation coming of age?" It is an interesting discussion of a project sponsored by the Japanese government to build an advanced computer. ICOT, the Institute for new-generation computer technology, is in its final 3-year stage of work. Their objective has been to build a 1000 processor machine, which means a parallel device which has 1000 CPUs (PC-clones have normally only one!). Each processor will have a 1Mlips capability (1,000,000 logical instructions per second processing capability). In comparison a SUN workstation might have a 100klips capability. Other objectives include natural language processing, automatic generation of programs, expert systems capability (you explain your "problem" and based on vast amounts of accumulated data and insight the machine offers possible courses of action), etc. The Japanese government has spent an estimate $5,000,000,000 on the project (some say more than that), and has employed a large number of experts in the project. Although there is some doubt about what has been accomplished, HUMANIST participants might ponder what role such a device, if successfully completed and marketed, might play in future academic situations as an "expert" system in the humanities to lower the cost of largescale instruction of Western Civ., etc. Or what role education in the humanities will play in the future training of students who face a job market with severly diminished opportunities for "white-collar" experts... Perhaps the effects will not be as severe as I propose, but I think it is something we might discuss and ask questions to one another about various possibiliites. Regards, JMcSwain f0a8@usouthal From: Martin Ryle Subject: RE: 3.275 anti-intellectualism, etc. (218) Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 14:48:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 396 (537) Sheldon Richmond denigrates the value of seeking rigorous definition of terms in intellectual debate, and he demands that we must admit the existence of transcendent reality, if we are to escape our cultural malaise. Unfortunately, I am unwilling to admit to such a "reality" without being persuaded of its existence, and to be persuaded I must understand better than I do now what the term is meant to imply. Does "transcendent reality" mean something like Plato's world of forms or something like Aquinas' First Mover or something like Voltaire's clockmaker or something like something else. I hope that SR will not assume malice or psychosis of those who attempt to understand his thesis in terms that resonate in their own experience. As a prof once told me in my youth, "'Self-evident' really means only 'evident to one's self' ." Until I have some confidence that SR and I are talking about the same transcendence, I will be forced to assume that the term carries connotations that he may not intend. Try again, Sheldon. From: Subject: the status of intellectual culture, clerics, and a Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 14:47 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 397 (538) A hypothetical debate between a Critic and a Cleric, and a fish story --------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is a hypothetical discussion about a hypothetical group of clergy that might be helpful to illustrating what is meant in the question of the intellectual status of intellectual culture. Any resemblance to new wave theology is purely coincidental. I only use this hypothetical example for illustrating the thesis about the irrelevance and debate-closing nature of seeking definitions: Critic: Are clergy crypto-atheists? Cleric: My goodness, I don't understand your question. You don't define 'clergy', and you don't define 'crypto-atheist'. So,I cannot answer your question. Critic: People who are members of the clergy usually practice their profession by leading congregants in prayers, giving sermons, and talking about a book that mentions a deity. However, most of these clergy do not agree with the views expressed about this deity they find in the good book, nor do these clergy agree with the views of their congregants. Hence, from the point of view of their congregants, if the clergy ever clearly expressed their understanding of "GOD" to their congregants, they would be deemed to be atheists. Instead, clergy disguise their views about "GOD" to themselves and their congregants by interpreting religious belief as a metaphor for existential problems. So, clergy are crypto-atheists, i.e. covert atheists. Cleric: Well, I still don't understand what you mean by "clergy" and "crypto- atheist". You haven't defined the terms. Critic: The crypto-atheist position involves the following tacit framework: 1. One should not believe a position unless it is understandable to a member of modern culture. 2. Assertions about the literal existence of some supreme being, i.e. "GOD", who literally created the world, and who intervenes in nature through miracles, and talks to various people, etc, are unintelligible to modern day people. 3. We should restrict our discussions to that which is within current standards of intelligiblity or understanding. 4. Therefore, the traditional views about "GOD are not worthy of discussion, though we can re-interpret them metaphorically as symbols for human suffering, hope, and salvation. Cleric: Now that you have DEFINED "crypto-atheist", though not rigorously enough by my standards, I don't know too many clergy who would agree with every criterion you state, and so most cannot qualify as crypto-atheists. It would seem sufficient to explore current re-interpretations of the biblical views, rather than to critically evaluate those views of a past culture. So, we do not have to decide the issue of whether "GOD" exists. That issue is beyond current standards of intelligibility. ------ Our mythical defender of a hypothetical clergy postpones discussing the hypothesis that clergy are crypto-atheists by insisting on having criterial definitions. Firstly, is he correct about insisting on having a definition of of 'clergy' and 'crypto-atheist'? Secondly, is he correct about asserting that if one disagrees with some of the above 'definitional' statements for 'crypto-atheist', then one is not a crypto-atheist? Firstly, insisting on definitions or treating definitions as a necessary pre-requisite for a discussion, particularly criterial definitions, reduces the variety of methods to gaining mutual understanding about the questions and views under discussion, to the singular and narrow method of proposing the necessary and sufficient conditions for the application of terms. Secondly, the point about calling a position 'crypto', (or, tacit) is that those who hold a position tacitly, would for various reasons either deny the position or claim not to understand it when asked about it explicitly. The way to argue for the thesis that a person has a certain tacit position is to argue that the tacit position is a logical presupposition or logical consequence of other explicit positions. Why insist on definitions? Is it the only means to gain understanding of the content of a statement or question? There are alternatives means. For instance, one can seek an understanding by requesting examples or analogies; by paraphrasing and asking if the interlocutor would accept the paraphrase or summary. However, when one seeks a criterial definition, one demands a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for the application of a term. Thus, a criterial definition states the denotation of words, rather than the content of propositions. In effect, the demand for a criterial definition shifts the discussion from asking substantive questions, making statements, interpretations, analyses, and arguments by way of seeking the premisses and consequences of propositions, to talking about the use of terms. One can gain an understanding of a question and viewpoint without shifting ground from directly answering the question, or discussing the truth-value of the answers. One can re-state the question and viewpoint in one's own words, and one can provide one's objections to the viewpoint, or the question. When one's objections to those re-stated views are answered directly by one's interlocutor, then mutual understanding has been achieved. In short, seeking definitions is a strategy for closing debate rather than continuing debate. Furthermore, demanding that definitions be a pre-requisite for a discussion is a strategy for sabotaging the commencement of discussion. Let us momentarily, return to the question, Is intellectual culture, anti- intellectual? The answers are either, Yes, or No. One of the symptoms of anti-intellectualism is an over-concern with terminology. Instead of directly confronting issues i.e. --"Does God exist?"-- the anti-intellectual will talk about the terminology of "exist" and "god-talk". One would think that part of intellectual honesty involves concern with the proper use of language. Yes, of course it does. But, the point is not to evade issues by terminological discussion, but to use language to gain an understanding of what the real issues and problems are. When one is asked, "Does God exist?", the intellectually honest approach is to state either Yes or No, and provide an explanation for one's answer if requested. The evasive technique is to avoid the question by asking the interlocutor to give a definition of every term in the question, and then to find loop-holes in the definitions, i.e. by finding ambiguities, and cases where the term is applied similarly but differently. In other words, the interlocutor demands criteria for the acceptiblity of definitions which are impossible to meet given the ambiguous and metaphorical nature of language. Indeed, the most intellectually challenging questions--the meta-questions about disciplines-- are the ones where language is most ambiguous because what we are questioning is the adequacy of the current standards for asking questions and evaluating answers in various domains. To refuse to answer the meta-questions about a given domain because the terms of the meta-question do not accord with the way the terms are defined in a particular domain, merely self-legitimates the domain. For instance, to refuse to answer questions about the rationality of a culture or domain because 'rationality' applies to individuals and not to domains, avoids the question. When asking about the rationality of a culture or domain we are asking whether the standards of a domain help us to gain a better grasp of reality--help us to understand the challenges reality poses, and help us to better evaluate our tentative answers. Those who refuse to answer such questions because of a terminological fiat about the proper use of 'rationality' as restricted to individuals, tacilty assume that all cultures are by definition rational, and in the same breath, claim not to understand the assumption. As 'realistic', they would admit that most members of a given culture are 'irrational' much of the time, but would deny any sense to asking whether the standards of rationality are themselves rational. So, to deny that one can question the adequacy of the standards of reality, truth, and rationality of a culture is to tacitly admit that all cultures are rational; that rationality achieves reality and truth; and that all standards of reality, rationality, and truth --as culture-dependent --are historical. One can assume those positions without asserting them; and moreover, one can even deny them explicitly because standards are self-legitimating; or, because the terms 'rational', 'real', and 'true', apply individually and contextually. The more sophisticated manner of assuming a framework without having to articulate the framework, and without even having to admit that the framework is intelligible, is to assert that the intelligibility of all terms is relative to highly specified contexts. The human situation is that we are faced by problems that have a basis in objective reality. When we are intellectually honest, we wonder whether the approaches or domains we use allow us to adequately interpret or understand the problems, and whether the approaches we use help us to adequately improve upon our mistakes. Here is a story about a fishing community that might help convey what is meant by the general form of the realist meta-question: "Does such-and- such a methodology get us closer to reality?" Suppose a fishing community goes about trying to do their job, and comes home with empty nets. They refine their nets; and still return from their trips with empty nets. We ask them, what is the purpose of going fishing when you come home with empty nets? Well we just want to improve the quality of our nets. Surely, that is good enough. Of course, it is. That is a wonderful thing to do: we improve the quality of our nets, but don't have to catch any fish, they tells us. In fact, who is to say there is any fish out there? The goal of fishing surely cannot be to catch fish; it must be to make better and better nets. By which standards, you ask? By our standards, whatever we decide to invent; for our standards by DEFINITION determine what is a legitimate standard for improving the quality of fishing nets. But you say that we are supposed to catch fish and we come home with empty nets. Don't you see that either the nets chase the fish away, or the 'fish' are nothing above and beyond the motion of our nets in the water. Our nets are the only means we have for observing fish in our murky pond; and to observe fish is to catch them. As soon as we approach the fish, the fish turn tail and swim like scarred rabbits. When we don't approach the fish with our nets, they are there, but of course, we can't directly observe them. Well we see pertubations in the water, and that's good enough. By the Verificationist Principle of Meaning, a 'fish'=(df.) 'perturbations of the murky water of our pond when we have the nets in the water', 'catching fish'=(df.) 'observing or measuring perturbations in the murky water in our pond when we have the nets in the water'. To wonder what 'causes' the perturbations; i.e. our nets, our some hidden invariable, is to ask a meaningless question. A 'fish' is the phenomenology of the movement of water around our nets. We can't capture 'noumenal' fish. At best, according to Heisenberg's Principle of Uncertainty, we can increase the certainty of our measurements of the position of observed-fish, when we only slightly move our nets in the water; and we can increase the certainty of our measurements of the momentum of observed-fish, when we rapidly drag our nets through the water. The precision of the measurements of the two uncertainties varies inversely. So you ask, why do we go fishing? Just for the sport of it; to improve our skills at fishing, even though we don't 'catch' fish. Indeed, how can you raise the question, 'are our nets adquate to catch fish?'. Firstly, the adequacy of our nets is determined intrinsically by our own standards of adequacy. Secondly, it is a bit jejeune, given what we now know about how our nets disturb fish, to question whether there are any fish out there in our pond. In any case, what do you mean by "out there" and "fish"? Luckily this fishing community buys its supply of "fish" from the grocery store. ------------------- Sheldon Richmond From: Willard McCarty Subject: Enough Date: 26 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 289 (539) Once again I think we need to take stock of what we're doing with Humanist and to impose on ourselves some restraint. The long and very bulky discussion that began with "education and the universities", then mutated into physical and metaphorical "uncertainty", and has settled into variations on the theme of "anti-intellectualism" has become oppressive. As reader of Humanist I have felt the unpleasant weight of this discussion, and some others have told me likewise. Were we all sitting around a table in a seminar, we would doubtless have seen by now grimaces of discomfort at certain points, even perhaps heard the sorts of noises that people produce when they're impatient. E- mail makes for a semiotically deprived global village, so occasionally the headman (that's me) has to step in and say what would have been communicated much more effectively by subverbal means in person long ago. Yes, I have been sloppy as editor, but sometimes with a purpose. When I have had a method in my sloppiness, it has been to encourage the experimental aspects of Humanist. Now in its third year, it does different things less often than in its first few months, but innovations happen, and these delight not just me, I think. We have recently developed, for example, an interesting query service for members with all sorts of questions. I don't see much wrong with that. Do you? Discussions, however, are another matter because they tend to be bulky. We simply must keep ourselves to our general topic, computing in the humanities, or like the creatures of fermentation, we will do ourselves in with our own most wonderful output. So, I call for a halt to the questions of anti- intellectualism (continue privately, if you will) and call again for increased awareness of what we're here for. Willard McCarty From: Jim McSwain Subject: 4th c. story Date: TUE 25 JUL 1989 09:18:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 398 (540) A friend from graduate school related this story to me hoping to find the source of it. As it goes a Roman army commander in the early 4th c. on a campaign in the east left his men in northern Syria to visit Antioch. There he met a longtime acquaintance who had become a Christian. He asked his longtime friend who or what the Nazarite "carpenter" was doing: the friend replied that the Nazarite carpenter (refering to Jesus) was building an army to destroy Rome. Later this same army commander who had visited Antioch and had met his longtime friend lay dying. His last words were: "I think the Nazarite is winning." If anyone knows the source of this story, I would appreciate hearing from them at J.McSwain f0a8@usouthal. THANKS! From: Natalie Maynor Subject: Query Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 14:12:34 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 399 (541) A colleague here is trying to remember what famous writer or artist wrote a letter offering his July birthday to a little girl who was unhappy about having a Christmas birthday. (I'm sending this to HUMANIST mainly as a way of demonstrating the glories of the electronic world to some non-users here. I haughtily said, "I can get the answer to your question on my computer within the next few days." So I'm counting on you HUMANISTs to come through!) Thanks. Natalie Maynor (maynor@msstate.bitnet) From: EVENS@UTORPHYS Subject: Grammar checkers Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 15:10 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 400 (542) How would a grammar checker (your favourite variety) handle a name such as 't Hooft? (Pronounced something like 'tooft') The 't has to be spaced from the rest, and the upper/lower case has to be as shown. How will it tell this from somthing like "he said 'no'" or "he said he 'can't' go" or such? Will it think this is a messed up end of a sentence and that the 't belongs to a contracted word? Just what will it do? dan evens From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: Japanese Monster Computer Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 13:22:23 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 291 (543) Mr. McSwain points out that increased computing power will put many white- collar experts out of work. Could it be that computers have done TOO good a job? Perhaps they have reduced labor to the point that most people, including academics, don't need to work 40 hours per week. One down-side of the expansion of career opportunities to persons of all genders and ethnic groups is that we now have to find more things for more people to do--one of those things-to-do being finding a way to reduce the total amount of work in the world! Perhaps what HUMANISTS need to do is help to position the academy as the ultimate leisure industry. The success of adult-education programs proves that people will pay for what T. S. Eliot calls superior amusements. Can't we offer people the option of passing their time in an interesting, if not mechanically productive, manner? From: "TONY LENTZ 865-1985" Subject: Silent Reading Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 10:27 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 401 (544) I was intrigued by the question of silent reading in Ancient Greece when it arose in my Classical Rhetoric class at the U of Michigan in the late 1970s. I picked it up as a dissertation topic, and ORALITY AND LITERACY IN HELLENIC GREECE was the result (Carbondale: Southern Illinois Univ. Pr., 1989. _ _ _ __ Tony M. Lentz /\ | | | | | | \ University Park, Pa. Dept. of Speech Comm. / \ | | | | | > (814) 238-3994 16802 Penn State University / \ |_| | |_| /__ T2L @ PSUVM ...!psuvax1!psuvm.bitnet!t2l (uucp) t2l%psuvm.bitnet@wscvm.arpa (arpa) From: Peter D. Junger Subject: How a centipede