From: CBS%UK.AC.RUTHERFORD.MAIL::CA.UTORONTO.UTCS.VM::POSTMSTR 14-JAN-1989 09:20:42.36 To: archive CC: Subj: Via: UK.AC.RUTHERFORD.MAIL; Sat, 14 Jan 89 9:19 GMT Received: from UKACRL by UK.AC.RL.IB (Mailer X1.25) with BSMTP id 9258; Sat, 14 Jan 89 09:19:05 GM Received: from vm.utcs.utoronto.ca by UKACRL.BITNET (Mailer X1.25) with BSMTP id 1857; Sat, 14 Jan 89 09:19:01 G Received: by UTORONTO (Mailer X1.25) id 0374; Fri, 13 Jan 89 14:43:55 EST Date: Fri, 13 Jan 89 14:43:44 EST From: "Steve Younker (Postmaster)" To: archive@UK.AC.OXFORD.VAX ========================================================================= Date: 1 July 1987, 14:09:01 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: Article in SCOPE 5.2 (March-April 1987): 13, 19. Those of you at ICCH87 who attended the meeting in which the idea for HUMANIST was born will remember that Joe Raben, publisher of CHum and editor of SCOPE, was there. He has described that meeting and its significance in the latest issue of SCOPE. As one of the pioneers of computing in the humanities, Joe must be very familiar with the role of revolutionary outcast and with what one must do to keep the faith, and keep it intelligently, in a time of little recognition or outright rejection. His counsels have an authority for that reason. Joe calls us "the avant-garde, who are uniting humanistic values with technological means." He says that we are developing "a broader vision [than our counterparts in traditional fields] by serving colleagues from many departments," thus learning "the skills of many disciplines." He compares us to the anthropologists, who emerged from history and classics, to psychologists from philosophy, and to linguists from language departments. "And in every case, the exiles have developed more rapidly as innovators and challengers of received knowledge." He recommends that academics without a proper job turn the university's rejection to their advantage by using the time liberated from teaching to develop knowledge and skills far beyond what is possible for their teaching colleagues. Then he gets to us HUMANISTs. "In better touch with comrades on other campuses, because they understand and utilize computer-based communications, they will forge an association with a potential far beyond that of current professional organizations." No academic without a proper appointment needs to be told the other side of the story. I think it's useful, however, to be shown the golden aspects of what usually seems an iron-aged actuality. Nevertheless, if the gold's to be grasped, I also think we need to develop some clear notions of how computing in the humanities can make a scholarly contribution to scholarship. Hand-waving won't help, nor will promises to prove the unprovable. Speaking in terms of my own field, I am forced by experience to recognize the necessarily tentative (and therefore disturbing) nature of literary arguments: like us they're mortal and problematic, but also like us they can occasionally reach beyond our historical and personal limitations. I don't see anything wrong with the traditional scholarly values, which most of our non-computing colleagues appear not to follow anyhow, but I do see great dangers still in pseudo-scientific ideas of truth, evidence, and proof. They will discredit as well as mislead us. So what can computing do for us as scholars that itself deserves a place in scholarship? Good answers to this question should be translatable into software and so be put to the test. [This message is about 50 lines long.] ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 2 Jul 87 12:03:02 GMT Reply-To: CMI011%UK.AC.SOUTHAMPTON.IBM@AC.UK Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: CMI011%UK.AC.SOUTHAMPTON.IBM@AC.UK What about some light relief? Those of you who are Unix types may have come across 'fortune cookies' or 'yow' (part of Gnuemacs), which print a random line or two of wisdom on the screen when invoked. It is also used in my department as part of a lock screen on Sun workstations; systems which are not in use sit and display random quotes at intervals on the screen to stop any given message burning into the phosphor (is this true?). so what, you say? well, in an effort to justify humanities in a computer science world, I have replaced the 'yow' database with verses of poetry (all of TS Eliot, most of Bob Dylan and a lot of Brian Patten). What a relief to have pithy thoughts come up every so often instead of mindless American aphorisms! who said poetry had no place in the modern world? sebastian rahtz. computer science, southampton, uk ========================================================================= Date: 4 July 1987, 14:57:04 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: Biographies All of you should receive within the next day or so the file HUMANIST BIOGRAFY, ca. 50K, 950 lines. Please let me know if it does not arrive intact. As soon as we figure out how to keep files centrally, on UTORONTO, I'll put HUMANIST BIOGRAFY there. It will then be your responsibility to keep your entry updated. Any changes or additions should be sent to me directly. I'd also like to hear from you if you have any suggestions or comments about the format or contents of this file. If a sufficient number of you who didn't send in an entry do so in the near future, I'll issue a supplement. Approximately 5/8 of the membership is represented in the current file. ========================================================================= Date: 5 July 1987, 12:12:30 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: address correction In HUMANIST BIOGRAFY Leslie Burkholder's e-mail address was incorrectly given. Mea culpa. It should be as follows: lb0q@te.cc.cmu.edu.bitnet OR lb0q#@andrew.cmu.edu.bitnet OR lb0q#@andrew.cmu.edu.arpanet ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 11:00:41 GMT Reply-To: CMI011%UK.AC.SOUTHAMPTON.IBM@AC.UK Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: CMI011%UK.AC.SOUTHAMPTON.IBM@AC.UK I forgot to say in my note about the Uses and Abuses of Poetry that, of course, the source for my text of TS Eliot and Bob Dylan was Lou Burnard's _Oxford Text Archive_. Jolly highly recommended... The interesting point arises of copyright etc; these bleeding chunks of poetry (a verse or 10 lines, whichever is shorter) are displayed under control of a program which the average punter cannot get at; nor can they normally access the source file. So to that extent I am not giving the text out to all and sundry. Nor am I 'publishing' it in a form that a literary person could read for sense. But if you were sufficiently patient you could acquire the whole of the Waste Land bit by bit, like a jigsaw. Ergo, I ask you all - is this publication? Have we identified a way in which electronic media genuinely confuse the issue? sebastian rahtz. computer science, southampton, uk ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 12:13:16 CDT Reply-To: Michael Sperberg-McQueen Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Michael Sperberg-McQueen Subject: copyright Rahtz's copyright conundrum REPLY TO 07/06/87 11:00 FROM CMI011%UK.AC.SOUTHAMPTON.IBM@AC.UK: copyright Sebastian Rahtz's example of semi-/may-be-/may-not-be "publication" of Eliot and Dylan lyrics provides an interesting thought experiment. Is displaying such small chunks of verse on a screen, at random, "publication"? I think there must be two issues here: is it publication if we quote only small pieces of the text? and is it publication if we only show the pieces on a VDT, as opposed to paper? I think both are interesting questions. If my understanding of copyright doctrine is correct, though, the lawyers have already answered the first question: quotation of a line or two of verse -- particularly of a song lyric -- counts as publication and normally requires permission of the copyright holder. Hence the distracting copyright notices you see at the bottom of pages where a short story writer has quoted a popular song for atmosphere. (This may be different in the UK, but I always thought your copyright laws were more stringent, not less, than ours.) On the second issue, one might argue that display on a screen in a public place is a "making public" and thus a "publication." I assume the publishers line up here. One might conversely argue that a departmental terminal room is not really public, and thus preserve the refreshingly literate air of the place by claiming that this should fall into the "fair use" category. I would hate to see this use turn out to be a copyright violation! Medievalists have it easier, I think: if I put stanzas of Minnesang or random quotations from Chaucer up (and got them from a nineteenth-century edition), the copyright issue would not arise. (And if I used a twentieth-century edition, chances are very slim that anyone could tell the difference.) On the other hand, none of the terminal users would understand them. Perhaps one could use Wyatt, Donne, or Sidney? ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 16:31:41 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 16:34:30 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 16:37:27 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 16:41:04 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 16:44:50 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 16:48:21 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 16:52:01 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 16:55:29 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 16:59:28 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 17:03:14 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 17:07:04 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 17:11:10 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 17:12:47 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Jul 87 00:22:56 EDT Reply-To: postmaster@ihnp4.uucp Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: postmaster@ihnp4.uucp Subject: Returned mail: unknown mailer error 1 ----- Transcript of session follows ----- uux failed ( -1 ) 554 dartvax!psc90!jdg... unknown mailer error 1 ----- Unsent message follows ----- Received: by ihnp4.ATT.COM id AA17984; 6 Jul 87 17:19:02 CDT (Mon) Received: from utai.UUCP by seismo.CSS.GOV (5.54/1.14) with UUCP id AA19141; Mon, 6 Jul 87 17:49:30 EDT Received: from gpu.utcs.toronto.edu by ai.toronto.edu via ETHER with SMTP id + AA21993; Mon, 6 Jul 87 16:55:13 EDT Received: from UTORONTO.BITNET by gpu.utcs.toronto.edu via RSCS with BSMTP id + AA12680; Mon, 6 Jul 87 16:58:35 EDT Message-Id: <8707062058.AA12680@gpu.utcs.toronto.edu> Received: by UTORONTO (Mailer X1.23b) id 3640; Mon, 06 Jul 87 16:53:18 EDT Date: Mon, 6 Jul 87 16:52:01 EDT Reply-To: Graeme Hirst Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Graeme Hirst Subject: I am on vacation. To: Joel Goldfield I am on vacation until 10 August 1987. This message is sent automatically by the mailer. For urgent matters concerning /Canadian AI/, contact the new editor, Marlene Jones, 403-297-2666, marlene@noah.arc.cdn. Graeme Hirst ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Jul 87 11:01:29 GMT Reply-To: CMI011%UK.AC.SOUTHAMPTON.IBM@AC.UK Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: CMI011%UK.AC.SOUTHAMPTON.IBM@AC.UK If no more notes appear from me, you can assume the Bob Dylan, Brian Patten and the executors of TS Eliot have haled me off to jail. I think I will put up Chaucer instead... the suggestion of Donne is ironic, in that the machines concerned are called Donne, Webster, Spenser, Jonson, Marlowe and Fletcher. Yesterday Jonson's lock screen display quoted that bit of Eliot about Webster and Donne to me. Anyway, can I return to the question of teaching Prolog? Scott Campbell asks who wants Arts graduates who know Prolog, as opposed to those who have 'a "competent user" level of familiarity'. I disagree with Scott on two points: a) Arts graduates are no different or worse than anyone else. ie they are likely to go into the big bad world and work in a big business. and what will they use in the BBW? - spreadsheets, word-processing and simple database querying - hence the argument for teaching use of SQL, as it gives a very convenient upgrade path to a fuller understanding of relational database design, and mapping of the real world into that way of thinking. So to that extent, no programming need be taught at all. b) I dont agree (pace Philippe Kahn) that "Prolog = AI = 5th generation" ; on the one hand there are expert systems, and there is AI, which may find Prolog a suitable vehicle; but on the other there are 5th generation languages (of which Prolog is a crude example) which many people (supposedly) find easier to use on a day to day basis. You can do anything you like with Prolog, so it need not be seen as an either/or situation, with Prolog or Lisp being seen as only suitable for expert systems, and Icon seen as only suitable for string processing. All these computer languages are problem-solving notations, which different people may find more or less easier to use to solve their given problem. I suppose the question is whether undergraduates have problems to solve; my argument is the specious and out-dated one that learning to solve problems with a formal notation is fun, interesting and vaguely useful. There is a much stronger argument, though, that the students EXPECT to learn some programming. sebastian rahtz. computer science, southampton, uk ========================================================================= Date: 7 July 1987, 10:12:25 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: Vapographies Some HUMANISTs in the UK have complained that HUMANIST BIOGRAFY has not arrived. Please let me know immediately if you haven't received your copy, and I'll send it forthwith. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 7 Jul 87 17:15:47 GMT Reply-To: CMI011%UK.AC.SOUTHAMPTON.IBM@AC.UK Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: CMI011%UK.AC.SOUTHAMPTON.IBM@AC.UK Job Advertisement ----------------- I would be grateful if HUMANIST readers could draw the attention of job-seekers in their locality to a post of Research Assistant in the Departments of Electronics & Computer Science, and Archaeology, in the University of Southampton, UK; we need someone to work on an graphical database of archaeological artifacts. I can send more details as required, but basically we are after someone with graphical/image-processing background in computer science, and some archaeology. The post is for 2 years, and pays c. 10,000 pounds p.a. Work will be in Southampton on a Sun workstation. Thanks. Please direct enquiries (applications need to be within a month or so) to me: cmi011@uk.ac.soton.ibm sebastian rahtz, computer science, southampton, UK ========================================================================= Date: 7 July 1987, 22:10:08 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: The ACH and the ALLC ____________________________________________________________________ | The Association for Computers and the Humanities (ACH) | | and the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing (ALLC) | ------------------------------------------------------------------- The following describes the two professional associations that sponsor HUMANIST. For further information, please contact the named individuals directly. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The ACH - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The Association for Computers and the Humanities is an international organization devoted to encouraging the development and use of computers and computing techniques in humanities research and education. Traditionally, ACH has fostered computer-aided research in literature and language, history, philosophy, anthropology, and related social sciences as well as computer use in the creation and study of art, music, and dance. As computing applications in the humanities have developed and broadened in the 1980s, the Association has expanded its scope to include areas from word processing to computer-assisted instruction in composition, language, history, philosophy, and anthropology, as well as computational linguistics and cognitive science, which overlap increasingly with work in the area of humanities computing. Founded in 1977, ACH is the primary professional society in the U.S. for scholars involved or interested in any aspect of humanities computing. The Association provides a forum for continuing communication about humanities computing and strives to meet the needs of those who want to gain familiarity with both existing and potential applications of computers in humanities disciplines. Publications ACH members receive a subscription to Computers and the Humanities, a quarterly journal devoted to scholarship in the field of humanities computing. CHum is published 4 times a year by Paradigm Press. The heart of ACH is its quarterly newsletter, which covers the activities of the Association and its members and includes articles on various areas within humanities computing, news of projects and conferences of interest to ACH members, and reports on the activities of governmental agencies and other organizations that affect computer-aided humanities research. Meetings ACH sponsors the bi-annual International Conference on Computers and the Humanities (ICCH), held in odd-numbered years, which brings together scholars from around the world to report on research activities and software and hardware developments in the field. Recently, ACH began to sponsor conferences and workshops on specialized topics in humanities computing, held in even-numbered years. The Ninth International Conference for Computers and the Humanities (ICCH/89) will be held in conjunction with the annual conference of the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing in Toronto, Canada, in June 1989. In June 1988, ACH will sponsor a conference on Teaching Computers and the Humanities Courses, to be held at Oberlin College in Ohio. Affiliations Because of the interdisciplinary nature of humanities computing, ACH maintains close ties with a number of organizations with overlapping interests, in order to provide its members with information from within specialized areas of the field of humanities computing and to keep others informed of work within the discipline. ACH is closely allied with the European-based Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing and co-sponsors its annual conference. ACH is also closely allied with the Association for Computational Linguistics. ACH sponsors sessions devoted entirely to humanities computing at the annual meetings of the Modern Language Association, the Linguistic Society of America, and at the National Educational Computing Conference. Membership Membership is for the calendar year and is open to all scholars interested in humanities computing. The benefits include Subscription to the quarterly ACH Newsletter. Subscription to Computers and the Humanties. The options of subscribing to SCOPE (Scholarly Communications: On line Publishing and Education), Research in Word Processing Newsletter, and Bits and Bytes Review at reduced rates. Reduced registration fee at the International Conference on Computers and the Humanities and at meetings of the Assocation for Literary and Linguistic Computing. Reduced membership fee in ACH regional affiliate organizations. Discounts on books and special issues of journals devoted to humanities computing. The intangible benefits derived from associating with others who are interested and involved in humanities computing! Membership information ACH MEMBERSHIP Individual: $40 (US) Includes subscription to ACH Newsletter and Computers and the Humanities. NOTE: all issues of both publications for the current year will be sent. OPTIONAL FEES (in US $): NORTHEAST (REGIONAL) ACH MEMBERSHIP $10.00 per year for ACH members SUBSCRIPTION TO SCOPE $25.00 for 6 issues SUBSCRIPTION TO RESEARCH IN WORD PROCESSING NEWSLETTER $12.00 for 9 issues SUBSCRIPTION TO BITS & BYTES REVIEW $40.00 for 9 issues Send application form to : Harry Lincoln, Treasurer Association for Computers and the Humanities Department of Music SUNY Binghamton, New York 13901 -------------------------------------------------------------------- The ALLC -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing (ALLC) brings together all who have an interest in using computers in the analysis of text. It is an international and cross-disciplinary association, whose members are drawn from subjects such as literature, linguistics, lexicography, psychology, history, law and computer science. The ALLC works closely with the American-based Association for Computers and the Humanities. Publications The ALLC was founded in 1973 and from 1973 to 1985 published the ALLC Bulletin three times per year. The ALLC Journal with two issues per year began publication in 1980. In 1986 Oxford University Press took over publication of the ALLC periodicals to form a new quarterly journal, Literary and Linguistic Computing. Individual membership of the Association is now by subscription to Literary and Linguistic Computing. Literary and Linguistic Computing contains scholarly refereed papers on all aspects of computing applied to literature and language with the emphasis as much on the computing techniques as on the results of research projects. The range of coverage extends to hardware and software, computer-assisted language learning, word-processing for applications in the humanities, and the teaching of computing techniques to students of language and literature. The journal also has news and notes, diary, bibliography and other items of current interest. Conferences The ALLC organises a general conference on literary and linguistic computing in even-numberedhnears and a conference on a specialist theme in odd-numbered years, when it also co-sponsors the ICCH conferences organised by the Association for Computers and the Humanities. ALLC and ACH members are entitled to reduced rates at ALLC-sponsored events. Recent specialist themes have been Quantitative Methods (Nice, 1985) and Linguistic Databases (Gothenburg, 1987). The next ALLC conference will be held in Jerusalem on 5-9 June 1988 immediately before the second conference of the Association Internationale Bible et Informatique (Computers and the Bible). In 1989 the ALLC conference will be in conjunction with ICCH89 in Toronto, Canada. The proceedings of the ALLC conferences are published by Slatkine of Geneva in a volume of selected papers. Representatives The ALLC has representatives in approximately thirty countries or geographical areas as well as representatives for some twenty-five subject areas. Representatives provide information for the ALLC membership by means of survey papers, organising special sessions at conferences and answering queries and requests for information. They are also able to publicise the ALLC in their own area or discipline. Membership Subscription rates are: Individual Institution UK 12 pounds 24 pounds N. America US$22.50 US$45 Elsewhere 14 pounds 28 pounds Subscriptions should be sent to Winifred Moranville or Journals Subscriptions Journals Marketing Oxford University Press Oxford University Press Walton Street 200 Madison Avenue Oxford New York OX2 6DP NY 10016 UK Payment may be made by credit card. Back issues of the periodicals may also be obtained from Oxford University Press. Contributions to Literary and Linguistic Computing should be sent to Mr Gordon Dixon, Editor-in-Chief, Literary and Linguistic Computing, Institute of Advanced Studies, Manchester Polytechnic, All Saints Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M5 6BH, UK, electronic mail NPUM01@UK.AC.UMIST.CN.PA [on Bitnet/NetNorth/EARN: NPUM01 at PA.CN.UMIST.AC.UK]. Further information may be obtained from the Honorary Secretary, Dr T N Corns, Department of English, University College of North Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2DG, UK, electronic mail V002@UK.AC.BANGOR.VAXA [on Bitnet &c.: V002 at VAXA.BANGOR.AC.UK] or the ALLC Chairman, Mrs Susan Hockey, Oxford University Computing Service, 13 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 6NN, UK, electronic mail SUSAN@UK.AC.OX.VAX2 [on Bitnet &c.: SUSAN at VAX2.OX.AC.UK]. ========================================================================= Date: 8 July 1987, 12:08:42 EDT Reply-To: Dr Abigail Ann Young 1-416-585-4504 Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Dr Abigail Ann Young 1-416-585-4504 Subject: teaching arts students Prolog I am interested by this not from the point of view of a teacher of arts students, which alas! I am not, but as someone who herself had to learn a programming language "late in life" (ca 30) and on her own. It was hard. Aspects of it were not fun. What I was learning was "C" and the applications were very picayune, really, but also very picky and precise. (I assume, by the way, that "5th generation languages" are something bigger, better, and brighter than "C:" it is interesting to see how the Whig view of progress in history as positive lives on in our attitudes towards "progressive" generations of machines and languages.) But what saved me from total frustration and eventual failure was that I had a great deal of experience in learning and teaching natural languages with very strict syntactic and accidental conventions; and that when I was in school "problem-solving" was part of maths. What I mean is that we were taught how to approach problems in an analytical way while we were also being taught geometry and trigonometry. I don't remember much of the maths (if I had been one of the characters in the Musgrave Ritual the body would never have been found) but the lessons in analysis enabled me to understand the idea behind algorithms, etc, in the computer books I was banging my head against. So it seems to me that Sebastian Rahtz has a very good point about the effect on arts students of their learning programming. Perhaps they will never use the particular language you teach them, *but* they will learn how to approach and analyze a problem from a computational point of view. And that will help them both in the Big Bad World, if they have to use computers at all in their work; and in the academic world (the Little Bad World?) where humanists need more than ever to understand how to express a problem clearly in computational terms in order to get not just a correct answer but the correct answer to the question they want to ask. It will also help them, if they remain in the academic world, to view with proper skepticism both those humanists who deny that the computer can be a valuable tool (and they still exist, pace the latest issue of ACH Newsletter) and those who think the computer can solve any question it is worthwhile asking better than a human being can. ========================================================================= Date: 8 July 1987, 18:26:44 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty The following was intended to be a note to all HUMANISTs but did not get processed properly. I'm simply passing it on. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ >Date: Wed, 8 Jul 87 10:52:09 edt >From: jdg%psc90.UUCP@DARTMOUTH.EDU (Dr. Joel Goldfield) >Message-Id: <8707081452.AA17538@psc90.UUCP> >To: ihnp4!princeton!seismo!HUMANIST@utoronto >Subject: > >String-processing languages > In response to the comments of Sebastian Rahtz and others concerning >PROLOG, ICON and string processing let me add one more: researchers who >have access to the UNIX system may find 'awk' to be helpful. Named after >its inventors at Bell Labs (Abbo, Weinberger & Kernigan, I believe, at >the Murray Hill, NJ, facility) it's extremely dense and fast. While the >original documentation is sparse and esoteric, recent books on the UNIX >system have apparently tried to correct this problem. > For information on the ICON language, see Mark Olsen's article >in CHum, Jan.-March, 1987. There's a bit of undefined "jargon" in it, >but mainly geared toward humanists' interests. I describe my applications >of 'awk' in the article appearing in vol. 1 of the ALLC publication that >Etienne Brunet edited for Slatkine (1986), pp. 455-465 approximately. > --Joel D. Goldfield > Plymouth State College (NH, USA) ========================================================================= Date: 8 July 1987, 18:33:16 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: ALLC/AIBI Conference Announcement & Call for Papers -------------------------- ALLC--AIBI Joint Conferences June 1988 -- Jerusalem, Israel Preliminary Announcement The Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing (ALLC) and the Association Internationale Bible et Informatique (AIBI) invite you to attend their International Conferences to be held in June 1988 in Jerusalem. The Fifteenth Annual Conference of ALLC will take place on June 5-9, 1988, and it will be followed immediately by the Second Conference of AIBI on June 9-13, 1988. The conferences are jointly organized by the Organizing Committee in Israel (which will also serve as the Conference Committee for the ALLC one), but the procedures for papers' submission and selection and for registrations will be kept separate. A significant discount will be given, however, for a joint registration, to encourage attendees of each conference to attend the other one also, thus enhancing fruitful exchanges and communications between researchers of closely related interests. Special registration rates will also apply to speakers, students, and members of sponsoring institutions. The conferences are sponsored and supported by a number of academic and professional societies and organizations that will be listed in future mailings. A ``Call for Papers'' for the ALLC conference is enclosed; a ``Call for Papers'' for the AIBI one is being mailed separately. The coordination between the two programs will be assured by a special panel consisting of Y. Choueka and R.-F. Poswick. Both conferences will consist of invited lectures, contributed papers, panels, product-review sessions, poster displays, exhibits and demonstrations. Standard hardware and communications equipment for on-line demonstrations and large-screen displays will be available on site. Every effort will be made to meet special hardware needs if a detailed request is sent well in advance to the Organizing Committee. Selected papers from the two conferences will be published in two separate Proceedings volumes. The conferences will be accompanied by an exhibition of hardware, software, books and other products and services relevant, in general, to the computing-in-the-humanities domain. The timing of the conferences was specially chosen so as to coincide (hopefully...) with some of the most glorious sunny days that Jerusalem can offer, and to assure availability (and lower fares...) of air tickets and hotel rooms, while avoiding the rush summer season when tourists usually crowd the city. A rich and interesting series of cultural, social and tourist events for the registrants and their parties will accompany the conferences. A few Mediterranean beaches, beautiful in so many ways, are also about one hour of driving from Jerusalem; far enough so as not to distract the conscientious wisdom seeker, but close enough for an occasional refreshing jump to the sun-and-sea worshipper... The fascinating appeal and haunting beauty of Jerusalem, with its multi-cultural environments and institutions, its intriguing history, and its unique human and architectural landscapes, coupled with the anticipated characteristic ambiance usually associated with scientific activities and the gathering of scholars and researchers from all over the world, will certainly turn these meetings into an exciting professional and cultural event. So, mark these dates on your calendar, and plan early to join us in June 1988 in Jerusalem. Don't miss this excellent opportunity for an enriching scientific and human experience. In order to receive future mailings about the conferences, and to help us better plan them, please return the enclosed Notification Form, duly filled out, as soon as possible. For further information on the conferences and their programs, and for suggestions for panels, tutorials, etc., please write to the Organizing Committee at the address given in the enclosed form. ================================================================ ALLC--AIBI Joint Conferences 5-13 June 1988, Jerusalem Organizing Committee: Yaacov Choueka, Chairman Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan (visiting Bell Communications Research, Morristown) Hillel Weiss, Coordinator Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan Daniel Boyarin Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan Itamar Even-Zohar Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv Ariel Frank Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan Reuven Mirkin Academy of Hebrew Language, Jerusalem Uzzi Ornan The Hebrew University, Jerusalem Yehuda Radday Technion, Haifa Address: Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel, 52100 electronic mail: R70016%BARILAN.BITNET choueka@bimacs.bitnet ================================================================= Notification Form Mail to: Organizing Committee ALLC--AIBI Joint Conferences Deprtment of Mathematics and Computer Science Bar-Ilan University Ramat-Gan, Israel, 52100 Title_______Name_________________________________________________ Affiliation______________________________________________________ Address__________________________________________________________ Tel._______________ e-mail address___________________ __ Please send me more information when available __ Please send me the Call for Papers of the AIBI conference __ I plan to attend __ ALLC Conf. __ AIBI Conf. __ Both Conf. __ I plan to submit a paper to __ ALLC __ AIBI Tentative Title: _______________________________________________________________ __ I propose the following panel to the __ALLC __AIBI conference: _______________________________________________________________ =================================================================== ===================================================================== Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing Fifteenth Annual Conference 5-9 June 1988, Jerusalem Literary and Linguistic Computing-1988 The Fifteenth Annual Conference of ALLC will be held on 5-9 June 1988 in Jerusalem. As has been traditional with ALLC meetings, the full spectrum of literary and linguistic computing in general is expected to be covered at the conference. Specific topics which are currently under vigorous research, such as large textual databases and corpora and linguistic computing in multi-lingual environments, are naturally expected to receive special attention. Papers are invited on substantial unpublished research on the main themes of the conference and similar related areas such as: -computational morphology, syntax and semantics -computational lexicography and lexicology -mechanized dictionaries, lexicons and grammars -lemmatization and parsing -ambiguity and its mechanical resolution -stylistic analysis and authorship studies -statistical linguistics and metrics -research tools: corpora, concordances, indexes and thesauri -full-text systems -natural language understanding -text processing and retrieval Papers that present specific theoretical models coupled with new experimental results are particularly welcome, but contributions dealing with critical evaluations, general reviews and appraisal of theoretical models, software packages and specialized hardware will be also considered. General descriptions of on-going long-range projects are acceptable only if they contain substantial new and unpublished information. Authors should send 6 copies of a one-page abstract and a cover sheet in the format, and to the address, given below. Abstracts should clearly point to the originality and importance of the contribution and its relevance to the conference, and should clarify the operational status of described projects; vague or unsubstantiated claims and plans for the future will be given little weight. Priority in evaluation and consideration will be given to abstracts that are accompanied by an Extended Abstract of 4-6 pages (6 copies). Although not formally required, authors are urged to include these extended abstracts, so as to help making the reviewing process more reliable and balanced. Papers must be received by December 15, 1987. Authors will be notified for acceptance by February 29, 1988. Based on the contribution's contents and on the feedback from the conference, papers will be then selected for inclusion in the Proceedings volume to be published by Slatkine (Geneve). The happy selected authors will be notified by the end of June 1988, and a camera-ready version of the full-length papers must be received by August 15, 1988. Opportunity will be thus given to the authors to include in the final version any refinements or clarifications called for by the oral presentation and its feedback. More details on local arrangements and accomodations, registration fees and forms, etc., will be given in the second call for papers to be mailed during winter 1987. If you would like to receive future mailings, and certainly if you plan to submit a paper or just to attend the conference, please mail the enclosed notification note immediately. Format for submissions: Cover Sheet: ------------ ABSTRACT SUBMITTED TO ALLC 1988 Title Author Affiliation Complete address,including tel. and e-mail address Subject identification (e.g. statistical linguistics, morphological disambiguation, etc.) Abstract -------- Title Author ABSTRACT the text of the abstract, one page of about 30 single-spaced lines (in elite, pica or roman type, 10-12 points). Extended Abstract: ------------------ Title Author EXTENDED ABSTRACT text, 4-6 pages with the same format as the abstract. Address: Send all material to: Yaacov Choueka Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel, 52100. ======================================================================= International Advisory Board Paul Bratley Universite de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec Jacqueline Hamesse Universite Catholique, Louvain-La-Neuve R.