From: CBS%UK.AC.RUTHERFORD.MAIL::CA.UTORONTO.UTCS.VM::POSTMSTR 14-JAN-1989 09:13:46.12 To: archive CC: Subj: Via: UK.AC.RUTHERFORD.MAIL; Sat, 14 Jan 89 9:13 GMT Received: from UKACRL by UK.AC.RL.IB (Mailer X1.25) with BSMTP id 9232; Sat, 14 Jan 89 09:12:30 GM Received: from vm.utcs.utoronto.ca by UKACRL.BITNET (Mailer X1.25) with BSMTP id 1834; Sat, 14 Jan 89 09:12:28 G Received: by UTORONTO (Mailer X1.25) id 0398; Fri, 13 Jan 89 14:45:07 EST Date: Fri, 13 Jan 89 14:44:57 EST From: "Steve Younker (Postmaster)" To: archive@UK.AC.OXFORD.VAX ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 04 Sep 87 13:42:38 -0800 Reply-To: mbb@portia.Stanford.EDU Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: mbb@portia.Stanford.EDU Subject: Spelling checkers for non-English languages Hi all, I am looking for recommendations on spell checking programs for non-English languages that run on either the Mac or IBM PC compatibles. I'm primarily interested in the romance languages (especially German), as well as Russian. Please send me a note if you've any suggestions or recommendations. Send directly to me (gx.mbb@stanford), and I'll summarize the responses I receive to the Humanist list. many thanks Malcolm Brown Stanford University ========================================================================= Date: 5-SEP-1987 13:22:05 GMT Reply-To: LOU@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: LOU@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK Subject: Text Archive - Change of Address Please note that all correspondence, enquiries etc concerning the Oxford Text Archive should be sent to the following address:- ARCHIVE @ UK.AC.OX.VAX (JANET) From BITNET, make sure that your Mailer is constructing the TO: part of the header correctly (it should say ARCHIVE%UK.AC.OX.VAX ) and forwarding the message to MAILER @ UKACRL.BITNET From EDU (etc), the address is now ARCHIVE%VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK @ UCL.CS.NSS There have been several changes in our connexion to the international networks recently; old methods of connecting with us may suddenly cease to work. Lou Burnard P.S. Please do not send Text Archive enquiries to this address (LOU@OX.VAX) unless you want them to be ignored until November! I shall be in Germany (try MIG04W@DGOWD01.EARN) until that date, but messages to ARCHIVE will still be acted on. In line with Humanist Traditions, I had intended to send everyone 98 annoucements of this fact, but time alas precluded. ========================================================================= Date: 5-SEP-1987 13:36:27 GMT Reply-To: LOU@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: LOU@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK ======CORRECTED VERSION OF PREVIOUS MESSAGE================ Please note that all correspondence, enquiries etc concerning the Oxford Text Archive should be sent to the following address:- ARCHIVE @ UK.AC.OX.VAX (JANET) From BITNET, make sure that your Mailer is constructing the TO: part of the header correctly (it should say either ARCHIVE%UK.AC.OXFORD.VAX@AC.UK or ARCHIVE@VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK) and forwarding the message to MAILER @ UKACRL.BITNET From EDU (etc), the address is now ARCHIVE%VAX.OXFORD.AC.UK @ UCL.CS.NSS There have been several changes in our connexion to the international networks recently; old methods of connecting with us may suddenly cease to work. Lou Burnard P.S. Please do not send Text Archive enquiries to this address (LOU@OX.VAX) unless you want them to be ignored until November! I shall be in Germany (try MIG04W@DGOWD01.EARN) until that date, but messages to ARCHIVE will still be acted on. In line with Humanist Traditions, I had intended to send everyone 98 annoucements of this fact, but time alas precluded. (but I managed two at least) ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1987 20:52 CST Reply-To: "Robin C. Cover" Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: "Robin C. Cover" Subject: Generalized (Descriptive) Markup Language for Lexica Is anyone else working with SGML or other descriptive markup language for tagging digitized lexicons? I have seen the AAP manuals implementing SGML for electronic publishing, but this still leaves room for many decisions, including which features of SGML to actually implement, and whether to abbreviate some of the more cumbersome tagging. If you can offer advice or help for tagging lexica, please notify me via BITNET or postal mail: Robin C. Cover; 3909 Swiss Avenue; Dallas, TX 75204; 214/824-3094 (w); 214/296-1783 (h) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1987 22:25 MDT Reply-To: Randall Jones Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Randall Jones Subject: COPYRIGHT AND TEXT FILES One issue that has not been adequately discussed with regard to the exchange of literary texts is that of copyright. This may not be a significant problem in other countries, but it is very real in the U.S. Virtually every edition of a literary text