can walk Date: Tue, 25 Jul 89 12:03 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 402 (545) I do not know the source of the verse about the centipede, but I would very much like to have it and a copy of the text as well. I must use this as an example of the way that trying to know what gets in the way of knowing how at least once a month during term time. So I hope that Ken Steele posts whatever responses he gets. Peter D. Junger--CWRU Law School--Cleveland, OH--bitnet: JUNGER@CWRU From: Willard McCarty Subject: the road to excess Date: 27 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 293 (546) My thanks to those Humanists who immediately wrote in with supporting words for this global-e-village headman's halt-calling. (Sorry, it's the poetry I was raised on.) I continue to think that we must pay attention to what we're doing. One cherished friend pounced on me for using the phrase "what we're all about", exclaiming with his usual satiric wit that at least someone knew! I had to reply that at times I could certainly tell what Life is not about. Another wrote in saying that he hoped we would not turn into mere exchangers of information. I think he has not much to fear. Mindfulness is the virtue I tend to invoke, but it is certainly hard to say what that is, and perhaps even harder to achieve. Certainly respect for others in all their diversity is part of it, and taking over the stage for lengthy orations is not obviously a sign that the speaker cares much about his or her listeners. Alas, those of us below cannot make faces or fidget, but anyone here can write to me and express discomfort. Do not think that because Humanist's messages technically originate from my account, or because I personally send each one out, that I am in solidarity with the actual author. Even when I am the author, I may not always identify with what has been said..... But let us not talk about the fiction of the ego or we'll really get into muddy waters. As I say, Humanist is what you make of it. I invite anyone who thinks that I am in control to start his or her own electronic seminar and then see. Willard McCarty From: elli@harvunxw.BITNET (Elli Mylonas) Subject: centipede Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 08:58:10 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 403 (547) Although at first I thought I remembered those verses from a Lewis Carroll poem, I discovered that it was actually "The Pig who could not Jump". After some investigation, i found that My "Children's book of Verse" edited by Untermeyer says that this poem is anonymous. --elli mylonas From: Axel Wupper Subject: Umlaute and accents Date: Tue, 13 Jul 89 8:15:25 MEZ X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 404 (548) Someone suggested to replace the 'Umlaute' and 'sz' with ae, oe, ...,ss. Unfortunately it is nearly impossible to replace that conversion. Take a look at a simple German sentence (national characters are marked): _ _ "Man mus viel uber Steuern wissen." (You have to know much about taxes.) If you replace the national charcters you get "Man muss viel ueber Steuern wissen." If you want to use this text with national characters it translates back to _ _ _ _ "Man mus viel uber Steurn wisen." So much about German national charcters. If you look at yesterdays HUMANIST (v. 3, No. 238) you will find a lot of French entries, e.g. "Centre d'Analyse et de Traitement Automatique de la Bible et des Traditions E'crites," Is it a 'd' with acute or 'E' followed by an apostrophy? I suggest using at least two chars to describe the accent/national character. Our department publishes a journal containing a bibliography with entries from Hungary, Poland, France - call it Europe. W use the following codes written *before* the letter. Accents above letter below letter --------------------------------------------------------- Double acute %" %"" 'Arc' %( %(( 'Semicircle' %) %)) Apostrophy %, %,, 'Beam' %- %-- Dot %. %.. Diaeresis %: %:: Acute %/ %// Grave %\ %\\ Hacek %> %>> Circumflex %< %<< Tilde %? %?? 'Curl' %* %** Cedilla %; German national characters: ^a ^o ^u ^s ^A ^O ^U '-' through letter (Icelandic, Polish): #.d #.l #.p #.D #.L #.P '/' through letter (Scandinavian): #.o #.o Ligature (letter + 'e'): #.^a #.^o #.^A #.^O 'i' without dot (Turkish): #.i Everybody can change the combinations (which normally don't appear in plain text) his terminal or printer can display back to the appropriate code. Sorry, this got a bit long. Regards Axel Wupper Department of Historical Geography - University of Bonn Konviktstr. 11 - D-5300 Bonn 1 (Fed. Rep. of Germany) Bitnet: UPG202@DBNRHRZ1 Noisenet: +49 (2 28) 73 36 90 From: EVENS@UTORPHYS Subject: New tech and employment Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 17:10 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 405 (549) In Vol. 3, No. 291. Wednesday, 26 Jul., Kevin L. Cope writes [deleted quotation] Historically the effect of introducing new techonology has always been a net increase in total employment. This is because as the unit price of any product falls the number of people who can afford it rises, and the number of units each person purchases rises. Thus the total demand for the product always rises more than enough to compensate for the decreased unit labor requirement. This is documented in the May 1989 Scientific American. An example a little closer to home. If office automation allows an office of a given size to function with fewer secretaries, then a university of a given size can decrease its secretarial requirements, thus decreasing tuition costs. Then more students will attend, and individuals will attend longer, thus creating more demand for universities, and causing the university to expand. The expansion is (historically has been) large enough to cause more secretaries (indeed staff and faculty at all levels) to be hired overall. The one thing that must be emphasized is that with new technology will come demands for new skills. Again in the secretary example, the office of today is very unlike the office of even as little as 20 years ago. dan evens From: Donald Spaeth (0532) 33 3573 Subject: Loss of white collar jobs Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 18:03:39 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 406 (550) I have yet to be convinced that computers are labour-saving devices. On the contrary! Employment simply shifts into new areas. In this country (Britain) we are facing a shortage of c. 30,000 IT professionals in the coming decade. Donald Spaeth Arts Computing Development Officer University of Leeds email: earn/bitnet: d.a.spaeth at leeds.ac.uk (janet) janet: d.a.spaeth at uk.ac.leeds From: Marshall Gilliland 306/966-5501 Subject: New LISTS (98 lines) Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 18:52 CST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 296 (551) Members of HUMANIST with access to BITNET and its related networks may wish to know of these new lists, excerpted from the June 1989 issue of BITNET'S "NETMONTH". Marshall Gilliland gilliland@sask.usask.ca -------------------------- New Mailing Lists from NEW-LIST, North Dakota State University Send list announcements to NEW-LIST@NDSUVM1 Each of the lists described here is maintained on a LISTSERV machine unless otherwise noted. To subscribe to one of these lists you would send the following command to the the appropriate server via mail or message. SUBSCRIBE listname Your_full_name For example, if your name is Kristen Shaw and you want to subscribe to a list described as "DIAPERS@YALEVM" you would send the following command to LISTSERV@YALEVM: SUBSCRIBE DAIPERS Kristen Shaw To make contributions to the list you would send mail to DIAPERS@YALEVM. Please note that this is just and example and to my knowledge there are no mailing lists about diapers (although you never know). =============================================================== EMUSIC is a complementary pair of lists, EMUSIC-L and EMUSIC-D, both devoted to the discussion of Electronic Music. The intent of the lists is to provide as open a forum as possible, while allowing the subscriber to actively choose the degree of participation, based on particular interests in any attendant sub-topic. The list EMUSIC-L is organized as an open conversation, with all input immediately distributed to the subscribers. Discussions on this list change rapidly, can be brief or long- winded, and range from aesthetics to technology. The list EMUSIC-D is a digest, and tends more toward a question and answer format. At times, if a topic seems to be likely to spin off from the main threads of discussion, the editor will recommend that it be transferred to the conversational list. In no case is dual subscription necessary. All input to EMUSIC-D is passed directly to EMUSIC-L, and relevant information generated there is edited into the digest. Both lists are actively monitored and moderated. ALLMUSIC @ AUVM This list is dedicated to the discussion of all forms of music, in all its aspects. Its founding is based on the understanding that most people who listen to and enjoy music do so from a variety of standpoints, and that a general, unlimited forum is desirable for both the integration and expansion of musical ideas, techniques, and understanding. Therefore, all topics having to do with music are welcome, including but not limited to: composition, performance, recording; research, critique, inquiry, advocacy; instrument design, ethnomusicology, psychacoustics, orchestration; jazz, classical, funk, plainchant; and anything else you can think of. If a topic is running that you have something to say about, or to question, jump in. If you have something entirely different in mind, start up another thread. Music is universal. With the advent of electronic communication, so are we. LITERARY @ UCF1VM LITERARY is a list for any lover of literature. Discussions will include favorite authors, favorite works, literary styles, criticisms, etc. (in fact, basically anything you can think of regarding literature, unless postings become too numerous). Postings from scholars as well as interested parties are welcome. AMNESTY @ JHUVM This list distributes Amnesty International's urgent action appeals, usually one per month. They are 1 or 2-page summaries of a specific case of human rights abuse, such as a small group of people who have been arrested wihtout reason, or are being held secretly, or tortured, etc. They give the prisoners' names, why they were arrested, who to write to, and what they suggest you say. Amnesty International is concerned with human rights, not just amnesty. Sometimes they ask members to write letters requesting not freedom, but better or more just treatment. You don't have to be a member of or endorse Amnesty International to receive this list. Additional discussion or info from other organizations may be distributed. -------------------- From: Charles Ess Subject: culture & science; Chaos Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 10:55:10 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 407 (552) As part of course next spring on the relationships between available technologies, prevailing religious attitudes, and the development of what become fundamental assumptions in the natural sciences, I'm looking more closely than I have before at St. Francis. There are two reasons for this: one, it seems to be a commonplace that the "Franciscan" attitude towards nature played an important role in turning the attention of at least a few folk (such as the Franciscans Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon, John Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham) towards an "experimental" attitude and interest in Creation/nature; and two, I was intrigued by the title of Roger D. Sorrell's recent book, _St. Francis of Assisi and Nature: Tradition and Innovation in Western Christian Attitudes toward the Environment_ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988) and have begun reading it. My first set of queries: as a non-medievalist, I would appreciate Humanists' wisdom on: a) additional sources for exploring the relationship between Medieval technologies, prevailing religious attitudes, and the early roots of experimental/natural science, and b) any opinions on Sorrell's book as a reliable guide to St. Francis and medieval attitudes. (I realize that for every Ph.D. there is an equal but opposite Ph.D., and so the last query may open a contentious but interesting debate.) Relatedly, a number of my colleagues are becoming excited about James Gleick's _Chaos_ as a potential candidate for a faculty seminar. Interestingly enough, many of our science faculty do not share this excitement and interest. A professor of physics who has read the book is unhappy with its lack of mathematics, and argues that since chaos theory is first of all a mathematical theory -- those of us who aren't conversant with differential equations really can't discuss it. Secondly, he has compared the listings of articles and books on chaos in the past ten years with his understanding of articles and books on quantum mechanics in its first ten years of life; since the first list is far shorter than the second list, his current opinion is that chaos theory is not really a significant development. My second set of queries: as someone who wants to introduce my students in the class on technology/culture/science to chaos theory -- I'm curious if other Humanists can comment on: a) similar discrepancies between interest in chaos among humanities faculty vs. science faculty; b) successful efforts to teach chaos in an interdisciplinary fashion Of course, additional comments on this reaction by my colleagues in the sciences as a possible indication of professional resistance to paradigm shifts, the influence of science as a _culture_ on the development of new sciences, etc., would also be welcome. Thanks in advance, Charles Ess Philosophy and Religion Drury College Springfield, MO 65802 From: HANLY@UOFMCC Subject: gender specific man haters Date: Thu, 27 Jul 89 13:01 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 408 (553) In English as far as I can determine we have `misogynists` to refer to persons who hate women, and `misanthropes' for persons who hate members of the human species. Is there a term which is male gender specific which refers to persons who hate males? What is it or should it be? Misandropists? Misandropes? Do other languages have the same lack of a common gender specific word for those who hate men? Ken Hanly Brandon UNiv. From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.289 e-texts Date: Wed, 26 Jul 89 19:28:02 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 298 (554) I would like to step into the "vacuum" possibly created by the departure of the anti-intellectualism discussion and propose the following: A discussion on the availability and worthiness of machine readable texts at all levels of the educational system. I would hope this to include: Comparisons to calulators' effect on mathematical education. The concept of "authoritative texts." The ease and accuracy of quoting. and The ease and accuracy of researching a corpus for suitable material. I assume and encourage the inclusion of other ramifications. Michael S. Hart (National Clearinghouse for Machine Readable Texts) From: FLANNAGA at OUACCVMB Subject: gender specific man-haters and "killer-women" Date: 28 July 1989, 18:24:16 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 409 (555) Ariosto in Cantos 19 and 20 of the *Orlando Furioso* constructs a sympathetic account of a nation of warlike women who rule themselves and regularly enslave or exterminate most of the men they encounter or even give birth to. They subject men to a severe test of strength, warlike skill and sexual potency: "Only he could escape this fate [being killed on contact or enslaved] who achieved victory over ten men in combat, and the same night in bed was able to pleasure ten damsels" (trans. Guido Waldman; sorry, I don't have the Italian at home). Other similar islands or inland nations of murderous or man-destroying women are reported in Apollonius of Rhodes' *Argonautica* and in the *Aeneid*, often associated, at least loosely with the semi-mythical Amazons. But I don't remember the "man-killer" phrase in any language I am acquainted with being associated with "man-hater." I thought the idea was that you didn't have to hate men in order to kill them; one Amazon princess was supposed to have selected Alexander the Great to propagate her children because he was such a noble warrior. Any further reports from antiquity? Roy Flannagan From: Willard McCarty Subject: sexual devourers Date: 28 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 410 (556) Roy Flannagan asks for more evidence from antiquity about aggressive women's attitude towards men, and he makes the interesting distinction between hatred and murder. The only "evidence" I have at hand concerns the powerful women whom Ovid depicts in the Metamorphoses. These have a questionable relationship to the "real" women of antiquity, of course. In any case, they do not despise men but devour them. The ones who always come to mind, probably because I am working on that section of the poem, are Semiramis (who is historical and widely attested) and Salmacis (who is mythical). Both appear in the poem as sexual devourers, and both are paralleled by the bloody-mouthed lioness who causes the deaths of Pyramus and Thisbe. They do not hate men, rather they consume them -- with apparent relish. What strikes me is that these and other sexual devourers in Ovid's poem (male and female) are there because they suit his purpose; that does not necessarily mean, however, that they are absolutely unlike any "real" people of the time. The scholarship on this subject is rapidly growing. Perhaps a better organized Humanist could provide a beginner's bibliography. Willard McCarty From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: Computers and the Multiplication of Toil Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 08:37:17 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 411 (557) I enjoyed Mr. Evens's remarks concerning the tendency of improvements in technology to increase the net amount of work or production in the world. But I have one question. Do his figures take into account the decrease in population (or at least population growth) that accomapnies prosperity? Yes, a cheaper, more easily produced product will draw more buyers (good (point), but is the supply of buyers unlimited? I've heard that population growth tends to drop off as a function of the prosperity of a given group of people. Thanks for your help. From: NMILLER@TRINCC.BITNET Subject: Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 18:52:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 412 (558) These being the days of the Dog Star, we must expect a certain amount of satire and harmless fooling-around. So at least I choose to view Dan Evens' proposition that bringing computers to the campus has resulted in lower costs which are then reflected in lower tuition. Of course, if he's serious, we'll have to say something about it come September. ***************************************************************************** * * * Ven der aybershter vil shtrofn Norman Miller * * an am-orets, leygt er im a NMILLER@TRINCC * * loshn-koydesh vertl in moyl arayn. Trinity College * * Yiddish proverb Hartford, Ct. 06106 * * * ***************************************************************************** From: "Guy L. Pace" Subject: e-texts Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 10:45:39 PLT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 413 (559) Machine readable texts should be increasingly available as technology leaves the hard-copy print world behind. I'm not suggesting that there is no longer a place for hard-copy printed material, but that the value and usefulness of printed matter is decreasing as society becomes dependent on the immediacy and direct access of electronic materials. The main issues in electronic texts is the control of distribution and the protection of the original form of the documents. Keyboarding, scanning and proofreading for errors should be conducted by organizations set up for that purpose. A certain level of accuracy and quality (not to mention standardization in markup) needs to be established (International Standards for Text Conversion and Markup?). Again, somehow publishers need to be involved in capturing electronic versions of published materials, and setting up standards may help smooth this process. Michael Hart's suggestion for discussion of machine readable texts at all educational levels requires that the above needs to be addressed. From: KRAFT@PENNDRLS Subject: M.S.Hart on e-texts Date: Friday, 28 July 1989 1715-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 414 (560) Please, Michael Hart, for those on HUMANIST who been through various earlier discussions of electronic text archives, inventories, storage and delivery mechanisms (e.g. CD-ROM), quality control, computer assited instruction, and ideal search