-F. Poswick Bible et Informatique, Maredsous Klaus M. Schmidt Bowling Green State University, Ohio Don Walker Bell Communications Research, Morristown, New Jersey ----------------------- Important deadlines December 15, 1987 paper submission February 29, 1988 author notification April 5, 1988 end of early registration August 15, 1988 camera-ready version of full papers for the Proceedings ------------------------------ ========================================================================= Date: 9 July 1987, 16:43:34 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: On the teaching of Prolog The following is from Eva Swenson (ESWENSON at UTORONTO): ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ I have been observing the exchange of views regarding the teaching of PROLOG. I think that providing undergraduates with problem-solving tools is good. Pick your favorite tool(s). It does not matter. However, I think that the more basic task is to teach undergraduates, and people in general, how to recognize problems, identify and characterize them, understand their nature. And then to determine which tool may be appropriate for the problem. In my experience, I find that undergraduates (and some instructors) have no patience for this. The tendency is to get to the tool (or toy) as quickly as possible and to try to use it to solve ALL problems. As the saying goes: when one has learned how to use a hammer, everything looks like a nail. This is why I would caution one from trying to learn about relational databases by starting with SQL. Like learning what a nail is about by studying how to use a hammer. Eva Swenson. ========================================================================= Date: 10 July 1987, 15:46:26 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: Not me.... A GUIDE TO THE TRANSLATION OF TECHNICAL PUBLICATIONS o "It is believed that ..." (I think.) o "It is generally believed that ..." (A couple of my friends think so too.) o "It has long been know that ..." (I didn't bother to look up the original reference.) o "While I have not found definite answers to these questions ..." (The data made no sense, but I'm publishing them anyway.) o "It might be argued that ..." (I can answer this objection so well that I shall now raise it.) o "Of great theoretical and practical importance ..." (Somewhat interesting to me.) o "Of extreme purity, ultrapure ..." (Composition unknown.) o "Qualitatively correct ... correct within an order of magnitude." (Wrong.) o "Three samples were chosen for detailed study ..." (The others didn't make sense.) o "Typical results are shown in Fig. 2" (The best results are shown in Fig. 2.) o "The most reliable values are given by Smith ..." (Smith is a friend of mine.) o "Subjected to controlled stress during the experiment ..." (Accidentally dropped on the floor.) o "Handled with extreme care during the experiment ..." (Not dropped on the floor.) o "A discussion of the remaining data will be forthcoming ..." (Some of my results don't make sense.) o "A complete understanding clearly requires much more work ..." (None of my results make sense.) o "I would be remiss not to thank Archibald Thankery for assistance with the experimental aspects of this investigation, and Dr. Samuel Hirschfeld for helpful comments during the analytical phase ..." (Archie did all the work, and then Sam explained it to me.) __________________________________________________________________________ Keebler { hua@cmu-cs-gandalf.arpa } ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 13 Jul 87 14:10:36 EDT Reply-To: Steve Younker Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Steve Younker Subject: HUMANIST Loops I feel today is a good day to send a message out to all subscribers of UofT's HUMANIST discussion group based on the events of the past week. Any of you who were members of this group a week ago will recall that one of your colleagues went on holiday. Before he left he ensured that any messages that arrived in his 'computer mail box' were answered by an automatic program that informed the sender that he was away. To make a long story short this automatic program got into an electronic discussion with the HUMANIST program at UTORONTO. Since all of you are privy to any electronic conversations that occur with HUMANIST, you all received a ton of electronic mail. Since each piece of mail was essentially the same, it made for some extraordinarily boring reading. Fortunately, Willard was able to catch this process before the network wires began to melt under the load. This morning I came in to work and found a complaint in mailbox from the U.K. about this incident. The person requested that I ensure that this situation would not be repeated in the future for it was inconvenient and expensive to those in the U.K. due to network charges. First of all, I have replied to the individual concerned and I hope I have dealt with his concerns. However, I thought that there may be more of you who were 'silently' annoyed by the incident. So I felt that a full explanation is probably in order. I discussed this with Willard and he agreed. I realize that such an incident can be annoying, but the nature of the beast, (computers) dictates that these 'bugs' will occur from time to time and cannot be predicted. In this case, a user on another computer installed a piece of software that had, to say the least, a devasting effect when it began to 'talk' with HUMANIST. The user involved is not under Willard's control or mine. Indeed, the user could have been anywhere in the world. Willard and I have attempted to set up HUMANIST in such a manner to be as useful to all as humanly possible. Some of you may remember that DARTVAX ran amok in a similar fashion when the discussion group began. That situation was also rather obscure. The point is, computer loops will occur from time to time and some of them cannot be predicted or prevented. I ask you all to react in a kindly manner. Simply smile, laugh, swear a bit maybe, delete the offending files, and carry on enjoying the benefits of HUMANIST. Willard and I realize that this is a new medium for some of you and we will endeavour to provide this service with the minimum of bother and confusion. To make HUMANIST a useful and an efficient medium, I urge you all to keep Willard and/or myself informed of your likes and dislikes of the service provided. I believe the benefits to the academic world far outweigh the occasional annoyance of a computer bug. If you wish to express any concerns that may not be of interest to all members of HUMANIST, please feel free to contact me directly at: POSTMSTR@UTORONTO Steve Younker, Postmaster - University of Toronto ================================================= ========================================================================= Date: 20 July 1987, 19:25:27 MST Reply-To: ATMKO@ASUACAD Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: ATMKO@ASUACAD OPTIONS: NOACK LOG SHORT NOTEBOOK HUMANIST Date: 20 July 1987, 19:10:25 MST From: ATMKO at ASUACAD To: HUMANIST at UTORONTO Dear Humanist, For a while we were snowed under tons of junk mail and now nothing. Is Humanist alive? Has Humanist fallen victim to an international version of core wars? Did the system operators at CUNY "hit" the misguided list server with a mega-byte of zeros. Please, Arizona is too hot and lonely to be deprived of humanist. The following program was downloaded from the Catspaw bulletin board and requires SNOBOL4+ to run. It is forwarded to Humanist in order to make your life more economical and interesting. * INSIDER.SNO * Produces an industry insider report, * thus saving the cost and nuisance of reading * Infoworld, PC Week, Microbytes, John Dvorak, etc. * * * Set keywords -plusops 1 &trim = 1 &anchor = 1 &maxlngth = 32767 * Use system clock to seed the random-number generator * Define your arrays * Blueboy is the I B M whatever blueboy = array('10') blueboy[1] = 'official' blueboy[2] = 'executive' blueboy[3] = 'vice-president' blueboy[4] = 'officer' blueboy[5] = 'manager' blueboy[6] = 'source' blueboy[7] = 'consultant' blueboy[8] = 'engineer' blueboy[9] = 'vice-president' blueboy[10] = 'vice-president' * newspeak is verb for his statement newspeak = array('10') newspeak[1] = 'confirmed' newspeak[2] = 'denied' newspeak[3] = 'refused to confirm or deny' newspeak[4] = 'refused to comment on' newspeak[5] = 'denied any knowledge of' newspeak[6] = 'agreed that there might be some validity to' newspeak[7] = 'denied' newspeak[8] = 'been uncharacteristically forthright about' newspeak[9] = 'taken the Fifth Amendment when asked about' newspeak[10] = 'been involuntarily retired after prematurely confirmin g' * hearsay is his statement hearsay = array('10') hearsay[1] = 'reports' hearsay[2] = 'an article in Tass' hearsay[3] = 'industry rumors' hearsay[4] = 'authoritative gossip' hearsay[5] = 'unsubstantiated dispatches' hearsay[6] = 'widespread speculation' hearsay[7] = 'unofficial reports' hearsay[8] = 'high-level rumors' hearsay[9] = 'leaks from beta-testers' hearsay[10] = 'informed conjectures' * newstuff is the next product newstuff = array('10') newstuff[1] = 'system' newstuff[2] = 'architecture' newstuff[3] = 'CPU' newstuff[4] = 'system bus' newstuff[5] = 'token-ring network' newstuff[6] = 'local-area network' newstuff[7] = 'entry-level product' newstuff[8] = 'top-end workstation' newstuff[9] = 'video display standard' newstuff[10] = 'operating system' * saywhat is an attribute of the new syste, saywhat = array('10') saywhat[1] = 'be totally proprietary' saywhat[2] = 'run under Microsoft Windows' saywhat[3] = 'be based on the Intel 80486' saywhat[4] = 'remain a closely-held secret until the end of the centur y' saywhat[5] = 'be generally compatible with existing systems' saywhat[6] = 'use a subset of the OS/360 instruction set' saywhat[7] = 'employ scalar interrupts and extensive masked gate array s' saywhat[8] = 'be introduced in the near future' saywhat[9] = 'have DB-15 connectors' saywhat[10] = 'be produced by robots in Singapore' * bluesite is where they're doing it bluesite = array('10') bluesite[1] = 'a product suitability testing facility' bluesite[2] = 'several gamma-test sites' bluesite[3] = 'a national refuge for migrating data' bluesite[4] = 'IRS offices' bluesite[5] = 'proposed MX missile bases' bluesite[6] = 'the corporate detention center for dress-code violators ' bluesite[7] = 'a detoxification clinic' bluesite[8] = 'a number of Fortune 500 companies' bluesite[9] = 'a toxic waste dump' bluesite[10] = 'a maximum-security prison' * bluecity is more where bluecity = array('10') bluecity[1] = ' on Three Mile Island' bluecity[2] = ' in Armonk, N.Y.' bluecity[3] = ' just above Boulder, Colo.' bluecity[4] = ' in midtown Manhattan' bluecity[5] = ' in beautiful downtown Burbank' bluecity[6] = ' near Fargo, N.D.' bluecity[7] = ' in the suburbs of Metetse, Wyo.' bluecity[8] = ' in the Silicon Valley' bluecity[9] = " between Cassini's Division and the Roche Limit" bluecity[10] = ', formerly in Boca Raton until the company learned ' + 'that "Boca Raton" means "Rat Mouth" in Spanish' morestuff = array('5') morestuff[1] = 'further explanation' morestuff[2] = 'detailed announcement' morestuff[3] = 'specific details' morestuff[4] = 'public statement' morestuff[5] = 'voluntary confession' sayblue = array('7') sayblue[1] = 'would be premature at this point in time' sayblue[2] = 'would cause smaller companies to file for Chapter 11,' + ' which would just get us in trouble again with the Antitrust Division' + ' of the Justice Department' sayblue[3] = 'would cost me my pension' sayblue[4] = 'might give clone-makers information they should' + ' not have access to' sayblue[5] = 'could get me transferred to Anchorage' sayblue[6] = 'will have to come from the M*A*S*H cast' sayblue[7] = 'must come from a more authoritative source' bytehead = array('8') bytehead[1] = 'observers' bytehead[2] = 'analysts' bytehead[3] = 'watchers' bytehead[4] = 'spies' bytehead[5] = 'followers' bytehead[6] = 'observers' bytehead[7] = 'analysts' bytehead[8] = 'observers' goodsay = array('10') goodsay[1] = 'the greatest thing since sliced bread' goodsay[2] = 'something the industry has long needed' goodsay[3] = 'an important and significant advancement' goodsay[4] = 'one of the finest achievements of western civilization' goodsay[5] = 'a seminal step, pregnant with fertile possibilities' goodsay[6] = 'the best improvement since they quit using punch cards' goodsay[7] = 'the reason why Big Blue continues to lead the way' goodsay[8] = 'a colossal advancement in personal-computing power' goodsay[9] = 'another reason why no one ever got fired for buying IBM' goodsay[10] = 'the first manifestation of the next generation of perso nal computers' goodmore = array('10') goodmore[1] = 'represents no major breakthrough' goodmore[2] = 'contains no surprises' goodmore[3] = 'employs an unusual huge interface known as the capybara ' goodmore[4] = 'requires an an EE to configure' goodmore[5] = 'uses components yet to be invented' goodmore[6] = 'will work only with IBM peripherals' goodmore[7] = 'requires a three-phase 37-hz 440-volt power supply' goodmore[8] = 'blows up if connected to anything from a different manu facturer' goodmore[9] = 'is compatible with Sidekick' goodmore[10] = 'crashes at the slightest provocation' butmore = array('9') butmore[1] = 'set a standard' butmore[2] = 'be popular with MIS professionals' butmore[3] = 'be what Lotus is to spreadsheets' butmore[4] = 'move us into the next generation' butmore[5] = 'give the other companies something to try to emulate' butmore[6] = 'give the clone-makers fits for at least two months' butmore[7] = 'carry on the tradition of reliability and service' butmore[8] = "give Radar O'Reilly something besides a teddy bear to sl eep