worth coding in electronic form is protected by copyright law. While most scholars do not worry about obtaining permission from the publisher for work that is done internally, permission must be secured in order to publish a concordance, index, etc. based on that edition. I can see potential problems if texts that were originally intended for internal use suddenly begin to be exchanged around the world. We have secured copyright permission from publishers for several texts we have been working on here at Brigham Young University (e.g. the Hamburg Edition of Goethe), and we are well aware that the permission does not grant us the right to pass on the electronic version to other users. Perhaps we can negotiate with Beck in Munich for this permission, but I am not optimistic that they will be positively disposed toward the idea. Any other thoughts? Randall Jones Humanities Research Center Brigham Young University Provo, Utah 84602 ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1987 22:27 MDT Reply-To: Randall Jones Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Randall Jones Subject: REGOGNITION FOR COMPUTER PROGRAMS If I may be allowed to resurrect the issue of recognition for computer programs, HUMANIST readers may be interested to learn that the Modern Language Association of America and the Center for Applied Linguistics have recently entered into an agreement with IBM to implement a system of peer review for language- oriented software written for IBM microcomputers and compatibles. The software may be for instruction or research in literature, writing, second language learning, or linguistics. Recommended software will be made available to the public through an independent software-distribution center. Authors will receive a royalty from the sale of their software, but, perhaps more important, they will receive a letter from the MLA or CAL informing them that their software has been selected to be made available for their colleagues, kind of a "seal of approval" from a recognized body. It may not mean as much as an article in a journal, but it certainly should carry some weight. To request additional information or a software submission form write to Carol Zuses, Software Evaluation Project, Modern Language Association, 10 Astor Place, New York, NY 10003-6981 (for literature, writing and CALL other than ESL) or Barbara Robson, Software Evaluation Project, Center for Applied Linguistics, 1118 22nd St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20037 (for linguistics and ESL CALL). ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 08 Sep 87 15:33:16 MST Reply-To: Mark Olsen Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Mark Olsen Subject: ESL software and reviews I am on the thesis committee of a student in the English as a Second Languge program who is looking into software for teaching English to a wide variety of students. His project calls for a review of the available software and literature dealing with computer use in ESL programs. This is a long way from my area of expertise and I am wondering if there are journals, bibliographies, or so on that would provide a useful starting point for a project of this nature. The student has already run through a number of journals including CALICO, but any additional title suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Mark Olsen ========================================================================= Date: 9 September 1987, 12:32:12 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: The ARTFL Bibliography A bibliographical listing of the contents of a major database of French texts is now available to HUMANISTs. It is the work of a cooperative project of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the University of Chicago and is known as the American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language (ARTFL). The file is 1900 80-character lines long. Because we do not yet have the facility for centralized storage of texts, I am keeping it in my account and will send a copy to anyone who wants it. Requests should come to me directly. Detailed information about ARTFL can be obtained from the ARTFL Project, The University of Chicago, Dept. of Romance Languages and Literatures, 1050 East 59th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A., (312) 962-8488. I do not know if the Project has an e-mail address. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 09 Sep 87 15:24:54 EDT Reply-To: "Timothy W. Seid" Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: "Timothy W. Seid" Subject: WORD DIVISION OF ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS My professor, Dr. Stanley Stowers, came to me one day with the idea of a computer program that would be able to generate the possible word divisions in a Greek text. Since ancient Greek was written in a continuous script until about the ninth century A.D., the word divisions in our critical texts are based on later interpretive editing. I shuttered at the thought of what would be involved in programming such a thing. Then one day while I was working with the TLG texts I came up with an idea. We at Brown are using a system called Isocrates to access TLG. Rather than searching through the texts themselves, Isocrates has an index to each author and an index to the entire corpus. Isocrates was developed by Greg Crane at Harvard in conjunction with the Institute for Research in Scholarship at Brown. (of course, all due credit to Dr. Brunner). My idea was to generate a sequence of strings from a Greek text and match each time to a file of Greek words. I have finally complete a working version on the mainframe. For the first version I've used the word file to the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) since it was the easiest to get to in the Isocrates files. Here is a sample of the output for Galatians 1:6-8: LINE 6 ______ qauma qaumazw a ma a zw w o oti ti iou o ou outw outws w ws ta taxews a ew ews w ws me met meta ta a ti tiqesqe qes qesqe ea a ap apo pot potou o otou to tou o ou ouk kale a esan sa san a ant to o os su umas ma a as en xariti a ar ti xristou to tou o ou ei eis eteron te ro o on eu a ge ion o on noo LINE 7 ______ o o ou ouk esti estin ti tina in ina a all allo o ei mh mhti h ti tines in esei ei eis eisi eisin sin in o oi ta tarassontes a ar ara aras a as son o on ontes te su umas ma a as kai a ai qel- ontes o on ontes te me met meta metastreyai ta tas a as a ai to o eu a ge ion o on to tou o ou oux xristou to tou o ou LINE 8 ______ a all alla a kai a ai aie ea ean a anh nh h hmeis me ei eis ish sh sha h a aggelos ge elos o os ec o ou our oura ouran a o ou eu a ge zh h ta a ai umin in par a ar ro o eu h ge elisa isa sa a me meq a umin in ina a ana anaq anaqema a qema ema ma a estw w I'm not sure how much explanation is needed or how much more I should tell. I'm not too optimistic that I will discover any places which could be divided up differently. I would appreciate any comments, suggestions, questions, or criticisms. Tim Seid ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 09 Sep 87 19:17:54 BST Reply-To: CAMERON@EXETER.AC.UK Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: CAMERON@EXETER.AC.UK Subject: CALL Conference EXETER For all HUMANIST readers - accommodation still available if requested IMMEDIATELY. UNIVERSITY OF EXETER PROGRAM STRUCTURE and PRINCIPLES in CALL Lopes Hall, September 21 -23 1987. COST 50 pounds all inclusive - pro rata rates available MONDAY September 21 16.30 - 18.00 Registration 18.00 Reception 19.00 Dinner 20.15 S.Dodd (Exeter) CALL and the chalkface. D.F.Clarke, (U.E.A.) Design considerations in the production of extended computer assisted reading materials TUESDAY September 22 08.00 Breakfast 09.30 P.Hickman, (La Ste Union) Structuring interactive grammar practice programs. D.Ferney, (Wolverhampton Poly.) A computer model of the French native speaker's skill with grammatical gender. 10.45 Coffee 11.15 O.Durrani, (Durham) Designer Labyrinths: Text mazes for language learners. A.Benwell, (Lanchester Poly.) How we use HELP facilities. 13.00 Lunch 14.30 A.Kukulska-Hulme, (Aston) Liberation or constraint : the useful- ness of a program interface to a vocabulary database. G.A.Inkster, (Lancaster) Databases as a learning activity. 15.45 Tea 16.15 Workshop : Reading Programs - D.F.Clarke (U.E.A.); I.Morris (Man chester Poly.). Language Programs - D.Ashead (B'ham); O.Durrani (Durham). Wordprocessing aid - L.M.Wright (Bangor) 18.30 Wine reception 19.00 Dinner 20.15 J.D.Fox, (U.E.A.) Can CAL aid vocabulary acquisition? L.M.Wright, (UC, Bangor) Aspects of text storage and text compression in CALL. WEDNESDAY September 23 08.00 Breakfast 09.30 D.Scarborough (City London Poly.) The computer as a teaching resource on a Commercial French course. J.E.Galletly (Buckingham) Elementary verbal phrase syntax- checker for French sentences. 10.45 Coffee 11.15 Workshop: Language programs : M.Blondel (City London Poly.); B.Farrington (Aberdeen); P.Hickman (La Ste Union); D.Ferney (Wolverhampton); M.L'Huillier (Brunel). 13.00 Lunch 14.15 B.Farrington, (Aberdeen) A.I. Grandeur et servitude M.Yazdani, (Exeter) Tools for second language teaching. Future projects. 15.45 Tea KCCameron/EXETER Tel.0392 - 264216 ========================================================================= Date: 9 September 1987, 18:51:28 EDT Reply-To: "Bill Winder (416) 960-9793" Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: "Bill Winder (416) 960-9793" I have 2 questions that the Humanist group may be able to help me with. First, does anyone know of a good archive management tool? I'm looking for something that a library can use to index all its stock, whether it be books, maps, photographs, manuscripts, painting, statues, etc. One suggestion was Revelation, but users of the package that I have contacted don't recommend it. Dbase might seem appropriate, but the fixed field length is a problem when dealing with an extremely heterogeneous data set. I thought of AskSam -- a textbase -- but