and browse software -- (1) what is the "National Clearinghouse for Machine Readable Texts," how does it relate to existing centers and projects such as those at Oxford, Bergen, Pisa, Toronto, Penn, and the emerging Princeton/Rutgers Center (to mention only a few), and (2) what specific aims/interests lie behind your very general sort of query? We have already, perhaps before you (and other interested members) joined, gone over much of this ground, so it would be useful to have some specific foci in mind to address in any renewed discussion. And it would also help you to know what has already been treated on HUMANIST, so that you can consult those discussions on the ListServer, and thus your new queries can build on that foundation. Bob Kraft (CCAT) From: Willard McCarty Subject: topical collection Date: 28 July 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 415 (561) Now on the file-server: LAB TOPIC-1, having to do with recommendations for the ideal language and literature laboratory. Note the query from Roy Flannagan, who asks some broader questions. Let's continue to talk about this. Willard McCarty From: EVENS@UTORPHYS Subject: yet more public domain Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 14:45 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 416 (562) [Information follows about an archive of public-domain software.] For anyone who doesn't know about wuarchive, here is a bit of propaganda: Wuarchive.wustl.edu contains a large archive of Public Domain software. This service, which is offered at no cost by the Office of the Network Coordinator, is available to any interested party. You may freely mount the archives on your system via the Network File System (NFS) or access it via Anonymous FTP. Currently the archive contains over 390 Megabytes of software for Unix systems, Macintosh and IBM PC compatible computers; there are also hundreds of documents detailing various standards used throughout the Internet, bug fixes for various operating systems, all of the packages offered by the GNU project and complete source to the X11 windowing system. of your system supports NFS you may mount the archives by using a command similar to the one below: # mount wuarchive:/archive /archive To access the archives via FTP, the username is 'anonymous' and the password is 'guest'. Chris Myers Software Engineer Office of the Network Coordinator From: "Kevin L. Cope" Subject: Location of List Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 08:34:36 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 417 (563) Does anyone know the "appropriate listserv machine" for the newly announced list, emusic-l and emusic-d? This is the only list on the North Dakota list that doesn't names its host. From: FLANNAGA at OUACCVMB Subject: Recommendations for a humanities computing center Date: 28 July 1989, 08:26:56 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 418 (564) [The following series of questions, interesting for many of us, have been sent me by Roy Flannagan. I will be making my own answer, but perhaps other Humanists would like to help the cause by contributing their practical wisdom and experience. Please do so on Humanist. --W.M.] I have the slim possibility for starting a computing in the humanities center at Ohio University, and I would like to know what your summary knowledge (after the request you made for the ideal lab was answered and the answers tabulated or digested) is on the following big subjects: (1) ideal equipment, in terms of a list of hardware including DOS, UNIX, and Mac-oriented machinery; also some idea of how many machines in proportion to the size of the university; (2) restrictions on faculty and graduate users (how many undergraduates do you allow to use the center?) and regulation or restriction in the usage of time (how much use of one machine in monopoly, and how controlled); (3) security necessary to guard against theft, piracy, or viral infection; (4) ideal qualifications of the director; (5) job-descriptions and qualifications for ideal employees, from "secretaries" to data-base searchers to programmers. I am also interested in records of usage: who uses the hardware and why. Are the most frequent users personnel from English, Linguistics, Languages, History, Sociology, Education, and, if so, in what order of frequency? How important is electronic mail to such a center, and how can something like on-line or telephone charges be calculated for all users? Exactly how should such a center be connected with the library? with the university computer center? From: psc90!jdg@Dartmouth.EDU (Dr. Joel Goldfield) Subject: "What is 'it'?" Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 10:24:49 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 419 (565) Regarding Donald Spaeth's recent comment, perhaps someone could define the meaning of "we are facing a shortage of c. 30,000 IT professionals". What is "IT"? Thanks. --Joel Goldfield J_GOLDFI@UNHH.bitnet From: "Tom Benson 814-238-5277" Subject: humanist computing centers Date: Sat, 29 Jul 89 10:24 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 420 (566) My strong recommendation for anyone starting a Humanist Computing Center on any campus is to avoid, if possible, getting involved in the setting up, staffing, and supervision of large public-access labs--if it is possible to get the campus's main computer center to do this part of the job instead. This frees the Humanities Computing staff to deal primarily with training, consulting, and related activities, instead of security, supervision, endless begging for equipment, and so on. Of course, this is easier on a campus with a good university-wide computing center. Further, I'd urge looking ahead beyond the lab concept to the point when each student and faculty member will have a micro on his/her desk. This is partly a productivity issue (it is hard to write in public) and partly an equity issue (on a large campus like mine [Penn State], which is richly equipped with satellite micro labs having mainframe connections, open long hours, my women students do not have the same access to these facilities as men, since we live in a society that is dangerous to women walking alone across even this bucolic campus late at night). Tom Benson Penn State From: "Eric Johnson DSU, Madison, SD 57042" Subject: Ideal computing lab Date: Sun, 30 Jul 89 09:02:27 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 421 (567) In the discussion of the ideal humanities computing lab, I think multi-tasking should be considered. Scholars who work without computers tend to gather a series of books, articles, notes, and writing materials together, and they read from one while they make notes and consult another. Computerized scholarship should allow a similar process. Macintosh's MultiFinder allows users to load as many applications as will fit into memory (up to 16 meg, and the new operating system will allow swapping to hard disk). The user can always switch among the applications, but whether several application will run simultaneously depends on the applications: MultiFinder cannot force an application to give time to another application; they must be written in such a way as to give time to another. A number of products allow IBM microcomputers to do multi- tasking: DESQview, Microsoft Windows, VM/386, and OS/2. Software Carousel will run only one program at a time, but it allows the user to switch among the loaded programs with a minimum of conflicts. As an example, a literary scholar ought to be able to use multi-tasking in the following way. One or more programs for literary analysis can be loaded and run to produce data about on-line texts. One copy of a word processor is loaded to take notes, another copy of a word processor is loaded to write the draft of the research. The output of the programs for literary analysis can be inspected on the screen and parts moved to the notes or to the draft. When the draft nears final form, a spelling checker and a grammar and style checker can be run. All of these programs should be available to the scholar at the same time with no more trouble than stacking one open book on top of another. From: "Eric Johnson DSU, Madison, SD 57042" Subject: Grammar checkers Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 06:26:56 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 422 (568) The answer to EVENS' question about whether a grammar checker would recognize 't Hooft as a name is that it depends how the program's code is written. A grammar and style checker (and other programs -- such as concordances -- that identify each word of a text) must be coded to span strings of specified characters and to disregard others. Most often, a word is considered any string of letters (upper or lower case), numbers, the apostrophe, and hyphen. Space, punctuation marks, and special characters are discarded. Now, after raw words are identified in this way, there may be a series of tests to determine whether the word contains characters that still need to be discarded (for example, a dash written as two hyphens not spaced from the words on either side). In addition there may be tests to determine whether what has been identified as two words should be considered one word. StrongWriter, the grammar and style checker I wrote, would consider 't Hooft two words, but would not give an error message about the 't. Although I am sure EVENS did not intend to offer this problem as a trick question, there is a tendency among some English teachers to play the game of Stump the Grammar Checker. The idea is that if a construction can be invented to trick the grammar checker into giving an incorrect message, then the checker can be regarded as worthless, and we can conclude that computers should only be used for word processing (typing). The value of grammar and style checkers is that they identify howlers in student writing and offer suggestions for revision; students' attention is turned back to their writing. Teachers can spend more time on more sophisticated matters of effective rhetoric. -- Eric Johnson ERIC@SDNET From: SUSAN@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK Subject: Microcomputers in the Bodleian Date: Mon, 31 JUL 89 15:06:15 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 423 (569) HUMANISTs may be interested in the following note which appeared in the Oxford University Gazette, 27 July 1989. Please direct any requests for clarification to the Bodleian, not to me. Susan Hockey ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Use of hand-held photocopiers and readers' mains-operated microcomputers The Curators of the Bodleian Library intend to bring the following regulation into effect after fifteen days from the date of appearance of this notice in the University Gazette: (a) Hand-held photocopiers may not be used in any part of the Library. (b) In certain circumstances, reading-room superintendents may give permission for battery-operated microcomputers to be used in reading rooms, though their use may be confined to certain areas. Readers' mains-operated microcomputers, or other similar equipment, may not be used in any reading room, though permission for their use in areas other than reading rooms may be granted by Bodley's Librarian. Permission for use of any reader's microcomputer may be withdrawn at the discretion of Bodley's Librarian or the relevant reading-room superintendent. From: Itamar Even-Zohar Subject: Re: 3.297 culture and science? Date: Sat, 29 Jul 89 05:19:14 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 305 (570) Re: Chaos The *implications* of chaos, like the implications of thermodynamics and quantum theory, for a more unified type of science (or rather, the nature of the scientific endevour), seem to interest those of us who are engaged in the sciences of man more than our colleagues in the "science" departments. (It is very unfortunate that it is only in English that "science" mostly denotes "'exact'" science.) Chaos simply shales too much the *image* of those "exact" sciences. I think that while these sciences indeed have developed in a most advanced way, the "daily semiotics" prevailing among those who are engaged with them is archaic. That is, while physics and mathematics have gone quite a bit away from what looks nowadays "naive" models of the world, the marketed and self-conscious images perpetuated among mathematicians and physicists (and those inculcated to their students) still belong to the Romantic era. Qua theory, the theory of dynamical systems, i.e., the heart of chaos, is no innovation for us. It was already in the 1920s that Russian and Prague functionalists worked on developing a theory of heterogeneous (and by definition *open*) systems (in clear contradistinction to Saussurian and post- Saussurian Structuralism). But it seems that the contribution of chaos is not a parallel set of hypotheses but the mathematics which allows successful computer simulations. Still, you will certainly remember how *mathematicians* reacted to Mandelbrot (as quoted by Gleick)! I am of course not competent to say whether chaos is more significant than, say, superstring theory (surely another "weak" theory in the eyes of your colleague). Yet one thing is clear: it continues the lines of thought initiated in thermodynamics, whereby the very nature of "laws" has gone a significant transformation. From determinism to probability; from univalent predictability to conditioned, multi-parametered predictability. This has definitely closed the artificial gap between what some people called "the two cultures". And this is precisly what seems to annoy our friends from the "sciences". They don't wish to lose the enormous symbolic capital (if I may use Bourdieu's view) they have managed to accumulate. And some of them obviously think that chaos may be a cause for this loss. I think we must try to convince our friends from the "sciences" that science can be discussed in general terms, too. It's time to revive the Movement for the Unification of Science. The trouble is: where is a new Neurath, a new Carnap? Itamar Even-Zohar Porter Institute for Semiotics Tel Aviv University B10@TAUNIVM.BITNET From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.301 e-texts (65) Date: Sat, 29 Jul 89 10:42:34 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 424 (571) In response to Bob Kraft's inquiries on this subject, we are preparing a posting for the HUMANIST, HUMBUL, RPDIST, GUTNBERG, and LITERARY listserv discussion groups. If any HUMANIST member would forward me the names of those running the LITERARY and HUMBUL groups, I would like to communicate with them directly about making such a posting. Briefly: The National Clearinghouse for Machine Readable Texts had its beginnings in 1971 on a Xerox Sigma V mainframe. The first text posted was the Declaration of Independence which was followed by the Constitution. In the early 80's the project was moved from mainframes to micros. The Clearinghouse is dedicated to the creation and distribution of machine readable texts for users of all ages and interests. One of our most popular items is a children's library which receives much encouragement from our users who are interested in getting their children involved with computers. From: GUEST4@YUSol Subject: RE: 3.303 queries (68) Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 22:52 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 425 (572) RE: On the supposedly benign effect of shifting from printed to electronic texts (How long can Humanists teaching at "Bombay State U." pretend to be immune?) (Reuters dispatch from Bombay, byline Moses Manoharan) Quoted from Toronto Globe and Mail, 28 July 1989, page C3: "The Indian film industry, the world's largest, is on the brink of financial disaster as videotapes and television dim the charisma of movie stars.... Seven movie theaters have closed in Bombay alone this year. "We have no choice but to tighten our belts. The rapid spread of video and television has reduced the awe in which fans hold the stars. THis has caused the crisis," said producer and actor Randhir Kapoor... The film stars are having to support their opulent lifestyles with less and less work... .In the past few years stars often worked two- to three-hour shifts on three or four different films every day..... Now even the poor, 70 percent of India's 850 million people, are becoming choosy. "With the advent of video, you could freeze the most terrifying or awe-inspiring character by pressing a button. It destroyed the bond of make-believe existing between audience and film. We can no longer suspend reality," said director Parvati Menon... Sterling Beckwith Humanities and Music York University, Toronto From: Jim McSwain Subject: LITERARY COMPUTING Date: MON 31 JUL 1989 18:10:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 307 (573) This is a preliminary report on Rosanne G. Potter, ed., LITERARY COMPUTING and LITERARY CRITICISM: Theoretical and Practical Essays on Theme and Rhetoric (Univ. of Pa., 1989). It contains twelve essays, three of which were published in the 1970s in several journals, in addition to a bibliography assembled by the editor and an index. The work is addressed to two sorts of researchers: literary critics who hope to use a computer's computational and search skills to analyze texts for factual information (occurrence of particular words, occurrence in connection with other words, etc.) and "computer critics," which I take to be literary scholars who have embraced computational analysis of texts to the extent that they have "lost" sight of the original "critical aims" of their hardware and software procedures. The editor's preface begins with an interesting assertion: "computer science and literary criticism differ considerably . . . one rooted in facts, the other rooted in ideas; one focusing on the replicable, the other on the unique." I suppose this means that critical judgments about literature, consisting of ideas, falls in the realm of subjectivity . . . the non-verifiable, and not the world of "facts." There is also an interesting observation on p. xvii that "verification" in literary criticism, counting occurrences of words, shifts the discipline from "brillance of insight and assertion toward the detailed testing of scientific experimentation." This procedure concerns "inductive proofs based on example" rather than the "more typical . . . traditional deductive proofs from authority . . . earlier critics or one's own responses . . ." This is only a taste of the provocative things addressed in this book, although a brief survey of the essays shows that despite serious effort to make the statistical material comprehensible, one still needs some sense of what statistics is about. The editor notes, however, that one must not veer off into number juggling, or the critical aims of using the computer are lost by reductionist techniques. As I work through some of the original essays, I will try to throw out more remarks which some participants may wish to debate. Although my report is limited, I think this book addresses many of the fundamental issues regarding texts and statistical analysis which go to the heart of the uncertainties, theoretical ambiguities and unspoken questions many may have about the still uneasy relationship between the IBM logo and your diminishing sense of selfhood and humanity. Regards, JMcSwain... From: lang@PRC.Unisys.COM Subject: gender specific man haters Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 08:06:03 -0400 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 426 (574) There is, as far as I know, no English word for a person who hates people of the male persuasion. If such a word did exist, based on the formation of "misogynist", it would probably be "misandrist", from what I remember of my classical Greek. From: J.A.Hunter@newcastle.ac.uk Subject: Re: 3.303 queries (68) Date: Monday, 31 Jul 89 09:39:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 427 (575) With reference to: [deleted quotation] IT = Information Technology. I realise that doesn't fully answer the question, but seems that while we were "systems analysts" a few years ago, these days it seems we are all "IT professionals". Alan Hunter The University of Newcastle upon Tyne From: Geoff Rockwell Subject: Re: 3.297 culture and science? terms of gender? Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 10:19:21 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 428 (576) "Homophobe" is used in the gay community for those who hate men of that orientation. I have heard people refer to others as "man-haters". Perhaps there is no precise term because anyone who hates men hates them for a reason other than their masculinity. Perhaps our culture may be so thoroughly masculine that to hate men would be to hate oneself. I suspect that bitterness towards men has been around for a while, though it may have been supressed. I would be interested in the comments of those that are studying the history of women's thought on this subject. Geoffrey Rockwell From: HUMM@PENNDRLS (Alan Humm Religious Studies U. of Penn) Subject: "man-hater" Date: Monday, 31 July 1989 1338-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 429 (577) In response to Ken Hanly' query: [deleted quotation] If there were an Anglo-Greek word for "man-hater" it would come from "andros" rather than "anthropos" and hence "misandrist". This is not in any dictionary that I have at hand, although I do not have an OED, and people do make up words all the time anyway. The word would probably be understandable to most literate readers. It is probably better, however, to stick with something like "man-hater" even though it does not sound very scholarly. If fog factor is important, you could try something in French, unless you are writing for theological circles, in which case German is the fog language of choice. Alan Humm, misologist. From: UDAA270@ELM.CC.KCL.AC.UK Subject: Syllabus for "Computer-Assisted Biblical Research" Date: Mon, 31 Jul 89 09:25:46 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 309 (578) Syllabi of Humanities Computing courses at King's College London At present the Humanities Division within the Computing Centre offers a number of courses which are non-examinable; however, there are some plans for examinable humanities computing courses in the future. For practical reasons, we have prepared various modules which have in common a basic approach and the use of humanities data as examples. Each module is designed to be a practical introduction rather than a theoretical overview, with sufficient exercises, plus reference handouts so that the student should feel confident to begin to use the package after the course. The datasets used in the examples reflect the initial courses we prepared, but it is hoped to build up sets of teaching examples which cover a broader range of humanities subjects. The various modules have been combined in three major courses thus far: a course for undergraduate historians, with a two hour slot per week over two terms, a similar course for humanities postgraduates for one term, and an intensive half day course over two weeks for academic staff and postgraduates. The second term of the historian's course is devoted to a project in which the skills learned in the first term are applied to an open-ended historical problem. This historical element of the project is stressed as much as the computing, with students being encouraged to use the computer as analytical tool and for presentation. The course is taught on microcomputers. Since King's College London has standardised on two main microcomputers (IBM and Mac), both types are used. Although we thought this might prove confusing, in fact it has worked out very well, with students making the switch easily, and appreciating the opportunity to have experience on both types. Word Processing: Package used: Microsoft Word Taught on: Mac Duration : two two-hour/three-hour sessions Topics covered: Part i: Basic use of Mac; inserting text; selecting text; deleting, cut-and-paste, and formatting of selected text; formatting paragraphs; saving and loading; printing. Part ii: Using foreign characters; using windows; merging texts; glossaries; running heads; footnotes; and style sheets. Example files used: A page on early tennis courts (for basic formatting practice) A few pages from an academic work describing water in the Roman world (for advanced practice). Course material: locally written bulletin Spreadsheets: Package used: Microsoft Excel Taught on: Mac Duration: one two-hour/three-hour slot Topics covered: Creating worksheets with text, numbers, and numbers treated as text; formatting text/numbers and columns; use of formulae; use of graphing options Example file used: Voting figures from the last four general elections Mortality rates from the 20th century Course material: handouts of overheads, together with sheet describing local implementation of Excel. Communications: Packages used: Kermit, Electronic mail Taught on: either IBM or Mac, and mainframe (VAX) Duration: one two-hour/three hour slot Topics covered: File transfer between a mainframe and microcomputer; use of network to access bulletin boards, library catalogues; electronic mail (taught by electronic mail), including sending, receiving, forwarding, saving, deleting. Example file used: Humanist mail file for use in Kermit Course material: handouts of overheads, locally written bulletins on electronic mail, introduction to using the VAX mainframe, sheet on local implementation of Kermit. Databases: Package used: Ingres Taught on: IBM Duration: Two two-hour/three-hour slots; in some courses a third session is added, devoted to a practical database design exercise. Topics covered: Part i: Basic ingres environment and database terminology; querying an existing database, with both Query-by- forms and SQL; pattern matching, conditional searches, sorting, updating and adding data with query-by-forms; functions, joining tables with SQL. Part ii: database design issues; creating tables and forms. Example files used: Two tables relating to astronomy Baptism, burial, and marriage records from a 17th century Oxford parish Data sets provided (on paper) for design exercise: Elizabethan port records, London theatre productions, medieval guild renders, list of Frankish capitularies, further Oxford parish records. Course material: handouts of overheads, together with sheet on local implementation of Ingres on IBM PS/2. Textual Analysis: Package used: WordCruncher Taught on: IBM Duration: two two-hour/three-hour slots Topics covered: Part i: Using WC View to analyse an indexed text: searching for words or combinations of words, finding exact references, creating concordances. Part ii: Indexing a text with WC Index: beginning with an ascii text, inserting codes using a word processing package, loading the file, setting character options sort sequences, indexing. Example files used: example sets which come with WordCruncher, Anglo-Saxon charters from Staffordshire (in translation), two Browning poems. Course material: handouts of overheads, together with sheet on local implementation of WordCruncher on the IBM PS/2. Historians project: Packages used: at least two of the above, and preferably more. Taught on: IBM PS/2 and Mac Duration: nine two-hour sessions spread over the term. Topics covered: Students are encouraged to use at least two packages to explore some historial problem, preferably one which involves raw source material, leading to a small word processed essay and presentation on the final day. A 'prepared' example is available and strongly recommended. There is active participation by members of the History Department so that historical as well as computing problems are properly addressed. This year issues relating to Staffordshire in the Anglo-Saxon period were used as a basis. Example files used: the following were available for use: Anglo-Saxon charters in translation (already coded for WordCruncher), the originals in Latin/Old English from the Birch edition, Domesday book for Staffordshire. From: Willard McCarty Subject: collection of syllabi in humanities computing Date: 1 August 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 310 (579) The first group of syllabi has been put on the file-server as SYLLABUS TOPIC-1. It includes the two just circulated plus another contributed by Nick Besnier, for a course in corpus linguistics. An abstract from Besnier's syllabus follows. It contains, by the way, a reasonably large and recent bibliography. I have the impression that many Humanists regard the file-server as a kind of Gulag to which less important items are consigned. This is not so! Because circulation of large files puts a great burden on the networks and on individuals' disk quotas, I relegate large and more enduring items to the server. The Guide to Humanist does contain complete instructions on how to download items. Willard McCarty ------------------------------------------------------------------------- EIL 487P: COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF DISCOURSE (CORPUS LINGUISTICS) COURSE DESCRIPTION [This seminar was taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1986 and 1988. For further information, contact Niko Besnier at uttanu@yalevm.bitnet] Time & place: MW 11:30-1, 169 Davenport Hall Instructor: Niko Besnier Office hours: MW 2-3 or by appointment Office: 3043-FLB, phone 3-1506 E-mail: uttanu@uiucvmd.bitnet This course is a hands-on research seminar on the uses of programming tools for discourse analysis. Current approaches to computer-aided discourse analysis will be reviewed, focusing on recent developments in what has come to be known as 'corpus linguistics'. The questions addressed in this seminar include: * What range of problems in discourse analysis can be addressed using computational tools? * What problems are involved in the task of text sampling? * How do microscopic and microscopic approaches to discourse analysis differ, and what are the implications of this difference for computer- aided work in the area? * How can the standardized computer corpora be used? * What problems are involved in developing and tagging a corpus of texts? * How can textual and contextual information be integrated and handled in a computerized corpus? * How can qualitative and quantitative methods be integrated? The skills that will be taught during the course of the semester are: * PASCAL programming for discourse analysis; * Simple statistics with SPSS-PC+ with relevance to discourse analysis; * Handling the three standardized computer corpora; * Using the IBM mainframe system for receiving and sending e-mail; * Using LEXWARE, a data-management system for dictionaries; * Using the Kurtzweil Optical Reader. Each participant in the seminar will choose a term project and clear it with the instructor EARLY IN THE SEMESTER. They will present informal progress reports orally several times during the semester, and will submit a final written report in the form of a term paper at the end of the semester. Grading will be based on: * The originality and theoretical importance of the project; * The sophistication of the programming tools developed for the project; * The clarity and pedagogical sensibility of the final oral report; * The clarity and professionalism of the final written report. More than one participants in the seminar may work on the same project; please consult with the instructor if you want to co-author a project. Here are a few examples of appropriate projects: * An analysis of the use of particular hesitation markers in conversation; * A comparison of tense/aspect in ESL and native-speaker compositions; * An analysis of word-frequency differences across spoken and written styles; * A study of a particular subordinating strategy in a written style. The projects may be based on English data, ESL data, or data from any language as spoken or written by native or non-native speakers. All final written reports are due on Friday, December 9. Material needed: Access to a Turbo PASCAL compiler and manual (versions 3.0 or 4.0). You may purchase your own or you may borrow the copy held in the Language Learning Lab's Microcomputer room (G-13, FLB). [much material deleted, incl. a Semester Plan and bibliographies] From: UDAA270@ELM.CC.KCL.AC.UK Subject: rose theatre update Date: Tue, 1 Aug 89 10:32:56 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 311 (580) Not all campaigns have a happy ending ... Steve Miller's report on the Rose theatre. *************************** 27 July 1989 ROSE UPDATE - Though for a while during the meeting on Tuesday 25 July it seemed that some members of the Southwark Planning Committee might attempt to defy the efforts of the Department of the Environment and English Heritage to push through the developer's plans for an office block over the Rose Theatre, in the end the committee bowed and accepted the revised office block plan, though saying that they would attach legal clauses to try to protect public access to the site eventually. They did this despite advice from their solicitor that they might still delay things a bit longer to seek more archaeological advice. Before the meeting, the developers had already begun digging foundations for their revised plan on the Rose site. From one sample brought up by a drill a bone was rescued that proved to be from a brown bear. Museum of London archaeologists produced this at the meeting along with eloquent pleas that a full archaeological investigation of the whole site be requested before building work destroyed some of the evidence for good. In effect the Committee chose to ignore them. Dame Peggy Ashcroft, after the meeting, professed to be baffled by the decision and said that the fight for the Rose would continue. Pressure will still be needed and other attempts to influence events will still be mounted. I must admit to having found the committee decision, though not unexpected, very disappointing. Anyone wishing to write to the new Secretary of State for the Environment appointed three days ago should address - The Rt Hon Christopher Patten, Secretary of State, Department of the Environment, Lambeth Bridge House, LONDON SE1 7SB ENGLAND telephone: 01-211-3000 TELEX: 886 598 FAX:01-238-4330 | One further bit of news, again sad I am afraid, is that | Philip Brockbank, former director of the Shakespeare Institute | died on Tuesday 18 July. His page and a half of reflections on | the Rose was published in the Times Higher Education Supplement | on June 23. I suspect that, as with Lord Olivier, his last | public utterances were in support of the Rose Theatre. Sincerely, Stephen Miller c/o Dept of English, King's College London, The Strand LONDON WC2R 2LS England e-mail JANET udle031@UK.AC.KCL.CC.OAK From: David.A.Bantz@mac.Dartmouth.EDU Subject: Chinese WP on Mac Date: Tue, 1 Aug 89 04:48:39 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 430 (581) Mishu-Write is a desk accessory which will allow you to enter Chinese, then paste it into, say, MacWrite. Simple but perhaps crude. Fei-Ma is a full fledged word processor with a variety of input methods. The number of characters is probably too limited for professional use; I don't know if it is for this reason or others that our Chinese faculty have not taken to it. What they do use is the Chinese version of the Mac operating system. This gives you a "Chinese" Mac - the finder's menus etc. will be in Chinese. When you type, you get a special input window, a string of homonyms appears above the pinyin input, and you can click on one to select it. The "enter" key transfers a string of hanzi into your document. Unfortunately, lots of programs do not work properly; MacWrite does, Word and Pagemaker do not. There are alternative input methods I believe. From: Donald Spaeth (0532) 33 3573 Subject: IT Date: Tue, 01 Aug 89 14:26:02 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 431 (582) A suitably unhelpful subject! I occasionally wonder if HUMANIST items don't reach me, as I never saw the query asking what IT means. Sorry to be so jargonistic. This leaves me wondering, however, whether IT is a bit of U.K. jargon. Perhaps North American commentators could say. IT stands for Information Technology, which is the current buzz term for computing. Strictly speaking it probably includes other office technologies, such as communications networks, FAX, et sim. The 30,000 IT-professionals of which I spoke are the computer programmers, system analysts, applications experts, trainors and the like needed to support the spread of computing in the world of business and government. The most visible need in the U.K. is for computer professionals to service the now computerised London stock exchange, but this only touches the surface. (The process of computerisation in the stock exchange is known as Big Bang.) Cheers, Donald Spaeth From: Paul Delany Subject: MIPS for humanities Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 19:13:42 PDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 432 (583) We are setting up a small English department computing lab, and have the opportunity of getting a Sun computer cheaply--350 or, perhaps, a Sparcstation. The latter runs at 12.5 MIPS. My question for Humanists is: can they suggest practical uses for all that power with available software? Or should we stick to our existing (Mac-based) plans? From: NMILLER@TRINCC.BITNET Subject: Date: Fri, 28 Jul 89 23:55:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 433 (584) Can someone clear up for me the provenance of the expression "to gild the lily"? I assume that it begins with Shakespeare (King John, Act IV, Scene 2), in which case it should have been "to _paint_ the lily", since what was being gilded was refined gold. Is it then a kind of conflation, in which the precision of the original gets dulled, or is there yet another source for the phrase? Norman Miller From: Tom Thomson Subject: Re: 3.297 culture and science? Date: Wed, 2 Aug 89 20:17:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 314 (585) Ouch! After "Physics is anti-intellectual" (alright, I'm oversimplifying) we now have (from Itamar Even-Zohar) "Scientists (and Mathematicians) are naive and blinkered". I used to think Snow was wrong, the division of modern thought into two cultures was at most a tiny localised phenomenon and more likely just a figment of his imagination. Reading Humanist is beginning to make me think he was right - - - there are a lot of rather blinkered people out there who don't (want to?) understand that a scientist (or a mathematician) has just as much need for imagination, creative thought, willingness to stand against eminent authority, ability to give up long-held views/prejudices, and so on as does any student of the humanities. The claim that there the very nature of [physical] "laws" is significantly transformed by [classical?] thermodynamics seems to indicate a misunderstanding of thermodynamics, which uses statistical techniques to predict the behaviour of masses of DETERMINISTIC molecules. This is indeed similar to chaos theory, in that the equations of motion for a mass of gas are so complex as not to be effectively computable with available resources just as are the complex non-linear systems that give rise to apparent order out of apparent chaos. But it doesn't appear to be any different from (say) a 50-body problem in classical gravitation, where the computation would have been beyond c19 (same date as statistical thermodynamics) resources, although the laws underlying the problem were regarded as deterministic and computational. It's perfectly legitimate to argue different ontologies in physics, but not to attribute such arguments to the founders of thermodynamics, nor to complain because teachers of "exact" (what a NONSENSE word; stuff gets accepted as good theory because it makes predictions about the right order of magnitude, so in so far as science is about new ideas rather than refinement of existing ones it's rather inexact) science present students with a simple view until such time as they've acquired the mathematical, conceptual, philosophical tools to handle a more complex one. As for mathematics, which model of the world is "naive", which is the "archaic" semiotics? Constructive, non-constructive, semi-constructive? Do you prefer your logic (the tool, not the subject) with or without excluded middles? Are numbers fundamental (if so, which ones), or sets, or moded logics, or .... Of course maybe the mathematical world isn't the real one, so all this mathematical discussion is vacuous, but "vacuous" is a synonym neither for "naive" nor for "archaic". From: Subject: Date: X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 315 (586) DATE: Wednesday, August 2, 1989, 17:36:28 MST FROM: John J. Hughes SUBJECT: Spell checking transliterated languages Dear Fellow HUMANISTS, Some time ago I requested help in locating a spell checker that would accept strings such as A)/RXN as valid words and spell check accordingly. Most spelling programs do not recognize nonalpha characters as valid constituents of words; they tend to see these nonalpha characters as word separators. After trying many programs, I can report that WordPerfect 5.0's spelling program is the only program I have found that will accept such strings as valid words. Additionally, unlike many programs, WP50 allows users to add words to the main dictionary. Soon, I will have a completely alphabetized list of every unique form in the Greek New Testament. This list will be based on Tim & Barbara Friberg's database of the GNT, which was created in the late 1970s at the University of Minnesota. I plan to add this list to my WP50 main dictionary file--WP{WP}US.LEX. Then I will be able to use WP50 to spell check files that contain transliterated Greek that follows the transliteration scheme used in the Friberg's material. Any HUMANIST who is interested in obtaining a copy of a machine-readable version of the alphabetized list of every unique form in the Greek New Testament should contact me at XB.J24@Stanford. Sincerely, John John J. Hughes From: Subject: Date: X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 316 (587) DATE: Wednesday, August 2, 1989, 17:09:57 MST FROM: John J. Hughes SUBJECT: MRV of Patristic Texts Dear Fellow HUMANISTS, Several of you have expressed interest in learning what I found out about machine-readable versions of Patristic texts. Enclosed are verbatim copies of all the replies I have received. John Hughes ----------------------BEGINNING OF REPLIES----------------------------- (1) From Bob Kraft (KRAFT@PENNDRLS) In reply to John Hughes' inquiry about Greek and Latin patristic texts on computer, (1) Most of the Greek materials (through the 5th century) are on the TLG CD-ROM already, and virtually all of them will be in the completed TLG bank (I have prepared a chronological list of the Jewish and Christian texts on the TLG disk, for anyone who cares to have it); (2) Various Latin Christian materials have been encoded by various projects, some of which make the materials available, others of which do not. See the archive list prepared by Mike Neuman at Georgetown, for example, with reference to projects at Montreal, Louvain-le-Neuve (CETEDOC), Liege (LASLA), etc. Also be aware of the reactivated Rutgers Inventory of Machine Readable Texts being coordinated by Marianne Gaunt. I will be happy to try to provide further details, if needed, but thought a general HUMAINST announcement might be useful at this point. (2) From Neuman (NEUMAN@GUVAX) Have you tried CETEDOC? According to the Humanities Computing Yearbook (p.169), CETEDOC possesses a Latin electronic archive of (1) 22 authors from the Thesaurus Patrum Latinorum and fifteen authors from its Continuatio Mediaeualis (from the Corpus Christianorum), (2) the Dictionnaire du Latin Medieval Belge, and (3) conciliar texts. Contact Paul Tombeur at the Centre de Traitement Electronique des Documents at the Universite Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. [Editor's intrusive note: CETEDOC is a member of Humanist. --W.M.] If you learn of other sources, please let me know. We at Georgetown are collaborating on a catalogue of archives of machine-readable texts and would appreciate any leads you uncover. Thanks. (3) From Rudolf Wytek (Z00WYR01@AWIUNI11) At the Austrian Academy of Science there is a patrology-group active, perhaps they can help you. Try to post e-mail to Prof. Johannes DIVJAK under the following address: V4300DAA@@AWIUNI11 I think he will give you good advice. RWY. (4) From Patrick W. Connor (U47C2@WVNVM) Please share with me any information you get about parts of the Patrologia Latina (or any edition of those texts) in machine readable form. I shall append my standard invitation to folks to join my list, ANSAXNET so you'll know why I'm interested (and also to invite you to join, if we can serve any of your needs/interests). I shall be more than willing to reciprocate in kind. Sincerely, Patrick Conner Department of English West Virginia University Morgantown, WV 26505 ANSAXNET is a Special Interest Group using BITNET and associated university and research networks telecommunications systems for scholars and teachers of the culture and history of England before 1100 C.E. Persons interested in the later English Middle Ages and those interested in the early Medieval period throughout Europe are also encouraged to join the list. Currently, we have over 100 members in nine nations. <05>Members receive a directory of all our members in order to facilitate dialogues among small groups of member; access to ANSAX-L, a LISTSERV list which provides each member with the ability to communicate simultaneously with all other members of ANSAXNET; and a monthly electronic report to which members are encouraged to contribute announcements and information. This report often provides our members with new information about the disciplines, as well as news of more conventional developments in the field. We also have projects underway to encode databases which members may use in their own work, we provide access to the Dictionary of Old English at Toronto, the Fontes Anglo-Saxonici project at Manchester, SASLC ("Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture"), the Old English Newsletter, and Medieval Studies published by the Pontifical Institute at Toronto. We would be glad to add your name to our directory and thus to make you a member of ANSAXNET. Membership is free to everyone with access to$!PBITNET node. Either send an e-mail note to Patrick Conner, U47C2@@WVNVM.BITNET or, as a command or mail-message, SUB ANSAX-L YOUR NAME. The full command form is TELL (CMS; use SEND for VAX) LISTSERV AT WVNVM SUB ANSAX-L YOUR NAME. (5) From Rich Novak (2631002@RUTVM1) Just in case you did not get other responses, and my colleague does not check out his mail for a while, I recommend contacting Phil Yevics at the University of Scranton (PEY365@@Scranton). He may know the answer to your query directly or will know someone who will know someone... (6) From Bill McCarthy (MCCARTHY@CUA) Apart from the obvious resources of PHI/CCAT, of which you are doubtless aware, I know of almost no machine readable Patristic texts. Indeed, I would very much like to know myself of the whereabouts of the texts which the CCAT was supposed to include on the last CD-ROM which PHI released. A text of Augustine's Confessions used to be kept at the APA repository; and, I myself have recently scanned (with OmniPage and a Mac II) the complete works of Prudentius, with a view to creating a kind of electronic edition in which the apparatus criticus could be quite capacious. I am tinkering with this latter text in Hyper- Card right now, although the search capabilities are such that I am seriously considering ArchiText or something similar. --------------------------END OF REPLIES-------------------------------- From: amsler@flash.bellcore.com (Robert A Amsler) Subject: Use for 12.5 MIPS workstations Date: Tue, 1 Aug 89 23:21:05 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 434 (588) What seems to be the intent is that we will eventually have to have all this speed to support display postscript output (i.e. scalable graphics and multiple fonts at high resolution in a multi-window environment). If you could see what those capabilities take out of the current workstations, you'd understand the need for the extra power. However, the disturbing element for any monetarily tight situation is that even if the hardware comes cheaply, there will be more expensive maintenance, software and extra peripherals for the SUN than for the Mac. From: sdm@cs.brown.edu Subject: MIPS for humanities Date: Wed, 2 Aug 89 00:32:08 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 435 (589) In an earlier note, Paul Delany mentioned that his department might be able to get a 12.5 MIPS SPARCstation, and he wonders if there are practical uses for "all that power." There are, or at least there should be. Consider first the size of the SPARCstation display, which is 1152 by 900 pixels. That makes it possible to have two 80-column windows side by side without having to resort to a font that will make your vision blurry after an hour or so. The Macintosh II, I believe, has less resolution, so you can't pull that trick. For example, as I write this note (on a color SPARCstation), I've got my editor on one side of the screen and a terminal window on the other side of the screen, and I have full access to both windows. With the font I've got, each of those windows could be up to 63 lines long, which is wonderful for showing me lots of context around whatever it is that I happen to be looking at. As it turns out, however, I've got lots of other stuff on the screen (e.g., a clock, a mailbox, etc.), so my windows are a bit smaller. An even more compelling argument for a screen like this is its ability to display photographic-quality images. For example, we have scanned images of paintings that are displayed using 256 different colors, and to the lay viewer, they might as well be perfect. I like to imagine what they'd be like in a hypermedia environment. I also like to think of the kinds of analysis that might be performed on them, because they can be manipulated and examined using software on the machine -- which is one place it pays to have 12.5 MIPS at your disposal. The Macintosh II has neither the resolution nor the horsepower to handle equivalent tasks. On a more mundane scale, note that a faster machine means that tasks that used to be impractical suddenly become practical. Searches that would take too long to be worth the trouble on a slower machine become tractable. The same is true of textual (and image) analyses, comparisons, and other similar jobs. To be fair, Paul's original query asked about "available software," and I haven't restricted my comments above to software that I know to be readily available. Nonetheless, the software certainly *could* be developed, and if it were to be, would it not be better to be in a position in which one could take advantage of it? In fact, might it not be the case that being able to use it might actually lead to its development? In short, my advice is for him to get the best machine he can afford, and not to lose any sleep wondering if applications will be found for it. It might be worthwhile to bear in mind a well-known homily in the Computer Science community: user demands always rise to swamp out all available computing power. Scott Meyers sdm@cs.brown.edu PS - I have no connection with Sun and no vested interest in seeing the SPARCstation succeed. I do, however, have lots and lots of experience on both Macintoshes and Sun workstations, and all I can say is that the Macs are SsssssssssLllllllllllllllOoooooooooooooooWwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. From: "Michael S. Hart" Subject: Re: 3.313 MIPS for English? "gild the lily"? (42) Date: Wed, 02 Aug 89 09:40:13 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 436 (590) re Paul Delaney's request for decision making information on the possibility of getting a Sun vs a Mac: I would think the main consideration would be software - availability, price and support. Is the value of the powerful Sun hardware going to be aided by a sufficient multiplier of software to compete with the lesser hardware but greater software available to the Mac? Not to mention the familiarity and ease of the operating systems. Will people shun the Sun just because they are unfamiliar with the hardware, the software or the operating system? (Paul - let me know how this comes out) From: dgraham@leif.mun.ca Subject: Multitasking Date: 01 Aug 89 21:36 -0330 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 437 (591) I don't like to quibble about concurrent, preemptive or other multitasking, but I'm struck by one or two things in Eric Johnson's postings. Surely any multitasking worth its silicon involves something which needs to run in the background, i.e. while you're doing something else with the computer, and so (for example) having two copies of a word processor loaded at the same time is not while I would call useful multitasking, unless you can operate two keyboards at once. Mind you, a word processor that can have only one document open at a time is not what I would call a useful word processor... And don't many if not most WP programmes now offer more or less constant access to such amenities as style and spelling checkers, thesauri and so forth without having to launch another programme? Many of the operations Johnson quotes as examples strike me as being sequential rather than concurrent, and so I would not call them 'multitasking', but perhaps my definition is too narrow? What sorts of things *do* Humanists like to have running 'in the background'? In my case, it tends to be big file transfers (Kermit running under MultiFinder), or string searches (using Gofer as a DA). But I should think that the text indexing and sorting operations that Johnson mentions would be excellent candidates too, as would most database searches. How badly do we need multitasking, anyway, and how many of us are already using it every day in some form or another, and what for? [I'm referring only to microcomputers here, not to minis or mainframes.] To Johnson's suggestion that "All of these programs should be available to the scholar at the same time with no more trouble than stacking one open book on top of another", I would add only that many of them already are. David Graham dgraham@kean.mun.ca From: Willard McCarty Subject: creating bilingual dictionaries Date: 2 August 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 438 (592) A non-networked colleague here would like to discover some answer to the following question: "What work has been done or is being done for the computer-assisted creation of bilingual dictionaries and vocabulary lists, e.g., for textbooks or other teaching aids?" Please direct your replies to Humanist, as I think they should interest us generally. Thanks. Willard McCarty From: Vincent Ooi Subject: PC-TEX Date: Wed, 02 Aug 89 18:51:04 SST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 439 (593) Has anyone heard of a word-processing package called PC-TEX, or something that sounds similar? I'm told that it's "the ultimate" in word-processing. Any comments on its usefulness and availability? (If I've missed any discussion regarding this package, please direct me to the relevant file stored on server). Vincent Ooi (BITNET: ELLOOIBY @ NUSVM) From: unhd!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield) Subject: "Man-hater = misandrist" Date: Tue, 1 Aug 89 23:59:21 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 319 (594) I concur with Alan Humm, et al., that "misandrist" seems to be a logical word for this definition. In fact, while an M.A. student at Brandeis in the late 70's, I needed a similar word in a termpaper and decided upon the term "misandry" for its counterpart, "misogyny." The professor of the course, a male, did not object to the term or meaning. --Joel D. Goldfield J_GOLDFI@UNHH.bitnet From: "Vicky A. Walsh" Subject: Re: 3.318 making dictionaries? Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 14:41:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 440 (595) The Humanities Computing Facility at UCLA is working on some Hypercard stacks to aid in creating dictionaries of various kinds. One tool that is done is a script that will take a text and create a stack with one word per card for use as a lexicon for students reading the original text. Other such things are in the works but we are not yet ready to distribute so this for information only at present. Vicky Walsh From: Walter McCutchan Subject: Submission for Humanist; Database Managment Systems. Date: Thu, 03 Aug 89 11:56:05 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 441 (596) I found the recent round of postings about micro-based DBMS's such as DataPerfect interesting and informative. Currently I am interested in DBMS's for Unix platforms. Can people tell me what they use, and what their experiences have been? I am particularly interested in DBMS's that handle large fields of text well. People may wish to post directly to the group, but if reports and recommendations are sent directly to me (WALTER@WatDCS.UWaterloo.ca) I will summarize them and post the result. thanks in advance walter mccutchan From: Oxford Text Archive Subject: Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 10:15 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 442 (597) Subject: At the severe risk of being very boring, may I quote from a glossy report entitled `Information Technology and the Conduct of Research' published by the National Academy Press, Washington DC, 1989. "Information Technology is that set of computer and telecommunications technologies that makes possible computation, communication, and the storage and retrieval of information. The term therefore includes computer hardware... communications networks ... and computer software." Some awkward cusses might argue that IT is just whatever technology you use to ship information around, and could thus be applied equally well to inscribed stones, knotted strings or illuminated mss. But I suppose no-one thought of those media as `technologies' at the time. From: Randal_Baier@ub.cc.umich.edu Subject: 3.209 citing e-documents, cont. (19) Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 12:09:22 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 443 (598) You are correct: ISBNs are different for both paperback and hardcover, AND for different countries of publication. this means that a book can be published in Britain and the US simulataneously and have two almost identical numbers (save for the first digit). The value of the ISBN is very apparent in computer searching, which is why reprints and new editions get new ISBNs as well. From: "Eric Johnson DSU, Madison, SD 57042" Subject: Multitasking Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 13:00:38 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 444 (599) My thanks to David Graham for making me think more about multitasking in the ideal humanist computing lab. It seems to me that before I used computers I worked with a mass of materials at more or less the same time: I consulted various books, articles, indexes, concordances; I took notes, marked passages, and wrote drafts. I recall that I sat surrounded by books and notes and moved from one to another quickly and easily. That seemed to change when I started to use computers. Although most of the tasks I wanted to perform could be done (better) on a computer, I had to do them sequentially. With a few exceptions (such as printing one document while editing another), it was most convenient to finish one task before starting another. In recent years, it has been possible to use a microcomputer to snap back and forth easily among more-or-less simultaneous tasks and to run applications in the background while working on other things. Thus, it is now possible for me to work in about the same way on a computer as I did without it, and that is what users of the ideal humanist computer lab should be able to do. True multitasking with concurrent processing and preemptive power should be available so that text searching, indexing, sorting, and similar tasks can be performed in the background while another program is used. The ideal computer lab should offer a wide range of programs that can be run simultaneously. From: Charles Ess Subject: Re: 3.317 MIPSy workstations; multitasking (153) Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 13:48:59 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 445 (600) The current debate over whether a 12.5 MIPs Sun workstation is a good choice for humanist computing hits nicely on a central problem -- hot hardware that is lightyears ahead of available software. The comments by Scott Myers make this conflict clear. He rightly praises the high screen resolution of the Sun, and its relative speed vis-a-vis the Macintosh -- and strikes a chord with one of my major complaints with the Macintosh: the screen is just too small to exploit the possibilities of hypermedia display. For that, he points out, while the software for all this is not available, it *could* be developed. Certainly it could. It only took some five years and a few million dollars to develop Intermedia for the Macintosh. And now that Intermedia has entered its commercial release phase, anyone who can afford the (admittedly expensive) hardware can make use of an extraordinary hypertext authoring system that is far more powerful than, say, Hypercard -- and its ease of use makes scripting in Hypertalk look like writing dissertations in UNIX (possible, but probably not the route most of us would take). And all this for $125.00... Perhaps in a few years, some brave soul will have developed equivalent software for the SUN -- i.e., powerful, user-friendly, and relatively affordable -- which will thus open up the SUN to humanities faculty who can (a) afford the equipment, and (b) do not care to become power users to exploit its 12.5 MIPS. Until that time, despite my aggravation with the current size limitations on the Macintosh display, -- if a choice must be made between available software and powerful hardware, I would prefer to have the software in hand and get to work, rather than become embroiled with the dubious joys of trying to create my own programs. Note: I do not hold stock in either IRIS (the source of Intermedia) or Apple Computer, Inc. I _am_ interested in software applications which bend technology to the traditional goals and functions of humanities scholarship and teaching. Finally, speed is, as has been commented on several times, highly relative. Compared to the Sun, yes the Mac is slow. Compared to my beloved PC -- which is perfectly adequate for most of my tasks -- the Mac is astonishingly fast. I suggest that the term "slow" belongs to the family of terms which includes "obsolete." In the face of the rapidly changing technology of computers, the term "obsolete" is obsolete: it has, at best, a highly relative meaning, and in general conveys something of the sense of a given user's aesthetic habits and preferences. While this may be useful information, it is hardly a term of damnation from a more general standpoint. Hope all this is taken in the spirit it is sent -- i.e., just a friendly comment from from a humanities professor at a small college. Charles Ess Philosophy and Religion Drury College From: Geoff Rockwell Subject: Re: 3.317 MIPSy workstations; multitasking (153) Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 15:46:13 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 446 (601) I am confused by some of the comments on the Mac II. I thought it was possible to buy two page screens so that you can see two pages of text side by side. I also thought that with 24 bit color one could have 16 million different colors on screen with the appropriate video card and monitor. The problem is storage and speed. Color graphics without compression take amazing amounts of space. This is where a Sun would probably prove superior to the present generation of Mac IIs. But, that is not to say one cannot get high quality color graphics. The added power of machines like the Sun and NeXT could be used to compress and decompress high quality images in real time. This would allow one to store "moving pictures" and to play them back. Your computer and VCR could work together. Apple purportedly has a board that they are developing to do the compression and decompression, off and on to an optical disk. This would fit into the Mac II line. Do we need it? I suspect when we have it we will wonder how we ever lived without it. In the meantime I dream of the perfect word processor. Yours Geoffrey Rockwlel rockwell@gpu.utcs.utoronto.ca From: Willard McCarty Subject: science and metaphor Date: 3 August 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 447 (602) The following contributions have the potential for generating a very interesting or a very vexing discussion. For us the guiding star must be relevance to humanities computing. In this light I think the central issue is the one originally touched on by Itamar Even-Zohar and explained by him again below: the `marketing' of science by misleading ideas. This is very relevant to us, who are currently engaged in discovering the nature and purpose of applying mechanical models and computing methods to humanistic thought. We have discussed before the idea that applying a computer to the uncertain humanities holds both promise and danger. If we market our methods to ourselves and to others with the false vocabulary of "proof" then we are in trouble, the more so the more we are believed. We are fighting for dollars with other people who use this vocabulary, so the temptation is great. Quite apart from the immediate political problems are the intellectual ones, on which I hope we can concentrate. What is the value of computing to the humanities if "proof" is not an issue? What do we mean by "proof" anyhow that we should want to use the word? What's the eros of proof? In any case, let's keep our eyes fixed on our navigational chart and avoid the call of those lovely ladies singing so sweetly off the starboard bow. Otherwise, I'll have to tie you to the mast, plug my ears with wax, and take control of the ship. I'm no Great Helmsman. Willard McCarty From: Itamar Even-Zohar Subject: Misunderstandings about what I wrote about Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 12:36:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 448 (603) Tom Thomson is irritated (Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 314. Wednesday, 2 Aug 1989) by my allegedly having written that "Scientists (and Mathematicians) are naive and blinkered". I would like to protest that never have I made such a statement. My limited knowledge of the English language does not even stretch to include, in the sort of Pidgin I use, such a word as "blinkered". And as for "naive", the only sentence where I used this word is the following: That is, while physics and mathematics have gone quite a bit away from what looks nowadays "naive" models of the world, the marketed and self-conscious images perpetuated among mathematicians and physicists (and those inculcated to their students) still belong to the Romantic era. What this paragraph says, though I admit that naturally the phrasing could have been improved, is precisely the opposite! That is, the "naive" models of the world are no longer accepted by mathematics and physics, but the images projected in everyday discourse often still belong to a bygone era. Am I wrong in saying that such words as "discover", "prove" ("proof"), "we now know that" and even, indeed, "exact" are still marketed with great success? (Thomson is disgusted with the term "exact", but he cannot ignore the fact that many University faculties still bear that name around the world.) so nothing here implies that scientists are naive in my eyes. In short, may I reiterate that I was referring to "self images and marketed images" rather than to scientific / mathematical thinking per se? After all, my little note emerged as a comment to Charles Ess's puzzlement (Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 297. Thursday, 27 Jul 1989) about the negative reaction of some of his colleagues' to chaos theory. I have thus suggested that the reason might be the disagreeable possible implications of chaos for the image the scientific community is still in the habit of projecting. I believe Kline has put it in the sharpest way: We know today that mathematics does not possess the qualities that in the past earned for it universal respect and admiration. Mathematics was regarded as... The truth about the design of nature. How man came to the realization that these values are false and just what our present understanding is constitute the major themes [of Kline's book]. ... Many mathematicians would perhaps prefer to limit the disclosure of the present status of mathematics to members of the family. But intellectually oriented people must be fully aware of the powers of the tools at their disposal. Recognition of the limitations, as well as the capabilities, of reason is far more beneficial than blind trust, which can lead to false ideologies and even to destruction. (Kline, Morris 1980. *Mathematics: The Loss of Certainty* (Oxford: Oxford University Press), "Preface". Further, nowhere in my little note can it even indirectly be interpreted as if I claimed that, to use Thomson own words, "a scientist (or a mathematician) has no need for imagination, creative thought, willingness to stand against eminent authority, ability to give up long-held views/prejudices, and so on as does any student of the humanities." I could not agree more with Thomson on this point. From the whole spirit of my note I believe Thomson could have understood how indefensible I find the distinction between "sciences" on the other hand and "the humanities" on the other hand. As for probability vs. determinism and the nature of "laws", I am afraid Thomson is right in criticizing my lack of cautiousness in dealing with the concept of "determinism." I am aware that statistical computing need not be interpreted as probabilism and that at least classical thermodynamics did not revolt against the prevailing views of determinism in physics. What I tried to say was that looking back, in view of Maxwell's readiness, for instance, to accept our inability to predict the behaviour of *individual* molecules (though I admit by no means did he think that this was due to some inherent features of our constructed "laws"), and in view of the more explicit developments in quantum theory, nobody can claim that the understanding of "determinism", i.e., the concept of "determinism", has remained unchanged. The presence of "unknown", or "inaccessible", factors, of the sort we are often aware of in the sciences of man, is admitted in the natural sciences. In one way or another, this has made them closer to the sciences of man. I also think that Thomson insistence on "the behaviour of masses of deterministic molecules", contains a crucial key concept in this theme, namely "masses". In this particular aspect, the natural sciences are no doubt (as in most other aspects, I readily admit) are far ahead of the sciences of man. Several people have asked me about what I meant with Mandelbrot's position vis-a-vis the scientific community. May I end this little comment with the following quotation: Looking back, Mandelbrot saw that scientists in various disciplines responded to his approach in sadly predictable stages. The first stage was always the same: Who are you and why are you interested in our field? Second: How does it relate to what we have been doing, and why don't you explain it on the basis of what we know? Third: Are you sure it's standard mathematics? (Yes, I'm sure.) Then why don't we know it? (Because it's standard but very obscure.) (Gleick, James 1987. *Chaos*: *Making a New Science*. (New York:Viking), 113). Itamar Even-Zohar Porter Institute From: Subject: culture and science? Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 14:54 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 449 (604) Re: culture and science? Tom Thomson writes: " I used to think Snow was wrong, the division of modern thought into two cultures was at most a tiny localised phenomenon and more likely just a figment of his imagination. Reading Humanist is beginning to make me think he was right - - - there are a lot of rather blinkered people out there who don't (want to?) understand that a scientist (or a mathematician) has just as much need for imagination, creative thought, willingness to stand against eminent authority, ability to give up long-held views/prejudices, and so on as does any student of the humanities. Well, is Snow's thesis about the two cultures, right or wrong? The notion that intellectuals are split in two cultures, the technophobic humanists and the technophilic scientists belies the common currents of thought underlying the 'two' cultures. For instance, recently their was some discussion about the nature of e-mail and the HUMANIST in McLuhanesque terminology--i.e. 'global village', 'oral nature of electronic media', and so on. One of McLuhan's claims was that contemporary physics, Einstein, Heisenberg, et. al., is a physics of an oral culture. Physics is no longer composed of deterministic laws, but of indeterministic laws relative to framework; and reasoning in physics is no longer linear, etc. etc. Itamar Even-Zohar's remarks indirectly echoe McLuhan: electronic media create not only a new physics but also a new form of cognition for the humanities. Consequently--on one hand: McLuhan's thesis about our supposedly new form of cognition undercuts Snow's two cultures--the electronic media creates a global village of scientists/humanists who think and speak in non-linear forms. On the other hand: Thomson's own remarks about how humanists, at least on the HUMANIST, distort science and misappreciate the nature of scientific imagination, seems to reinforce Snow's two cultures idea. Both sides to this debate misunderstand the nature of our so-called new electronic, global village. Contra McLuhan, good thinkers whether using electronic media or paper media, spoken or written language, think with the logic of the excluded middle, i.e. binary logic. Indeed, if we want to model thinking on the computer, we have no choice but to use binary logic. However, mislogists (i.e. Winograd, Dreyfus, and others) see the computer as a threat to creative human thinking, which supposedly cannot be modelled via binary logic. However, if we examine the history of creative thinkers from Thales to present: they all used binary logic, with devastating results to "eminent authority". Whereas, those who, beginning with G.F. Hegel, questioned binary logic, usually did so for the purpose of preserving and protecting the intellectual status quo--i.e. to defray the criticisims of 'logic choppers'. Unfortunately, as Snow pointed out, the home of anti-technology and anti-science seems to be among humanists. McLuhanists in their misology carry on the tradition of technophobia, and anti-science, in the guise of loving modern science and electronic media, by distorting the nature of science and electronic media; by promoting an idol of technology/physics as one which is supposedly non-linear, and non-logical. ------------------ Sheldon Richmond From: AMR06@DK0RRZK0 Subject: gutnberg Date: Thu, 03 Aug 1989 10:19:20 CET X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 450 (605) In a recent contribution of Michael Hart I heard for the first time of the existence of a list called GUTNBERG. Am I right supposing that it is about history of books? Could anybody give me more details? Especially the node adress and the persons to contact? Thanks Hans-Christoph Hobohm Romanisches Seminar University of Cologne Germany From: Judy Armstrong Subject: Women's Studies programs Date: Thu, 03 Aug 89 11:57:41 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 451 (606) As part of my sabbatical study, I am collecting information on -- and, hopefully, contacts at - liberal arts colleges who have added women's studies courses to their curriculum, either as individual courses throughout the disciplines, or as a major or minor program. HUMANIST readers willing to share such information and/or suggestions about contacts are invited to respond privately to the author of this note. Thanks in advance, Judy Armstrong, Director, Walker Library Drury College From: Hans Joergen Marker Subject: WP 5.0 Spell-checking Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 05:37:35 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 452 (607) John J. Hughes reports, that he has a list of Greek words, which he wants to add to his US WordPerfect dictionary in order to be able to spell-check texts that contain Greek quotations. This is not the proper way to do it with WP 5.0. What you ought to do, is to define a new dictionary WP{WP}GR.LEX, read the Greek words into that dictiona- ry, and mark the Greek passages as having language GR. WP 5.0 has powerful facilities for handling multilanguage texts. When doing spell-checking it automaticly chooses the relevant dictionary based on the language marked for the text. Hans Joergen Marker. From: MORGAN@LOYVAX.BITNET Subject: RE: 3.318 making dictionaries? PC-TEX? (51) Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 11:22:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 453 (608) I would like to mention Word Perfect once again for concurrent dictionaries in different langauges (5.0 allows this). It is also nice in that, as mentioned several times in the recent past here, one can add one's own entries; thus, as I have translated Ariosto's *Cinque Canti* from Italian, I have added the proper names and have not had problems with the spellchecker stopping me for each one each time. I have a further question for those using computers in language teaching: how do I get started with Hypertext for IBM PC? I would like to create a series of readings, including dictionary files and references, for intermediate and upper level Italian classes. Without spending a mint, I would like a Hypertext like environment. What next? Many thanks for all responses. (If anyone knows of any such texts in Italian already available, I'd love to hear about it also; I haven't seen any mentioned in the literature.) Leslie Morgan Dept. of Foreign Langs. and Lits. Loyola College in Maryland (MORGAN@LOYVAX) From: EVENS@UTORPHYS Subject: pc-tex Date: Wed, 2 Aug 89 22:58 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 454 (609) Pc TeX is public domain and available at simtel20 (see the log files for this list from a fiew weeks ago.) It is especially intended for text with a lot of scientific or math symbols (indices, subscripts, superscripts, "standard" greek letters.) It does a lot of nice things for making text output look nice, such as proportional spacing, hyphenation (it gets 90% of the O.E.D. correct by construction, and 90% of the rest correct by guessing, and you can add exception lists.) If you are going to be using a lot of symbols or equations it would be worth your while. If not, it may be overkill to get it. You will need at least 5 meg on a hard disk, and a full 640 k ram. You may also want LaTeX, which has a lot of facility for doing things like making tables of contents, reference control and things like that. If you want to make VERY pretty output (and are willing to buy a good laser printer) then I recomend it highly. It is not an editor tho. You will need your own word processor. Also, you should note that it won't like any of the special characters your editor may put in for such things as bolding or underscores or such things. So you must have an editor that can output an ordinary ascii text file. The documentation for TeX and LaTeX are The TeX Book by Donald Knuth (the author of the TeX system) and The LaTeX Book by Leslie Lamport (the author of the LaTeX system.) These books will be in the area of $30 dollars each and you pretty much need them to use the systems. dan evens From: lang@PRC.Unisys.COM Subject: PC-TEX Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 09:01:58 -0400 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 455 (610) Vincent Ooi inquired about PC-TEX: I assume this is a version of Donald Knuth's TeX typesetting system. If so, I can heartily recommend TeX, especially when accompanied by Leslie Lamport's macros, in which case the system is called LaTeX. Plain TeX is not easy to use, but LaTeX is much less complicated, block structured, and borrows (or steals*, as Lamport himself says) many ideas from Brian Reid's Scribe system. LaTeX is a very powerful, full-blown typesetting system which can (and has) been used to produce the actual camera-ready copy for professionally published books. Disclaimer: I know nothing specifically about PC-TEX. ------------ * "Lesser artists borrow, great artists steal." Igor Stravinsky From: Michael Stairs Subject: PC-TeX (the good, the bad, and not so ugly) Date: Thu, 03 Aug 89 10:23:40 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 456 (611) Greetings all, Willard has asked me to respond to the request for information on the topic of PC-TeX. Far from being a "word processor", TeX is a powerful formatting language. It accepts ascii text marked up according to very strict specifications. This text can be created on your chosen word processor, but be prepared to spend a lot of time going back and forth between it and TeX. TeX is extremely picky about the input, so most of your time (at least at first) will be spent debugging your text. The results are well worth the effort however! I have been involved in the production of three books here at the CCH (Toronto). We've produced the Humanities Yearbook which Willard and Ian Lancashire co-edit as well as the companion volumes associated with the Dynamic Text Conference held here a few months back. Being the local "TeXpert" I am familiar with the amount of labour involved in the production of articles and books using TeX. If you intend to use TeX either find a support person who would be willing to help (preferably someone with TeX experience) or be prepared for a long, hard struggle. I would recommend TeX only be used for the production of books, journals, and possibly newsletters. The amount of labour involved doesn't justify the use of TeX in anything smaller. If TeX seems too intimidating (and it might to some), one might consider Ventura Publisher or Pagemaker both of which are easier to use and produce only marginally worse copy. The latest version of Ventura appears to have addressed many of the more serious limitations obvious in earlier versions. I think one has to be clear on exactly what are the intended uses of the above mentioned packages and make their decision accordingly. Michael Stairs Site Coordinator Centre for Computing in the Humanities University of Toronto 416-978-6391 STAIRS@UTOREPAS From: David Megginson Subject: Re: 3.321 MIPSy multitasking workstations, cont. (140) Date: Fri, 04 Aug 89 07:42:39 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 457 (612) For text searching and analysis on the Sun, I would recommend PAT from the Oxford dictionary project at Waterloo. I have had an opportunity to try it out, and I have been reading the literature on how it works. I seems that it actually generates an index smaller than the original text. It also has enough features to make an IBM program like WordCruncher seem rather like a toy. In fact, _any_ Unix program can be recompiled onto the Sun, which means that thousands of different programs are only an hour or two away. David Megginson From: CHURCHDM@vuctrvax Subject: MIPS Date: Fri, 4 Aug 89 09:30 CST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 458 (613) The discussion about high-powered workstations prompts me to share with those of you who weren't there my favorite quote from the Dynamic Text Conference (actually from the Advanced Workstation Workshop that preceded the Conference): Non-existent software doesn't run any faster at 100 MIPS than at 10 MIPS. Obviously, it could be argued that software to take advantage of the fancy equipment can't be developed without that equipment. But that is no reason for those who aren't developing software to insist on having such equipment right