with" butmore[9] = 'require substantial additional purchases by users,' + ' thus making IBM stock a good buy' badsay = array('10') badsay[1] = 'William Gates, president of MicroSoft,' badsay[2] = 'Phillipe Kahn of Borland International' badsay[3] = 'Mitch Kaypor, formerly of Lotus Development Corp.,' badsay[4] = 'Steve Jobs, a co-founder of Apple,' badsay[5] = 'Gary Kildall, developer of CP/M,' badsay[6] = 'Adam Osborne at Paperback Software' badsay[7] = 'Bob Wallace, president of QuickSoft,' badsay[8] = 'Esther Dyson, editor of Release 1.0,' badsay[9] = 'Charles Babbage, conceptual founder of computing,' badsay[10] = 'Lee Felsenstein, president of Golemics and designer of t he Osborne I,' notgood = array('10') notgood[1] = 'a disaster waiting to happen' notgood[2] = 'a solution in search of a problem' notgood[3] = 'another chiclet-key PC Jr.' notgood[4] = "Big Blue's biggest blunder since the RISC machine" notgood[5] = 'as big a step backwards as returning to paper tape stora ge' notgood[6] = 'a titanic company finally hitting an iceberg' notgood[7] = "the kind of thing you'd expect from some hackers" + " in a garage, not from the world's biggest computer company" notgood[8] = 'something that only defense contractors could afford' notgood[9] = 'too much, too soon' notgood[10] = 'the DP equivalent of herpes' addbad = array('10') addbad[1] = 'Only IBM would try getting away with this' addbad[2] = 'It will go over like a pregnant pole-vaulter' addbad[3] = 'In two years, it will be as popular as ferrite core memor y' addbad[4] = 'You can bet nobody will try to clone this one' addbad[5] = 'There are people starving on this planet, ' + "and yet we have expensive products like this. That's disgusting" addbad[6] = "They must be relying on the old saying " + "that there's one born every minute" addbad[7] = "I've heard it runs slower than a dBASE sort" addbad[8] = 'Maybe they developed it for the Strategic Defense' + " Initiative. That's the only way it makes sense" addbad[9] = "Perhaps it's only a stopgap until OS/2 is debugged" addbad[10] = 'Only Big Blue would dare try anything like this' catname = array('2') catname[1] = 'Mark Emmer, publisher' catname[2] = 'Ed Quillen, editor' goodadj = array('10') goodadj[1] = 'influential' goodadj[2] = 'respected' goodadj[3] = 'esteemed' goodadj[4] = 'highly regarded' goodadj[5] = 'popular' goodadj[6] = 'noted' goodadj[7] = "insiders'" goodadj[8] = 'revered' goodadj[9] = 'powerful' goodadj[10] = 'innovative' badwarn = array('7') badwarn[1] = "All these reports have about as much credibility " + "as a White House spokesman" badwarn[2] = "If these statements could be transformed into " + "matter, we could go into the fertilizer business" badwarn[3] = "If you believe any of this, come and see me. " + "I've got a bridge I'd like to sell you" badwarn[4] = "Such speculation just proves the truth of the " + "old saying, 'Garbage in, Garbage out'" badwarn[5] = "This baseless gossip ought to contain a " + "self-referential disclaimer" badwarn[6] = "Utter fabrications like this ought to be an " + "embarrassment to everyone involved. Unfortunately, some people " + "persist in circulating them" badwarn[7] = "The circulation of such groundless rumors " + "represents as good a reason as any for joining Ed Meese " + "in his campaign to repeal the First Amendment" * Define formatting functions define('justify(s)f,g,h,t') :(justify_end) justify s len(79) . f = :f(justify_2) g = reverse(f) g break(' -') . h = t = t reverse(g) char(13) char(10) s = reverse(h) s :(justify) justify_2 justify = t s :(return) justify_end * * output(.out,10,,'d:insider.sav') * x = save(10) :f(bad_file) * ident(x) :s(end) * Save it here * Seed the random generator date() len(8) . today len(4) len(2) . s1 len(1) len(2) . s2 + len(1) len(2) . s3 date len(2) . s4 len(1) len(2) . s5 seed = chop((s1 s2 s3) / 2) + (s4 s5) * Define random function *----------------------------------------------- RANDOM define('random(n)') ran_var = seed :(random_end) random ran_var = remdr(ran_var * 4676., 414971.) random = ran_var / 414971. random = ne(n,0) convert(random * n,'integer') + 1 :(return) random_end *---------------------------------------------------------------- getvar boyblue = blueboy[random(10)] speaknew = newspeak[random(10)] sayhear = hearsay[random(10)] stuffnew = newstuff[random(10)] whatsay = saywhat[random(10)] siteblue = bluesite[random(10)] cityblue = bluecity[random(10)] stuffmore = morestuff[random(5)] bluesay = sayblue[random(7)] headbyte = bytehead[random(8)] saygood = goodsay[random(10)] moregood = goodmore[random(10)] morebut = butmore[random(9)] saybad = badsay[random(10)] goodnot = notgood[random(10)] badadd = addbad[random(10)] namecat = catname[random(2)] adjgood = goodadj[random(10)] warnbad = badwarn[random(7)] graf1 = ' An IBM ' boyblue ' has ' speaknew ' ' sayhear + " that the company's next personal-computer " stuffnew + ' would ' whatsay '. The ' boyblue ', who asked that his name ' + 'not be used, did say that the ' stuffnew ' was under development at ' + siteblue cityblue ', but that any ' stuffmore ' "' bluesay '."' graf2 = ' Industry ' headbyte "' reactions were generally " + 'favorable, with many calling the ' stuffnew ' "' saygood '." ' + 'Technically, the new product "' moregood '," one said, "but it will ' + morebut '."' graf3 = ' However, there were some dissenters. ' + saybad ' said it represented "' goodnot '," adding that "' + badadd '."' graf4 = ' ' namecat ' of the ' adjgood ' newsletter, ' + "A SNOBOL's Chance, cautioned that " '"' warnbad '."' top = dupl(' ',15) "SPECIAL CATSPAW INSIDERS' REPORT FOR " today output(.output,6,5000) output = top output = justify(graf1) output = justify(graf2) output = justify(graf3) output = justify(graf4) end ========================================================================= Date: 22 July 1987, 16:48:32 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Conference on TEACHING COMPUTERS AND THE HUMANITIES COURSES Sponsored by The Association for Computers and the Humanities JUNE 9-11, 1988 OBERLIN COLLEGE OBERLIN, OHIO C A L L F O R P A P E R S The Association for Computers and the Humanities Conference on Teaching Computers and the Humanities Courses is intended for faculty who are offering or developing courses meant to teach humanities students--in literature, language, history, philosophy, art, music--about computer use within their disciplines. The conference will NOT address the teaching of humanities subjects via the computer (computer assisted instruction, CAI). Its focus is courses designed to teach humanists how computers are used, and may be used in the future, as a tool within their disciplines. The conference is also centrally concerned with teaching computing skills to humanities students and faculty. Among the questions to be addressed are: What should be included in such courses? How should they be taught? What level and mix of students should take the course? Should a higher-level programming language be taught? If so, which language is most suitable? Should computing skills be taught before or after the student is familiar with applications of computers within his or her field? Which applictions software should be taught? In how much detail? Papers and proposals for panels on these questions and directly related questions are invited for presentation at the conference. While summaries of existing courses will not be excluded from the conference, we are looking in particular for substantive discussion of the issues surrounding the teaching of courses on computers and the humanities. Please submit five copies of abstracts and panel proposals before 30 November 1987. Abstracts for both papers and panels should be approximately 1000 words long. Panel proposals should include a tentative list of participants. The Program Committee will notify authors regarding acceptance by 31 January 1988. Full papers will be due by 15 May 1988. Selected papers from the conference will be published in a proceedings volume. Please send all abstracts and inquiries to: Professor Robert S. Tannenbaum, Chairman, Program Committee ACH Conference on Teaching Computers and the Humanities Courses Department of Computer Science Hunter College CUNY 695 Park Avenue New York, N.Y. 10021 Inquiries, abstracts, and proposals may also be sent via electronic mail to RSTHC@CUNYVM (Bitnet). ========================================================================= Date: 22 July 1987, 16:59:27 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: An invitation from Nancy Ide Date: 21 JUL 87 12:14-EST From: IDE@VASSAR To: humanist @ utoronto Cc: IDE@VASSAR.BITNET Subject: PROGRAMMING FOR HUMANISTS/ARTS STUDENTS I have sent around a copy of the call-for-papers for a conference which the Association for Computers and the Humanities will sponsor next summer on Teaching Computers and the Humanities Courses. This conferecen grows out of a workshop on the topic held at Vassar College last summer. I am interested in organizing a panel or preferably a whole session on the issue of the need and/or value of teaching programming to humanities and arts students. As some of you may know I have long argued that humanities students who intend to use computers in their work should learn to program, for a variety of reasons, many of which have been reiterated in discussions among this group recently. Therefore I am asking those of you who hold a view on this topic to let me know if you would be interested in partcipating in the session at the Oberlin conference. I want to hear from those who favor programmiong as well as from those who do not. Contact me as IDE@VASSAR (Bitnet) if you are interested in the session or in the conference itself. Nancy Ide ide@vassar ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 22 Jul 87 17:19 EDT Reply-To: JMBHC@CUNYVM Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: JMBHC@CUNYVM Subject: Vapographies In-Reply-To: HUMANIST Discussion -- 7 July 1987, 10:12:25 EDT Didn't receive vaporgraphies here. By the way, is it too late to add mine? Joanne Badagliacco ========================================================================= Date: 22 July 1987, 19:30:24 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Copies of HUMANIST BIOGRAFY or of the identical but divided HUMBIOS 1, 2, and 3 should have reached all of you by now. For technically interesting reasons we now seem to understand, we had great trouble getting the biographies to HUMANISTs in the UK but have finally succeeded. Anyone who has not received a copy should write to me directly (not through HUMANIST, please) as soon as is convenient. Either an "anthropomorphic peripheral interface error" or some electronic slip-up could be responsible. I will likely be sending out the first supplement to the biographies in late August. I think it's important for as many of us to be represented to each other in this way as possible; no one, no matter how lowly or exalted in knowledge or in status should feel excluded. Building a professional identity will be much more intelligently and effectively done if your contribution is included. Thanks for your help and patience. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jul 87 00:10 EDT Reply-To: GUEST4@YUSOL Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: GUEST4@YUSOL Subject: Broken record? Just read the call for papers for the Oberlin meeting on HUMANIST. Can hardly believe that the same phraseology, the same issues, are being put forward here as for the Vassar conference last summer. Has ASTHC fallen into an endless loop? Is humanistic computing condemned to be the only kind that is currently advancing in a geological timewarp, while others rush merrily past in all sorts of interesting directions? Or am I missing some important byproduct of such slowly grinding millstones? If so, could someone please enlighten me? Am particularly curious about why there is so little interest in teaching HUMANITIES courses about what COMPUTERS are and how they impact on human culture and human nature. I would have thought that was at least as interesting to humanists as the pros and cons of Basic versus Pascal for use in the "discipline". Why do I keep thinking of Humanities not as a discipline, but as the proper study of mankind...??? ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 23 Jul 87 00:13 EDT Reply-To: GUEST4@YUSOL Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: GUEST4@YUSOL Subject: A query re Oberlin COnference of ASTHC, from a Fox among the Hedgehogs?? Just read the call for papers for the Oberlin meeting on HUMANIST. Can hardly believe that the same phraseology, the same issues, are being put forward here as for the Vassar conference last summer. Has ASTHC fallen into an endless loop? Is humanistic computing condemned to be the only kind that is currently advancing in a geological timewarp, while others rush merrily past in all sorts of interesting directions? Or am I missing some important byproduct of such slowly grinding millstones? If so, could someone please enlighten me? Am particularly curious about why there is so little interest in teaching HUMANITIES courses about what COMPUTERS are and how they impact on human culture and human nature. I would have thought that was at least as interesting to humanists as the pros and cons of Basic versus Pascal for use in the "discipline". Why do I keep thinking of Humanities not as a discipline, but as the proper study of mankind...??? ========================================================================= Date: 23 July 1987, 20:07:26 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: Joel Goldfield on the Oberlin Conference >Date: Thu, 23 Jul 87 10:32:21 edt >From: jdg%psc90.UUCP@DARTMOUTH.EDU (Dr. Joel Goldfield) >Message-Id: <8707231432.AA03398@psc90.UUCP> >To: ihnp4!princeton!seismo!HUMANIST@utoronto > >Dear Colleagues, > I think our "guest" writer may have a point about an "endless loop." >This is not a rhetorical statement, however. We might ask our sponsoring >colleagues to define the goals of the Oberlin conference more specifically. >Might this be more a framework for process, for discussion, than for some >specific conclusions. Do the participants from last year's conference at >Vassar, which I also attended, feel that we no longer need mass discussions >on the topics Nancy Ide is suggesting? > Let's try to observe Willard's suggestion that identification of >the writer appear in the body of each HUMANIST message. Who is "Guest4"? > > Regards, > Joel D. Goldfield > Plymouth State College (NH, USA) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24 Jul 87 00:52 EDT Reply-To: GUEST4@YUSOL Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: GUEST4@YUSOL Subject: ID I appreciate Goldfield's reply, and apologize for being too bashful in my maiden entry to insert more precise identification. Am eager to stand corrected, but my impression is that the topics outlined for Oberlin are almost WORD for WORD the same as those targeted at Vassar. The question is not whether discussion is no longer needed, but whether there is anything else to be discussed -- or so it seems to Sterling Beckwith York University (ON, CDN) ========================================================================= Date: 24-JUL-1987 16:10:24 Reply-To: SRRJ1%UK.AC.YORK.VAXB@AC.UK Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: SRRJ1%UK.AC.YORK.VAXB@AC.UK COMPUTING FOR THE HUMANITIES? Perhaps HUMANISTS could help us as we develop a campaign for the provision of special resources for computing in the humanities here in York [U.K] - currently there are none. We are now starting to devise ways of introducing data-processing techniques to History students and staff and in making our case to the "authorities" it would be useful to draw on your collective experience. We have an excellent computing service, but the staff are already over-worked and are also a little nervous about us because they are all from science backgrounds. We get on well but do we always understand each others needs? What we would like to knowis - outside the special schemes funded by the UGC (in Britain) and various computer companies - how have others found it possible to make a case for specialist computing advice in the humanities, or should we in any case simply be looking for more specialists in specific applications (database design, programing, text-processing etc) regardless of discipline? In putting together our case we're trying to collect as much information as possible about what goes on elsewhere. If you've time we'd find it very helpful to know 1] What provision is made for computing in the humanities in your institution? 2] How do you justify the provision of such specialist services to the humanities? 3]If you were starting from scratch again, what are the mistakes you'd most like to avoid repeating? Thanks for your time....we look forward to hearing from you! Sarah Rees Joneset al. History Department, Vanbrugh College, University of York, U.K. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 24-JUL-1987 11:40 EST Reply-To: IDE@VASSAR Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: IDE@VASSAR Subject: Oberlin conference The point is well taken that some of the issues proposed for discussion at the Oberlin conference are the same as those that were discussed at Vassar last year. For this reason I made slight revisions in the call which I hope broaden the scope somewhat. However, my impression at the Vassar conference was that more questions were raised than answered. It may be true that the programming issue has been beaten to a pulp (although a recent re-hashing of that issue on HUMANIST led me to believe that a lot of people had not yet heard it or felt it resolved ssatisfactorily). However, we have not answered such questions as: what exactly is it that we think that humanities students need to learn about computers? Skills only? or more about methodology and approach, as well as conceptual material concerning computers and computing? (The programming issue speaks to this larger concern, since most people who want to teach programming want to do so in order to provide a solid understanding of computers and problem solving techniques than specific programming skills. So a better question vis a vis programming is: what do we intend to teach when we teach programming? and how is this best accomplished?) Can we expect students to understand how computers and computing fit into research in the humanities, given a course on COMPUTING intended for humanities students (as opposed to a course on COMPUTERS AND THE HUMANITIES, which would focus on both more squarely)? Or is it necessary for us to teach the methodology that computers enable us to implement? More broadly, there were two kinds of courses described at the Vassar workshop: skills- oriented courses and courses which were more concerned with methodology and developing problem solving skills in general by using computer applications to show how these things are implemented. Which is better? Is one better than the other for certain contexts? As for implementation, I saw almost no answers to these questions: do we need separate C&H courses or can we integrate materials into existing humanities courses? If not, why not? Why don't existing computer science courses serve the needs of humanities students for some aspects of C&H? Do we think all humanities students need some exposure to computer use for humanities research or should we let our students be self-selected? Can whatever we decide must be taught be done in a single c&H course? In one or more humanities courses? In some mix of special C&H courses, humanities courses with a computing component, and/or computer science courses? Other concerns: what are the realities of establishing a C&H course or even integrating computing materials into existing humanities courses with regard to adminstrative red tape? Do we need specialized faculty? What level of hardware support is required to effectively teach such a course? Should labs be defintitely included and if so, what shape should they take (specific tasks to be completed within the lab or just question and answer, etc.)? Does a minor, joint major, and/or double major in computers and the humanities make sense and if so, what is the focus and intent of such a program? I shouldn't say I saw not answers to these questions at Vassar, since some of these topics were discussed quite thoroughly; instead, I saw no resolution of the questions. I do think the point about the programming issue is well taken, and so I would like to redefine the topic I propose for a panel or session at Oberlin. I would like to address the following question: Assuming a course or courses in C&H at the undergraduate level, what is it that we feel studnets who have taken such courses should know when they complete the course? If anyone has any ideas about other issues that should be raised at the Oberlin conference, PLEASE let me know. We are open to suggestions (hopefully the call was not worded to seem to disallow consideration of questions other than those we listed) and would in fact welcome them. Or, do we know all we need to know about C&H courses, therefore making such a conference irrelevant? Nancy Ide ide@vassar ========================================================================= Date: 26 July 1987, 20:25:30 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: A Summary of Things Said So Far I have been asked to prepare for the Newsletter of the ACH a concise summary of the discussions on HUMANIST since it began in May. Looking over my file of contributions, I find that more has happened than I would have guessed, but because some of the interesting stuff may have been sent only to individuals, I need help in making this summary. Would anyone with interesting private contributions send them to me right away? Because HUMANIST is necessarily like the "longish conversation" described by the poet David Jones ("where one thing leads to another; but should a third party hear fragments of it, he might not know how the talk had passed from the cultivation of cabbages to Melchizedek, king of Salem"), summaries of this kind seem important for us HUMANISTs as well as for others. One day we may have a expense-free conferencing system available world-wide. Until then, the occasional summary seems to me a particularly necessary thing. I would appreciate receiving anyone's thoughts or suggestions on this matter. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Jul 87 00:22 EDT Reply-To: GUEST4@YUSOL Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: GUEST4@YUSOL Subject: Oberlin Conference agenda and the Call for Answers Obviously my perception of humanism is seriously defective. I actually ENJOY conferences where there are more questions raised than definitive answers provided. (Perhaps this is just a throwback to the pre_Rabenite days of the not-yet-computerized humanities -- if so, please forgive it.) Particularly when the questions are about teaching and learning, which seems to (or used tom when Mary McCarthy was in school) involve large amounts of actual TRIAL and ERROR by all concerned. THe announcement I read was about as open to other dimensions and other questions than those promulgated at Vassar as the National Security Council was to supplying the Sandinistas with humanitarian aid. Not knowing anything about how ACH runs its affairs, I can hardly comment further, but will eagerly await any further crosstalk on HUMANIST. Sterling Beckwith, York University ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 27 Jul 87 11:14:46 CDT Reply-To: Michael Sperberg-McQueen Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Michael Sperberg-McQueen Subject: Oberlin Conference rhubarb The recent discussion prompted by Sterling Beckwith of York Univ. raises some interesting questions beyond the obvious ones (who is ASTHC? who on earth has ever suggested teaching Basic to humanists, and can we get them some professional help before they do further harm to themselves or others? what is the difference between a study and a discipline, and is a study any good to anyone if undisciplined?). I confess to some confusion on two grounds: why, to people who spend their professional lives re-examining texts and issues that have already occupied decades or centuries of attention, often by the brightest minds of their times, should it seem regrettable, or a sign of being caught in a "geological timewarp", or even odd, to be discussing, this summer, questions that occupied the attention of some people last summer? Apart from pedagogical issues (and let's thank God for humanists who want to address and discuss pedagogical issues directly and explicitly!) the Vassar and Oberlin conferences are, after all, raising fairly substantial questions of what it is we want our students to learn, the nature of the world into which we are sending them, and the relationship both of technology and (more fundamentally) the algorithmic approach to problem-solving. It does not surprise me, and it astonishes me that it should surprise anyone, to see these issues still the topic of conferences and discussions. They will necessarily continue to be so until there is either some more visible consensus, or until everyone's mind is made up and we agree to disagree, or until the nature of the problem is radically changed by developments in our secondary schools. I don't expect to see any of these events in the next few years. True, at Vassar there did seem to be some common assumptions and approaches beneath the wide surface divergences, and I tried at the end of the conference to make those common assumptions explicit. But apart from the fact that not everyone was convinced, those common assumptions remain only the outline of a potential consensus, not the content of an actual consensus, until we are all aware of our shared assumptions. In the meantime, there remains a lot of room for discussion of the issues named in the Oberlin prospectus, including choice of programming language, or other command medium. Proponents