now. Dan M. Church From: Andrew Gilmartin Subject: MIPS and Humanist computing Date: Fri, 04 Aug 89 13:24:15 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 459 (614) Recently I have also been thinking about the problem of whether software or hardware should be considered in purchasing a computer. In the past I would have always answered software now I am not so sure. Let me explain. The core of my problem is in what form do I store my data so that it can be worked with easily and yet safely be moved between machines and even between environments on the same machine? HUMANISTS frequently talk about the benefits afforded by document type definitions in SGML but still the problem exists in what form is the encoding done. ASCII or, worse yet, a restricted form consisting of the intersection of ASCII and EBCDIC seems the safest. While it is arguable that this form is far too restrictive a representation it is the only form that is universally acceptable. (If Apple Computer's work on MIFF works and is adopted by others we may soon have another.) Settling on such a decision Paul Delany's question concerning MIPS is coincidental. In order to work--browse, edit, and analyze--efficiently with such a low level representation of such high-level abstractions (as defined by a DTD) you need a powerful computer that can quickly change this representation into an efficient (for the computer) internal form. This constant decoding and encoding requires a very fast disk and a very fast processor. Since my choice of representation has decided the kind of hardware--in Paul's case it might be a SPARCstation--what software do I have? Tipping my hat into the ring (expecting a bloodied nose) Unix is the best currently available environment for Humanist work. If you can get past the obscure command mnemonics the wealth of software available to the Humanists is astounding. Unix was designed by programmers to aid the development and maintenance of software. Humanists are doing something quite analogous. What tools are available? A few examples (and maybe others will contribute more suggestions): - SCCS or RCS for managing all the documents that compose a project. - "Tools for Humanists" a collection of Unix filters (tools that transform one representation into another) for producing word concordances. - Icon (or SNOBAL4) for delving even deeper into the the content. - Browser, is not just for HyperCard users. There is also a Unix implementation. - TeX (in conjunction with LaTeX or AMSTeX) is one of the highest quality text processing system available. - Emacs, for editing. (Personally I would prefer something more Macintosh like.) I have a Macintosh on my desk. I do need it for the type of work I do but for the Humanist projects I have worked with the Macintosh and IBM PC are almost useless. By all means buy a Macintosh but make sure that you can Telnet to a Unix system to do other work. (Alternatively, buy a NeXT and get both worlds.) -- Andrew Gilmartin Computing & Information Services Brown University Box 1885 Providence, Rhode Island 02912 andrew@brownvm.brown.edu (internet) andrew@brownvm (bitnet) From: "John K. Baima" Subject: Sun's for Humanists Date: Fri, 4 Aug 89 15:15 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 460 (615) There is one good use of true multitasking (as opposed to Multifinder) that has not been discussed as a use for a Sun workstation: email. If you are on a campus that has an Internet connection, the Sun could be used as a bridge to give a Mac/IBM PC net direct access to internet. The next release of the TOPS email package, InBox will support SMTP (simple mail transfer protocol, the UNIX mail standard). This would allow someone to compose and read mail on their Macs and send it through the Sun. Even without Internet, a Sun can be used to call other UNIX machines so that mail can get in and out via UUCP. There are other ways of getting email, but this is one way. One of the nice programs for Sun workstations is FrameMaker. FM is both a word processor and a desk top publishing system. It really is a good program. A major update is due in the fall and they have promised SGML support by early 1990. FM could thus be one of the earlest and best word processors to support SGML transparently. SGML without ever having to type a "<". FM will be available on Mac's, but I think that it would suffer on the typical Mac screens. By the way, the original message mentioned a Sun 350. Is that a 3/50? Although I am using a Sun 3/50 to write this, I would not buy a 3/50 because it cannot be easily upgraded and the base configuration (4 MB RAM) cannot really run the latest version of the SunOS. John Baima From: (TOM=HORTON) Subject: Use for 12.5 MIPS workstations Date: 08/04/89 15:46:01 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 461 (616) A few more comments about Paul Delany's possible acquisition of a 12.5 MIPS Sun SPARCstation. Sun workstations can run DOS software (if that helps), but he should consider the cost of hardware and software maintenance, which are very high for workstations. More details on these two subjects follow at the end of this message. Maintenance costs must be considered. Humanities scholars who are offered one-time-only cash for setting up a lab should not forget that the bills keep coming. It's hard, but try not to get seduced by hot new hardware. Everyone is at risk to this. The folks from IRIS who gave the Advanced Function Workstation workship at the recent Toronto conference spent the first hour hammering home the point that it's the software environment that makes a workstation ``advanced.'' They then spent the next two or three hours on a detailed look at specific chips, storage media, mice (do you want 3 buttons or just 2?), etc etc. We got a demo of the NeXT environment and Intermedia in the afternoon, but they left us all frustrated by telling us at end: ``We had other software demos to show you, but we've run out of time!'' Tom Horton Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University BITNET: HortonT@SERVAX DOS on Suns ----------- If Paul was interested in using DOS software in the lab, Sun sells a product called DOS Windows for the Sun SPARCstation ($495 list) which will allow you to run all your favorite DOS humanist packages (text retrieval, word processing, CALL, etc). (I have no first-hand experience with this package.) The newer Suns (SPARCstation, 3/80, etc) can be bought with a 3.5" disk drive that read DOS diskettes. Also Sun sells software that would allow you to network DOS PCs to this workstation, so you could conceivably use the SPARCstation as the center of a networked DOS PC lab. Maintenance Costs ----------------- Bob Amsler alluded to something that has to be considered in setting up a software lab: cost of hardware maintenance. I've been involved in choosing machines for various labs and administering our departmental workstations, and a room full of Suns, Apollos, HPs, etc will eat you alive if you keep them on hardware and software support. For example, the SPARCstation Paul Delany is considering will cost him between US $96 and $130 each MONTH in hardware maintenance after the first 90 days. (Price for next-day, on-site service. Cheaper rates may be available if you can live without your machine for several weeks. Hardware maintenance for workstations is not normally discounted for universities unless there are a lot machines on campus.) This does not even include software maintenance (although this is usually discounted). Software for workstations is expensive. For example, FrameMaker, a popular Desktop Publishing Package, is about $1000 per machine. (And if you want maintenance and updates, it's $515 a year for the 1st user, $195 each additional user.) I don't know how these maintenance costs compare to those for PCs. But maintenance costs are high enough to cause problems for our fairly-well-funded computer science department, so humanities departments beware. From: Steven J. DeRose Subject: TeX Date: Fri, 04 Aug 89 14:27:48 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 462 (617) I'd like to add one small caveat about TeX: TeX is not an authoring or writing system, but a *typesetting* system. As that it is very good; that is to say, it allows you to place ink on paper in quite subtle and sophisticated ways. *However,* I suspect most of us are not professional typesetters, have no training in graphic design anyway, and would make better use of our time by writing than by typesetting. If you need to produce camera-ready copy, TeX is great; but this is a job publishers used to do for you, at their own expense (both money and time). While you're adding "italic corrections" and playing with leading, you could instead be writing your next book, so I'd recommend thinking through your goals before starting to learn TeX. LaTeX is less prone to these criticisms, but still doesn't insulate the author from the details as well as it might. Steve DeRose From: (TOM=HORTON) Subject: TeX/LaTeX for DOS Date: 08/04/89 15:44:59 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 463 (618) Regarding the public domain DOS versions that have been discussed, there are two version of TeX available on the SIMTEL server. The file PD:-READ.ME on that server describes these two: SBTeX and DosTeX. Read that file for more info, but briefly SBTeX is reported to be 2 to 3 times faster and requires less memory. SBTeX doesn't come with fonts or printer drivers but these are available from another site using FTP transfers over the Internet. I don't see why the fonts and drivers that come with DosTeX wouldn't work with SBTeX too. I think Michael Stairs' assessment of TeX and LaTeX is accurate. I'm a big fan of this system, but I'm also a programmer with a fast workstation with a good enough graphics system to make previewing easy. I've helped secretaries learn LaTeX, so one doesn't have to have a programmer to use the system. But, if we'd had a WYSIWYG or Desktop Publishing system on our machines in the beginning I would have certainly encouraged the secretaries to learn that before learning LaTeX. Tom Horton Computer Science, Florida Atlantic University BITNET: HortonT@SERVAX From: Jim McSwain Subject: Ralph Beaufort Date: THU 03 AUG 1989 17:15:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 464 (619) I have a question which I wish to throw out to participants. Does anyone have any information on one Ralph Beaufort, canon of York from 1430 until his death in 1450? Other than the York ecclesiastical records are there any other records in which he appears? I wish to know if he was part of the prominent Beaufort family that were relatives of Henry IV. If you know of any pertinent citations, please advise. Regards, JMcSwain f0a8@usouthal From: SRRJ1@VAXA.YORK.AC.UK Subject: Date: Fri, 4 AUG 89 14:12:37 BST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 465 (620) MY HEART BELONGS TO......? On behalf of a colleague could I ask HUMANISTS to pass on their knowledge of any celebrated individual who died before c. 1500 and whose heart was removed and buried in a different place from the rest of their body? with heartfelt thanks, Sarah Rees Jones Department of History University of York srrj1@uk.ac.york.vaxa From: HANLY@UOFMCC Subject: gender specific man haters (concluded?) Date: Fri, 04 Aug 89 07:33 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 329 (621) Thanks to all those who have provided communications concerning gender specific man haters. This is a short summary of the situation as it seems to me. The appropriate root term in Greek is ANDR meaning `man' -in the gender sense. Words such as `polyandrous' illustrate this root. Using this root and the existing `feminine' terms `misogyny' and `misogynist' we could form the following pairings: misogyny --- misandry misogynist --- misandrist The `male' pairings seem to be lacking in attraction to lexicographers, in particular those associated with the OED. Our edition of the OED lists neither `misandry' nor `misandrist'. A l976 supplement lists `misandry' under the prefix `miso'-presumably because `miso' is the prefix of the existing female term. (Isn't that sexist?) Quotations illustrating the use of `misandry' are from 1946 and 1960 ,rather recent in lexicographic terms. `misandrist' is not listed at all. The Webster's 3rd International recognises `misandry' but not `misandrist'. Perhaps some budding Sam Johnson--the front runner among lexicographers-- is reading this, and having perfected a protocol for citing electronic texts, will recognise this HUMANIST text by citing it in his online dictionary. We will end then not with a use but a mention. `misandrist'. Ken Hanly Brandon Univ. From: unhd!psc90!jdg@uunet.UU.NET (Dr. Joel Goldfield) Subject: "Getting started with hypertextual authoring software" Date: Fri, 4 Aug 89 00:14:56 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 330 (622) Regarding Leslie Morgan's recent query about hypertext, I would suggest Guide 2.0 (MS-DOS version) from Owl International (see Joseph Feustle's article in this Spring's _Hispania_) or, for the more database-inclined, AskSam. Right now I'm also favoring Guide as a useful "software glue" that can run commercial programs as interconnected applications. Furthermore, there's a Mac version, one that seems to complement Hypercard well. Some members of the Cornell School of Ed. are doing just that for Spanish & German interactive video. Joel D. Goldfield J_GOLDFI@UNHH.bitnet From: sdm@cs.brown.edu Subject: Developing Software Date: Thu, 3 Aug 89 23:04:32 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 331 (623) Charles Ess pointed out that "it only took some five years and a few million dollars to develop Intermedia for the Macintosh." This is probably true, although I feel compelled to point out that at least some of that time and money was invested in trying to make an IBM PC/RT look like a Macintosh, and of course some of it was spent producing reports for the funding agencies. Nonetheless, the undertaking was a substantial one, and the end result is an industrial-strength hypermedia system. Still, it's interesting to ponder how much could have been done if the project were not so ambitious. For example, imagine that you wanted to develop a primitive hypermedia system on a Unix workstation that ran the X window system, and you had access to an experienced programmer who was familiar with writing programs to run under X. Imagine further that you were willing to settle for relatively small amounts of data in your system, and you were willing to limit yourself to textual entries and bitmaps, plus fairly simple linking schemes. In other words, you just wanted to "play around" with a simple hypertext system. My guess is that you could have such a "toy" system put together and available for experimentation within no more than a month (exclusive of the entering of the data for the system, which is a separate problem). What would you give up in comparison to a system like Intermedia? 1. Ease of use. The user interface wouldn't look like a Macintosh, it would look like whatever X happened to offer. This would make it less suitable for inexperienced computer users. 2. Robustness. There would be more bugs in the system. 3. Views of the data. Intermedia offers web views and timelines (and possibly others), and you wouldn't have those kinds of views. 4. Extensibility. Intermedia can handle large quantities of data. Your system would become slower and slower as you added more data to it. 5. Documentation. You'd have to learn how to use the system from the programmer. My point here is not that everybody should be writing their own hypermedia system, but that the essence of such a system can be implemented in a fairly straightforward fashion. What costs you is getting the system into shape for use by outsiders. If you're willing to live with something that is clearly home-grown, you can develop things fairly quickly and inexpensively. My second point is that many colleges have an ample source of programmers who could potentially write systems such as I've described: undergraduates, especially majors in Computer Science or a similar field. Certainly the hypermedia system I described above could be implemented by an undergraduate in about a month, presupposing s/he had the qualifications I've listed above. Here at Brown University, for example, the CHUG (Computing in the Humanities User's Group) and the CSDUG (Computer Science Departmental Undergraduate Group) are exploring the possibility of having CSDUG members work on implementing projects that are suggested by the CHUG. The idea is that the CSDUG members gain experience with "real" computer programs and with "real" research projects, and CHUG members gain (potentially) useful software for the cost of advising a CSDUG member. As far as I know, this cooperative effort is still quite tentative, but the idea, I believe, is a sound one. If other Humanists have experience with this kind of collaboration, I would appreciate knowing about it. My overall point is that it need not be that difficult to develop software for use in the humanities, whether on new machines or old. At many schools, there is even a pretty good chance that you could coax someone into writing your program for you. There being no free lunch, however, you've got to give up something, and what you'll probably have to give up is the luster of a polished professional-quality program. For some Humanists, I suspect, the tradeoff may well be worth it. Scott Meyers sdm@cs.brown.edu From: Willard McCarty Subject: LOOK Date: 2 August 1989 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 466 (624) Thanks to Hans Rollman, the shareware program LOOK is now on the fileserver, s.v. LOOKFOR UUE. As you may know, compiled programs must be encoded to survive many network transmissions. The UUE scheme is one of several but very widely known. You may download this file from the file-server in the usual way (see your Guide to Humanist), but to use it you must have a copy of UUDECODE. For obvious reasons it makes no sense to place a UUENCODEd version of UUDECODE.COM on the server. So, you'll have to ask around locally. By the way, once you've UUDECODEd it, you'll discover an ARCed file, so you'll also need some version of ARC. By now you're no doubt burning up with curiosity. What is LOOK? It is a nifty utility much like Gofer but, some say, faster. The interface isn't quite as trendy, but the program works. As far as I know it isn't infected. Note the developer's request for a small fee if you decide to keep the program. Willard McCarty From: Jim McSwain Subject: packet switching Date: THU 03 AUG 1989 09:39:00 CDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 467 (625) Recently I received a message from a man in Germany about packet switching. Unfortunately, I mislaid his address after I had sent him a message stating that I had no information to help him. I wish now to point him or anyone else to an article in PC COMPUTING July 1989 entitled "Crossing Borders, Different communications standards and national packet-switching networks . . ." by Bruce Page, pp. 167- 168. Perhaps this will be of some help. Regards, JMcSwain f0a8@usouthal From: "James H. Coombs" Subject: MIPS; MACII screens; hypertext development Date: Sat, 05 Aug 89 16:58:37 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 468 (626) A few quick comments from skimming/scanning discussion of MIPS, etc. 1. I use SUNs for database construction and servers. I find the SUN 3 about 4 times as fast as a MACII for database construction. Perhaps 2 times as fast for serving. Others might have different experience. I have to allow at least 24 hours to process the American Heritage Dictionary and build a new database (27 meg.); lot's of extra processing but the database is highly optimized. 