of utility naturally suggest Snobol or occasionally Prolog as the language of choice; others, who argue that the point of teaching programming is to show the student more about how the machine itself works, suggest that a more cleanly procedural language like Pascal should be used. (And we know from this list that some have even tried to bridge the two language classes by teaching Icon, with, however, disappointing results.) It is significant, I think, that the former are often interested *primarily* in enabling students to write programs for their own use, often teaching advanced undergraduate or graduate students, and take routine scholarly inquiry as their context, while the latter tend to emphasize the logical structure of computer programming, teach undergraduates, and focus *primarily* on understanding the machine as an end in itself or to broaden horizons, rather than as a tool to help get quick and dirty solutions. I cannot think that this debate is unrelated to "teaching HUMANITIES courses about what COMPUTERS are and how they impact on human culture and human nature." As for courses that explicitly address the social and cultural impact of computing -- I agree they are important, but I don't see any great shortage of them. Nor do I see -- and this is my second point of confusion -- how we expect to conduct useful discussions of computers, what they are, and how they may affect human nature and culture, without arranging to give at least some of our students some concrete knowledge of what happens in the CPU. Many social issues (privacy, organizational efficiency, and so on) may well be addressable without any programming knowledge. I daresay the sociologists are addressing them; I don't see that my training in literature calls me to try to address them, too. And the interesting questions that do seem to belong in the humanists' bailiwick (computers-and-human-creativity, computers- and-human-dignity, can-computers-ever-think, ...) seem to me to require some knowledge both of computing and of the humanities. To take a simple example: Weizenbaum's 'Eliza' program and its 'Doctor' script can lead to far-ranging discussion of profound social and personal issues. But from the relevant chapter in Weizenbaum's book we can see how catastrophically the discussion can go awry when no one can understand a word the others are saying. Weizenbaum does not seem to have understood what the psychoanalysts were talking about, and they clearly were incapable of following his argument -- largely, I think, owing to their technical naivete. They could not see how the program worked, and he could not show them. Any course on the impact of computers on society risks exactly the same difficulties if the students don't have any pragmatic computing skills. --- Since I began this note, there have been a number of further exchanges on this issue, and I have acquired a third point of confusion: why, if one prefers conferences at which more questions are raised than answered, should one complain in the first place that the same issues are going to occupy the time of another conference, worry about "broken records", and imply that no one else in computing spends any time worrying about the same issues from one year to the next? Perhaps there were multiple versions of the announcement, and Canadians got a different one, but I certainly do not see what Sterling Beckwith is talking about when he says the Oberlin announcement was not open to the issues he seems to want to raise. "What should be included in such courses?" is explicitly listed as a topic, as are "directly related" questions and any "substantive discussion of the issues surrounding the teaching of courses on computers and the humanities." It would take casuistry worthy of Ignatius Loyola to say that this call for papers excludes the issues raised by Sterling Beckwith. I will note in closing that Joe Raben deserves better than to be accused implicitly of not being a "real humanist." It would disappoint me to hear this discussion continue on that kind of note. Michael Sperberg-McQueen University of Illinois / Chicago ========================================================================= Date: 27 July 1987, 20:42:40 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty The following observation on the latest bit of discussion was sent to me privately. I've removed the name of the sender so as not to offend a good friend and pass it on to you for your amusement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Humanist is fascinating! I had no idea people could get so worked up over a call for papers. As far as I can tell, conference topics seem to follow a sort of cyclic movement in any given field: they're all very similar for a few years, then what's "in" changes, and a new cycle starts. In medieval studies lately it's been women, monks, or mysticism or a combination of the above. ========================================================================= Date: 27 July 1987, 21:02:25 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: Call for Papers: RIAO 88 CALL FOR PAPERS RIAO 88 USER-ORIENTED CONTENT-BASED TEXT AND IMAGE HANDLING Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA March 21-24, 1988 Conference organized by: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Centre National de Recherche des Telecommunications (CNET) Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique (INRIA) Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Paris Centre de Hautes Etudes Internationales d'Informatique Documentaires (CID) US participating organizations: American Federation of Information Processing Societies (AFIPS) American Society for Information Science (ASIS) Information Industry Association (IIA) This conference is prepared under the direction of: Professor Andre Lichnerowicz de l'Academie des Sciences de Paris and Professor Jacques Arsac correspondant de l'Academie des Sciences de Paris RIAO: Recherche d'Informations Assistee par Ordinateur A GENERAL INTRODUCTION: RIAO 88 is being held to demonstrate the state of the art in information retrieval, a domain that is in rapid evolution because of developments in the technology for machine control of full-text and image databases. This evolution is stimulated by the demands of end-users generated by the recent availability of CD-ROM full text publishing and general public access to information data bases. A group of French organizations has taken the initiative of preparing this conference. Its wish in promoting this forum is not only to stimulate and challenge researchers from all nations but also to increase an awareness of European technology. This "call for papers" is beeing distributed world-wide. We want to reach individuals in the research communities throughout the university and industrial sectors. The conference will be held in Cambridge, MA. We hope that it will encourage the exchange of European and American viewpoints, and establish new links between research teams in United-states and Europe. CALL FOR PAPERS General theme Full-text and mixed media database systems are characterized by the fact that the structure of the information is not known a priori. This prevents advance knowledge of the types of questions that will be asked, unlike the situation found in hierarchical and relational database management systems. You are invited to submit a paper showing how the situation can be dealt with. Special attention will be given to: - techniques designed to reduce imprecision in full-text database searching; - data entry and control; - "friendly" end-user interfaces. - new media A large number of specific subjects can be treated within this general framework. Some suggestions are made in the following section. Specific themes A) Linguistic processing and interrogation of full text databases: - automatic indexing, - machine generated summaries, - natural language queries, - computer-aided translation, - multilingual interfaces. B) Automatic thesaurus construction, C) Expert system techniques for retrieving information in full-text and multimedia databases: - expert systems reasoning on open-ended domains - expert systems simulating librarians accessing pertinent information. D) Friendly user interfaces to classical information retrieval systems. E) Specialized machines and system architectures designed for treating full-text data, including managing and accessing widely distributed databases. F) Automatic database construction scanning techniques, optical character readers, output document preparation, etc... G) New applications and perspectives suggested by emerging new technologies: - optical storage techniques (videodisk, CD-ROM, CD-I, Digital Optical Disks); - integrated text, sound and image retrieval systems; - electronic mail and document delivery based on content; - voice processing technologies for database construction; - production of intelligent tutoring systems; - hypertext, hypermedia. Conditions for participation The program committee is looking for communications geared toward practical applications. Papers which have not been validated by a working model, a prototype or a simulation, or for which a realization of such a model seems currently unlikely, may be refused. Authors must submit a paper of about 10 pages doubled spaced, and a 100 word abstract. Four copies must be sent before October 30 to one of these two addresses: - RIAO 88, Conference Service Office, MIT, Bldg 7, Room 111 CAMBRIDGE, MA 02139 - RIAO 88, CID, 36 bis rue Ballu, 75009 PARIS FRANCE Each presentation will last 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes of discussion and questions. Arrangement have been made with the international journal "Information Processing and Management" for publishing expanded versions of some papers. High quality audiovisual techniques should be used when presenting the paper. Separate demonstration sessions can be scheduled if requested. Particular attention will be paid to : - the use of readily available equipment for demonstrations (IBM PC, APPLE, network connec- tions...); - pre-recorded video or floppy disk displays. Hardcopy printouts of results should be avoided if possible. English is the working language of the conference. For further information call: in North America : Karen Daifuku, tel: (202) 944 62 52 in other countries: Secretariat General du CID in France, tel: (1) 42 85 04 75 ------- PROGRAM COMMITTEE French co-chairman US co-chairman Prof. Christian FLUHR Dr. Donald WALKER Universite Paris XI/INSTN BELL Communications Research J.C. Bassano (F) Universite d'Orleans A. Bookstein (USA) University of Chicago J. Bing (N) Norwegian research Center for Comp. and law E. Black (USA) T.J. Watson IBM Research Center C. Boitet (F) Universite de Grenoble J. Boucher (CAN) Universite de Montreal C. Chen (USA) Simmons College Y. Choueka (Israel) Bar-Ilan University C. Ciampi (I) Instituto per la Doc. jiuridica X. Dalloz (F) Centre National de la Cinematographie T. Doszkocs (USA) National Library of Medecine E. Fox (USA) Virginia Polytechnic Institute E. Garcia Camarero (SP) Universitad Complutense de Madrid C. Goldstein (USA) National Library of Medecine G. Grefenstette (F) Universite de Tours H. Hjerppe (S) University of Link%oping D. Kayser (F) Universite Paris XIII P. Kirstein (UK) University College of London R. Marcus (USA) Massachusetts Institute of Technology P. Mordini (F) Ecole des Mines de Paris C. D. Paice (UK) University of Lancaster A. S. Pollitt (UK) The Polytechnic Queensgate Uddersfield F. Rabitti (I) Instituto dei Elabor. della Informazione J. Rohmer (F) Bull, Louveciennes G. Sabah (F) LIMSI(CNRS) Orsay T. Saracevic (USA) Rutgers University W. Turner (F) CDST (CNRS) Paris H. J. Schneider (FRG) Technische Universit%at Berlin C. Schwartz (FRG) Siemens M%unchen assisted by a Technical and an Organisation Committee. APPLICATION FORM NAME:........................................................................... ................... TITLE/POSITION:................................................................. ................... ORGANIZATION:................................................................... ................... ADDRESS:........................................................................ ................... CITY:................................STATE:............................ZIP:..... ................... COUNTRY:........................................................................ ................... I plan to attend the conference, please send me the program: YES NO I plan to present a paper: YES NO Conference theme (circle one): A B C D E F G Title of the communication: Are you willing to present a demonstration of your prototype? YES NO Equipment needed: Please mail this form before Septembre 15, 1987 to: RIAO 88 Conference Service Office MIT Bldg 7, Room 111 CAMBRIDGE, MA 02139 USA ========================================================================= Date: 27 July 1987, 21:07:18 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: Call for Participation: Hypertext 87 & ACM SIGIR HYPERTEXT 87 WORKSHOP ON SYSTEMS, APPLICATIONS, AND ISSUES November 13-15, 1987 Chapel Hill, North Carolina Sponsored by ACM, IEEE, U. of North Carolina, ONR, MCC, NSF Hypertext is an approach to information management in which data is stored in a network of nodes connected by links. Nodes can contain text, source code, graphics, audio, video, or other forms of data, and are meant to be viewed and manipulated interactively. Hypertext systems support collaboration and cooperation among users in a wide varieties of activities, ranging from medical instruction to software development. Hypertext has come of age. An increasing number of hypertext systems and applications have been built and used within the last few years. This Workshop will be the first opportunity for implementors, application builders, and users of hypertext systems to come together to share information and ideas. Suggested Topics The workshop will focus equally on implementations of hypertext systems, applications of hypertext, and issues surrounding the use of hypertext. Possible topics for papers include, but are not limited to, the following: Implementations and technical issues - abstract machines and base engines - complete systems - user interfaces - multi-media support - distributed systems - query and search - storage management Applications and experiences - Computer-aided engineering (CASE, CAEE, ...) - Authoring and technical documentation - Medical and legal information management - Electronic encyclopedias - Interactive tools for education and museums - Information analysis and knowledge acquisition - Scholar's workbenches for the humanties and social sciences Issues surrounding use of hypertext - Cognitive aspects of using and designing hypertext systems - Strategies for effective use of hypertext - Supporting collaborative work - Managing complexity in large information networks - Legal issues (copyrights, royalties, ...) - Social implications Information for participants: Papers are invited for presentation at the Workshop and subsequent publication in proceedings. Papers should be limited to 20 pages, and 5 copies should be submitted to the following address: Hypertext 87 Department of Computer Science University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC 27514 Attendance at the workshop will be limited. Prospective participants not submitting a paper should submit a brief (1-2 page) position paper describing their activities or interests in hypertext. Important dates: 8/1/87 Submission of papers (Both position papers and presentations) 9/15/87 Notice of acceptance for full papers 9/15/87 Notice of admission to the Workshop 10/5/87 Camera-ready copy of papers for preprints Planing Committee: Frank Halasz, MCC, (Workshop Co-chair) Mayer Schwartz, Tektronix, (Program Co-chair) John B. Smith, UNC, (Workshop Co-chair) Nicole Yankelovich, Brown Univ. (Publications Chair) Local Arrangements Committee: David V. Beard, UNC, (Arrangements Chair) James M. Coggins, UNC, (Workshop Manager) Leigh Pittman, (Workshop Coordinator), Program Committee: Mayer Schwartz, Tektronix, Program Co-chair Stephen F. Weiss, UNC, Program Co-chair Greg Crane, Harvard University Norman Delisle, Tektronix Mark Frisse, Washington Univ. Med. School Frank Halasz, MCC David Lowe, NYU Norm Meyrowitz, Brown Univ. Theodore Nelson, Project Xanadu Walter Scacchi, USC John B. Smith, UNC Lucy Suchman, Xerox Parc Randy Trigg, Xerox PARC Andries van Dam, Brown Univ. Stephen A. Weyer, Apple Computer Nicole Yankelovich, Brown Univ. For more information contact: John B. Smith, 919-962-5021, jbs@cs.unc.edu Frank Halasz, 512-338-3648, halasz@mcc, seismo!ut-sally!im4u!milano!halasz ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 28 Jul 87 01:03 EDT Reply-To: GUEST4@YUSOL Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: GUEST4@YUSOL Subject: Off to Oberlin, or ONe Man's Discipline is Another's Pornography Here is the best commentary I could find on the now-famous Oberlin Proclamation. Strangely enough, my trusty humanistic computer counted few if any instances of the words "answers", "consensus", or "humanities student" in this parallel (but oh so interesting) proposal by our transatlantic cousins. And perhaps, where diachronic change and synchronic diversity of viewpoint or style in such matters are themselves seen as fit subjects for humanistic discussion, there might be less need for defensiveness about who is or is not a "true" believer. Other, better qualified students of comparative literature or computer linguistics will no doubt find further textual comparison of the two "calls" edifying, even if they choose to ignore the lingering echoes of Last Year at Poughkeepsie... --------------- PRELIMINARY ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL FOR PAPERS CATH 88: Computers and Teaching in the Humanities: Re-defining the Humanities? Following on the highly successful conference on Computers and Teaching in the Humanities (CATH 87) held at Southampton in April 1987, a second conference is planned to take place on 13, 14 and 15 December 1988. The emphasis will be on academic issues related to the introduction of computing into academic courses in the humanities in higher education. The main part of the conference will be devoted to workshops and seminar sessions. There will also be opportunities for informal demonstrations and poster sessions. The conference will focus on the interface between the computer and Humanities disciplines. To what extent are the traditional assumptions and methods of each discipline being either supported or challenged by the use of new technologies in higher education? The computer may facilitate existing methods, making our practice more effective. Alternatively, the computer may be changing our conceptions about a discipline, pointing to new theoretical models and new ways of teaching. In some Humanities departments there is now a tension between established and computer-based methods. Does such a tension mark the coming birth of new, technology-based Humanities subjects? If so, what are the implications for the traditional commitments of teachers in the Humanities? Will the relationship between research and teaching change, and if so, in what ways? And how will students in the future acquire the values and methods appropriate to their subjects? These, and related issues, will be examined in workshop sessions on specific fields, such as English or Music, assessing the extent to which these disciplines are changing, or are likely to change under the impact of new technologies. Other sessions will examine themes common to several disciplines, such as the shift in learning methods, the potential of expert system methods for mapping the theoretical constructs of Humanities subjects, the use of simulation as a teaching tool, and so on. In addition, the conference will analyse the political and institutional context for new developments in the Humanities, looking at policies for supporting and funding computer-related teaching. The workshop and seminar sessions, which will form the main part of the conference will focus on the discussion of educational issues, rather than detailed descriptions of courses, or particular computer-based tools. There will be opportunities for discussing or demonstrating these in separate, parallel sessions. Proposals are invited for contributions to the workshop sessions. Abstracts of about 500 words should be sent, NOT LATER THAN 15 JANUARY 1988, to Dr May Katzen Office for Humanities Communication University of Leicester LEICESTER LE1 7RH These proposals will be considered by a Programme Committee, who will notify the outcome to those involved by 15 April 1988, and plan a detailed programme accordingly. A selection will be made from the abstracts submitted to provide the basis of a forthcoming book on the theme of the conference, and invitations to contribute chapters will be issued by the Editorial Board. Proposals for demonstrations and poster sessions will also be welcomed and should be sent to the address above by 15 May 1988. Anyone wishing to be put on the mailing list for future information should also write to that address. ========================================================================= Date: 28-JUL-1987 11:05:55 Reply-To: A_BODDINGTON%UK.AC.OPEN.ACS.VAX@AC.UK Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: A_BODDINGTON%UK.AC.OPEN.ACS.VAX@AC.UK ATTITUDES TO HUMANITIES The York circular on COMPUTING FOR THE HUMANITIES raises a number of important issues. It seems astonishing that we still seem to be in a position where a department in a major University needs to make special efforts to justify provision of specialist services for the humanities. Do I also understand from Sarah Rees Jones message that York has only scientists in its Computing Service? Is this typical? (Here we have 2 advisers with computing science backgrounds, 2 archaeologists and 1 geographer). Here we do not provide special services for the humanities. We consider all our customers equal and attempt to provide the best possible facilities for all disciplines. It is not of concern to us whether someone is a historian or nuclear physicist, only that they need advice. Clearly the fact that our advisers are drawn from a range of disciplines benefits our users, though we are far from able to satisfy every customer due to a combination of limited knowledge and limited resources. The anti-humanities computing attitude which is found in some computing services is an archaic hangover from the days when computers only did 'hard sums' and the humanities only pontificated 'woolly concepts'. It remains a suprise that such attitudes remain as the real expansion area today is in the humanities and not the science areas. If computing services want more cash (beyond the conventional 'procurement' cycle) they need to show a broader range of demand. Long gone are the days when 'overwork' created new posts, now it is neccessary to expand into new areas and add even further to the workload to gain further finance. Hence they should be looking constantly to new markets, and this obviously (to us) includes the humanities. Regardless of the new horizons, cash is very hard to get. If there is a need at a university to designate a specialist adviser then the post will probably have to come from the existing staff complement. I dont think that we need feel embarassed about redirecting resources in this way but clearly the case must be constructed well. I think it would be of use to all of us to find out how many institutions provide specialist support. To repeat (almost) question (1) of Sarah Rees Jones message, does your university provide a 'humanities adviser' or a lectureship in 'humanities computing'? If we find that such provision is very rare then York can argue that they will be 'blazing a new and exciting trail', if it is commonplace then York can argue that their service is not providing the standard of facilities available elsewhere! Andy Boddington Academic Computing Service Open University Milton Keynes U.K. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 29 Jul 87 11:05:13 EDT Reply-To: "Timothy W. Seid" Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: "Timothy W. Seid" Subject: reading online c&h I am a recent member and have been reading "old" mail trying to catch up with the conversation. One discussion was about using some texts which were online for a class. The suggestion was made that they should be printed out. Does this bother anyone else? It seems that if texts are put online and then just printed out to be read then we have wasted a lot of time, effort, and money. Computers would then just be a substitute for the mail or publishers and book stores. There's something to be said for that, but I still think we need to implement the texts which we have online and not just print them out. As one who has never taken a formal course in computers nor has ever done well in Mathematics, I am excited about the discussions introduced (I think) by Nancy Ide. I dropped out of a course in BASIC because the Math teacher who taught it gave us assignments in probability (how many boxes of cereal would you have to buy to get all seven of the toys offered). I've learned REXX (anybody else use this?) and am now studying PASCAL. As soon as I get to the bookstore I will order Nancy's book on Pascal for the Humanities. A friend spoke to a group of Classicists at a meeting in California and told them that Classicists shouldn't have to know how to program, that it should be left to Programmers. They strongly disagreed. They probably reflect the few in every discipline that bridge the gap between computer science and their own field. Similarly, some are more trained in social anthropology than the rest of us, but we all need to use the methods in historical research. I think the problem is one of bridging the gap. Maybe some day there won't be a gap. That will be the responsibility of the next generation whom we will help educate.