2. I have not seen any software that is designed to serve scholarly research or education at high levels. Sun Tools is nice. et++ is interesting. But no special tools to help me in my research. It might be there, but I haven't seen it. 3. We use SUN 3s and NFS to mount large filesystems on our MACs for program development. High speed. Lots of disk space. Share files. We use a MACII and NFS for our Intermedia database and documents. Performance is fine. 4. I am using a large b/w monitor on a Mac IIcx. I guess it's 21 inches diag. At any rate, I almost never feel a need to open a window that stretches all of the way from top to bottom. I find that the window borders help me keep my place in the document. That means that I have free space on the "desktop" not because I am trying to keep it free but because I don't need it all of the time. Intermedia runs on this monitor without requiring modifications. (We did have to change some dialogs recently to fit on the tiny SE 30 display.) I don't know how much the monitor costs, but it is good. 5. I'm not sure how this one came up, but there has been some discussion of the costs of developing a hypermedia system. Good software engineering is very expensive. Maintenance is even more expensive than creation. There are no easy answers. Some people say that there are NO answers, only tradeoffs (D.A. Norman on cognitive engineering; G. Weinberg on systems design; etc.). We had problems with Ingres. I had just developed a dictionary database using CTree, a b+tree file management system. Victor Riley and I developed a basic communications protocol. We implemented a client layer to slide under Intermedia and a server with a pluggable database layer. Also the CTree implementation of the database layer. This took two weeks to design and implement. It took another couple of months to debug and get it up to product quality. We had only one lingering problem: documents were left locked when Intermedia crashed. Part of the solution was to debug Intermedia; the other part was to use a "keepalive" option on sockets (and this required hacking the kernel when A/UX 1.1 came out). Ok, so we had a usable database and server in two weeks, with major bugs out in a total of one month. We had to develop the communications protocol, but we were given a hypermedia model, which we modified only slightly. We also had a server building block already developed and in use for about six months. Currently, we have about 8000 lines of code for the server, client, and database layers. Note that this does not include any interface, editors, or anything of the sort. It also does not include the maintenance of lists of blocks and links on the Intermedia client side. On the other hand, we were working only about 1/4 time on this project once we finished the initial coding. I will leave it to others to estimate what it takes to create a minimal hypertext environment. My experience is that developing a good interface takes a long time. It cost me about two weeks to put up a dialog for spelling correction and get it right. 5 buttons, 1 scrolling tile, 1 edit text box, 1 static text box. I currently take my best estimate and multiply it by 4. That just about fits the two weeks it took to implement the hypertext server and the two months that it took before we could forget about it. This is based on personal experience. I don't know what formula others apply, but this one works for me. My advice to humanists who are thinking about contracting for some software work? Don't. I suspect that only 1 in 10 ever get something they can use. Get your university to establish a staff of developers. That staff can include students, who will get to work with experienced professionals, both for their own benefit and for the benefit of the project. Most universities will say that they cannot afford such a staff. If not, then how can individual faculty or departments afford it? Principles: a. Software requires maintenance. b. Maintenance is more time consuming than initial development. c. Inexperienced developers need close supervision. So do experienced developers (I have seen 40,000 lines of code developed over 2 years thrown away for poor quality). I guess I should add that only experienced developers have the qualification to provide this supervision. d. This is not a problem for scholars and humanists uniquely. I'm beginning to accept that software engineers should be licensed. e. When negotiating for software, don't forget to include the costs of your own time (and probable stress). I guess this is enough for a start. I acknowledge that there are some success stories: my guess is 1 in 10. --Jim Dr. James H. Coombs Senior Software Engineer, Research Institute for Research in Information and Scholarship (IRIS) Brown University, Box 1946 Providence, RI 02912 jazbo@brownvm.bitnet From: JACKA@PENNDRLS Subject: IT; MIPSy workstations Date: Monday, 7 August 1989 1904-EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 469 (627) Two quick notes: 1. ON IT: As organizations have a tendency to do, we in Computer Services at the University of Pennsylvania had to spend each Wednesday of last semester together writing a mission statement for Computer Services. It is perhaps interesting to note that those colleagues who came from administrative computing spoke of computing as IT. Those of us from academic computing didn't know what they were talking about even when IT was defined; however, we embraced the term fully when we saw that IT could mean most anything and would, if included in our mission statement, allow us to take under our wing the library, the media center, the typing pool and almost any piece of technology we could label as technology. 2. The whole question about which machine is faster and more powerful reminds me of my days in high school when we used to run cars at night down the straight ways on Chapel St. in New Haven, Connecticut. So what? I think it is relevant to point out that software is the primary requirement along with personal choice. Also, I liked to add that there still exists such machines as mainframes which are certainly more powerful than any of the machines mentioned yet in this discussion. The problem here is the software and interface to a certain extent. Mainframes remain fossilized in the ideas of the past unlike the SUN or NeXT which are present tense concept, but certainly not futuristic enough for my tastes. From: Paul Delany Subject: MIPSy workstations Date: Mon, 7 Aug 89 16:44:12 PDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 470 (628) Thanks for the many useful comments on this issue, & may the discussion continue. HUMANIST is an invaluable resource for such decisions. We have decided to go ahead with our plans for a Macintosh Lab, helped by Apple's recent offering to us of Mac IIx's for $2900Cdn (that's just the box, but still . . . ). Meanwhile, there's a chance we can get free use of a Sun 3/50, declared surplus by another department, to experiment with. They can also be upgraded to a 3/80 for about $1200. Again, my thanks for the advice. Paul Delany, Simon Fraser Univ. From: Harold Wilson Subject: Jack the Ripper Date: Sat, 05 Aug 89 21:34:54 EST X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 471 (629) There was some discussion recently about two programs for students, Jack the Ripper (a logic teaching device) and Buried Treasurer (same thing). Are these programs available for purchase and general use by the universities that developed them? If so, to whom do I apply? Thank you. From: Hans Rollmann (hans@mun.bitnet) Subject: Works of John Wesley in electronic form? Date: 06 Aug 89 05:50 -0330 X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 472 (630) ---------------------------------------------- Is anyone aware of electronic versions of the works of John Wesley? I'm especially interested in his JOURNAL and the CORRESPONDENCE but also in other opera. Thanks. Hans Rollmann From: Subject: Date: X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 473 (631) DATE: 07 AUG 89 17:33:08 FROM: C60903@AINUNI01 SUBJECT: online libraries Since I am probably the "man in Germany" - Austria, actually - mentioned in Jim McSwains recent posting to HUMANIST, I might just as well put my question to the group as a whole. I would be interested in finding out about gaining access to library information networks in the United States and Canada through either the research networks or alternatively via public packet-switching services such as TYMNET. It is possible for me to log-on to online public access catalogues in the United Kingdom, which makes life a lot easier far away from an English-language research library; any information on library networks in North America would thus be most welcome. Regards, Joe Wallmannsberger English Department, University of Innsbruck, Austria From: Subject: Date: X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 474 (632) DATE: 07 AUG 89 18:04:47 FROM: C60903@AINUNI01 SUBJECT: postscript font generators At the moment I am back to the basics of humanities computing: getting strange creatures such as thorns and yoghs on a sheet of a paper. For various reasons the trick has to be done with Microsoft WORD, or a similar general-purpose word processor,and in POSTSCRIPT. I am planning to use PUBLISHER's TYPE FOUNDRY to redesign a BITSTREAM softfont and then to use BITSTREAM's FONTWARE to customize WORD's postscript printer driver and download the fonts to an Apple Laserwriter IINT. Now this looks like a major effort, and I would thus like to find out if a fellow HUMANIST has successfully carried out something along those lines; maybe HUMANIST could even function as a repository of public domain softfonts for humanities publishing. Generally, contacts with IBM-PC/Laser printer (Postscript or HP) fontographers and desk top publishers would be much appreciated. Regards, Josef Wallmannsberger English Department, University of Innsbruck, Austria c60903@ainuni01.bitnet From: "J. Harwood, 5-4764/3-3605" Subject: Machine-readable version of a Manzoni Novel Date: Mon, 7 Aug 89 15:10:00 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 475 (633) A colleague is looking for a machine-readable version of a classic Italian novel: Alessandro Manzoni's _I pronessi sposi_. Please let me know if you are aware of such a version. Thanks. From: MLAOD@CUVMB.bitnet Subject: Politics Date: Mon, 7 Aug 89 14:08:00 EDT(2) (189 lines) X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 335 (634) Humanist members: Attached is a letter which is being sent to all MLA members regarding recent events in Washington and the National Endowment for the Arts. Briefly, it involves political pressure which would disable or replace the process of peer review in granting federal funds in the arts and humanities, substituting instead various moral and political tests which are, to me, profoundly frightening. I hope that you will read this letter and, if similarly moved, take the time to respond accordingly. Daniel Uchitelle Modern Language Association -------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 August 1989 Dear MLA Member: We are writing to you about a current debate in the United States Con- gress that is of vital concern to those of us who work in the humanities. Although the debate focuses on two controversial exhibits of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano supported by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), it raises large questions about the role of government in subsidizing art. Immediately after Labor Day a conference committee made up of legislators from the House of Representatives and the Senate will meet to resolve some of these questions. The committee's decisions will affect the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as well as the NEA and will have far-reaching implications. On 26 July, Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) introduced an amendment to the Fiscal Year 1990 Interior and Related Agencies Appropriations bill that the Senate approved by a voice vote. The purpose of this amendment is To prohibit the use of appropriated funds for the dissemination, promotion, or production of obscene or indecent materials or materials denigrating a particular religion. The amendment specifies: None of the funds authorized to be appropriated pursuant to this Act may be used to promote, dis- seminate, or produce-- (1) obscene or indecent materials, including but not limited to depictions of sadomasochism, homo- eroticism, the exploitation of children, or indi- viduals engaged in sex acts; or (2) material which denigrates the objects or beliefs of the adherents of a particular religion or non-religion; or (3) material which denigrates, debases, or reviles a person, group, or class of citizens on the basis of race, creed, sex, handicap, age, or national origin. According to knowledgeable observers, although Senator Helms aimed the amendment at the NEA, by its placement in the bill, its provisions will apply to all agencies funded under the bill, including the NEH, the National Gallery of Art, the Institute for Museum Services, the Smith- sonian Institution, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Early in September, the conference committee will negotiate the final version of the appropriations bill. If the amendment remains in the bill and becomes law, it will mark an important shift in the government's regulation of federally supported artistic and intellectual endeavor. The change may be seen by comparing the Helms amendment with the report language the Senate Labor and Public Welfare Committee adopted to accompany the authorizing statute that established the NEA and the NEH in 1965. It is the intent of the committee that in the administration of this act there be given the ful- lest attention to freedom of artistic and humanistic expression. One of the artist's and the humanist's great values to society is the mirror of self-examination which they raise so that society can become aware of its shortcomings as well as its strengths. Moreover, modes of expression are not static, but are constantly evolving. Countless times in history artists and humanists who were vilified by their contemporaries because of their innovations in style or mode of expression have become prophets to a later age. Therefore, the committee affirms that the intent of this act should be the encouragement of free inquiry and expression. The committee wishes to make clear that conformity for its own sake is not to be encouraged, and that no undue preference should be given to any particu- lar style or school of thought or expression. Nor is innovation for its own sake to be favored. The standard should be artistic and humanistic excellence. To carry out the work of the NEA and the NEH, Congress endorsed a system of peer review. Panels of specialists were to consider applications requesting support for various projects and to identify proposals they judged worthy of funding. Final decisions were to be made by the heads of the endowments with the advice of the endowments' governing councils. The Helms amendment would significantly reduce the role of peer review and even the role of presidentially appointed leaders of the endowments. How the NEA and the NEH will interpret and apply the language in the amendment, should it become law, cannot be predicted, but you may wish to consider its possible effects on the arts and the humanities. As a scholar and teacher of language and literature, you are in a position to speak with authority to the issues the Helms amendment raises, and you may wish to express your views about the amendment to the members of the conference committee. (A list of committee members' names and addresses appears below.) If you do write, your letter should reach committee members before Labor Day. We would appreciate receiving a copy of your letter as well and ask that you direct it to us at the MLA office. If you have questions, please call Phyllis Franklin at (212) 614-6301. Sincerely yours, Victor Brombert President Modern Language Association Catharine R. Stimpson First Vice President Modern Language Association If you live in a state represented on the committees, you should write directly to your state's senator or representative(s). If you do not live in a state represented on the committees, please direct your letters to Senators Byrd and McClure and to Representatives Yates and Regula. | SENATE | HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES | Interior and Related Agencies Subcom- |Interior and Related Agencies Subcommit- mittee of the Senate Committee on |tee of the House Committee on Appropri- Appropriations ( listed in order |ations (members listed in order of of seniority on the subcommittee) |seniority on the subcommittee) | | Name ZIP+4 | Name ZIP+4 MAJORITY MEMBERS | MAJORITY MEMBERS Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) 20510-4801|Sidney R. Yates (D-IL) 20515-1309 (chair) | (chair) J. Bennett Johnston (D-LA) 20510-1802|John P. Murtha (D-PA) 20515-3812 Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT) 20510-4502|Norman D. Dicks (D-WA) 20515-4706 Dennis DeConcini (D-AZ) 20510-0302|Les AuCoin (D-OR) 20515-3701 Quentin N. Burdick (D-ND) 20510-3401|Tom Bevill (D-AL) 20515-0104 Dale Bumpers (D-AR) 20510-0401|Chester G. Atkins (D-MA) 20515-2105 Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC) 20510-4002| Harry Reid (D-NV) 20510-2803| | MINORITY MEMBERS |Ralph Regula (R-OH) 20515-3516 MINORITY MEMBERS | (ranking minority member) James A. McClure (R-ID) 20510-1201|Joseph M. McDade (R-PA) 20515-3810 (ranking minority member) |Bill Lowery (R-CA) 20515-0541 Ted Stevens (R-AK) 20510-0201| Jake Garn (R-UT) 20510-4401| Thad Cochran (R-MS) 20510-2402|For appropriations conferences, the Warren B. Rudman (R-NH) 20510-2902|chair and ranking minority member of Don Nickles (R-OK) 20510-3602|the full House Appropriations Committee Pete V. Domenici (R-NM) 20510-3101|are traditionally active participants. |The chair and ranking minority member |of the House Appropriations Committee For appropriations conferences, the |are, respectively: chair and ranking minority member of | Jamie L. Whitten (D-MS) 20515-2401 the full Senate Appropriations Commit-| Silvio O. Conte (R-MA) 20515-2101 tee are traditionally active partici- | pants. The chair and ranking minority| member of the Senate Appropriations | Letters to representatives should be Committee are, respectively: | addressed as follows: Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) 20510-4801| Honorable ____________________ Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR) 20510-3701| U. S. House of Representatives | Washington, DC 20515-____ | (fill in name and extension of zipcode) Letters to senators should be addressed| as follows: | Honorable ____________________ | United States Senate | Washington, DC 20510-____ | (fill in name and extension of zipcode)| | From: Charles Ess Subject: Re: 3.331 software development (87) Date: Mon, 7 Aug 89 11:21:42 EDT X-Humanist: Vol. 3 Num. 336 (635) I very much enjoyed Scott Myer's most recent comments (evoked by my comments on his comments...) on the issue of developing homegrown software for humanists when more polished, commercially available software is lacking. I hesitate to quibble with the eminent good sense he displays -- but I think the quibble is an important one. Underneath much of our discussion, it seems to me, is a rather large disparity between the environments and goals of humanities computing which we are attempting to address. To state this disparity most sharply: I am interested in taking a long- standing claim about computing resources -- namely, that they will democratize research and learning resources -- very seriously. While there is some reason to believe that this democritization process is gradually emerging -- there is equal reason to believe that computing resources remain largely the province of the lucky few who (a) find themselves in an institutional environment with the resources and interest in academic computing to support their endeavors, and (b) manage the difficult conjunction between traditional academic research and teaching interests and the new technologies. For example, Scott (if I may be so familiar) mentions collaboration between humanities faculty and students in a computer science program. My college, however, has no such program -- partly out of an intentional decision to avoid creating a program which might reinforce our rather traditional faculty's belief that computers are "really" the province of the hard sciences and programmers. More generally, the financial resources available to many of us in colleges such as mine -- small, liberal arts institutions which are neither a Princeton or Stanford, nor a _______ (fill in the name of one of the dozens of struggling liberal arts colleges in this country who may boast some very fine and dedicated faculty, but who are also not entirely certain their doors will open next year) -- mean that a PC (not to mention a Macintosh) for every faculty member, provided by the college, remains a fond dream. My point is not to bewail our relative poverty, nor to somehow cast moral deprecation on my colleagues who find themselves in more richly supportive environments. Rather, it is to point out that there are considerable differences in the computing environments. While this may seem obvious, it leads to a critical difference in the decisions we make regarding hardware and software. Most sharply, if I'm interested in developing computing resources which can be utilized by as many students and faculty on my campus as possible -- and in this way, such resources will democritize the research and learning process by extending such resources to faculty and students who otherwise would have no access to them -- then these resources must be cheap, exceptionally user-friendly, and sufficiently powerful to overcome the fairly common reaction: "What can your computer do that I can't already do with a typewriter or an overhead projector?" In such an environment, acquiring a SUN would not make a great deal of sense. For the humanities faculty who enjoy greater levels of technical and financial support -- and, as some of Scott's comments suggest, are primarily interested in exploiting the computer for their own research (_not_ a bad thing at all, just to be sure that's clear) -- the SUN might be a wise investment indeed. I do not mean to suggest that democritization is morally superior to a kind o