I was hoping to find something designed for archives. Any suggestions? Secondly, I'm trying to find the list of network nodes in Athens, Greece. Are there no Athenian Humanists? A colleague in Athens would like to have access to EARN (the European network) but doesn't know where a node mainframe is in Athens. (I was able to find the University of Patras in the CMS Help, but no connection date is indicated, nor site -- I'm not sure whether it is in Athens or not.) Many thanks, Bill Winder (Winder at Utorepas) ========================================================================= Date: 10 September 1987 09:32:48 CDT Reply-To: Undetermined origin c/o Postmaster Sender: HUMANIST Discussion Comments: E: Mail origin cannot be determined. Comments: E: Original tag was FROM: U18189 at UICVM (Michael Sperberg-McQueen ) From: Undetermined origin c/o Postmaster Subject: bibliographic databases, network nodes in Greece On Bill Winder's questions: Second question first: Our Bitnet tables show exactly two nodes in Greece: GREARN in Crete and CRPATVX1 at the University of Patrus. Database question next: Depending on what you are looking for in a database system, you may want to check Revelation out again despite the reports you've gotten. It has variable-length fields, great flexibility, and appears to combine many of the strengths of the relational data model without its rigidity. Its three major drawbacks, according to a knowledgeable, enthusiastic fanatic on the subject, are its documentation, its documentation, and its documentation. I've heard this report elsewhere too so I believe it. By all reports the program itself is very very good -- if one can put up with the manual. For general-purpose work on an IBM PC (that seems to be a hidden specification in your search), I believe anyone ought to look long and hard at RBase System V and DataEase. The one leans to power and the other to ease of use for beginners and occasional users, but each is very good. I served on an evaluation committee that spent months looking at programs, ads, and specs, and then a full week performing tests and sample database designs on a few finalists, and these two programs were clearly at the top. There are also a number of programs aimed strictly at bibliographies, which may prove ideal for your application: Professional Bibliographic Systems in Ann Arbor Michigan has a rather nice program that implements the ANSI standard for bibliographic description and can handle the problem you have with non-standard media very easily. There are others, of course, but I don't know enough to say anything useful. Perhaps others on the list will comment on Sci-Mate, Notebook II, and so on. (This messages has 47 lines.) ========================================================================= Date: 11 September 1987, 20:43:26 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: A sin of omission & work in progress When I advertised the ARTFL bibliography (of which several copies have subsequently been sent out), I failed to note that Mark Olsen was responsible for securing it for us. My apologies and thanks to him for supplying the sort of thing that makes HUMANIST valuable. Lou Burnard's snapshot of the Oxford Text Archive is another example. Work still proceeds on centralized storage of such things on the UTORONTO node for automatic retrieval on demand. Please be patient. Meanwhile, I'll be happy to distribute the ARTFL bibliography and anything else appropriate. If you have something you think might appeal to HUMANISTs, let me know. ========================================================================= Date: 14 September 1987, 07:24:34 EDT Reply-To: Willard McCarty Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Willard McCarty Subject: The Humanities Computing Yearbook On behalf of Oxford University Press, the publishers, the Centre for Computing in the Humanities is pleased to announce a new periodical, The Humanities Computing Yearbook. Ian Lancashire and Willard McCarty are the co-editors. An editorial board is in process of being set up. The first volume, scheduled for publication in the summer of 1988, aims to give a comprehensive guide to publications, software, and specialized hardware organized by subject or area of application. Research and instructional work in many fields will be covered: ancient and modern languages and literatures, linguistics, history, philosophy, fine art, and areas of computational linguistics affecting text-based disciplines in the humanities. The more notable software packages will be described in some detail. We welcome your suggestions of what we should consider. We are especially interested in discovering innovative software that may not be widely known, including working prototypes of systems in development. Electronic correspondence should be sent to YEARBOOK@UTOREPAS.BITNET, conventional mail to the Editors, The Humanities Computing Yearbook, Centre for Computing in the Humanities, Univ. of Toronto, 14th floor, Robarts Library, 130 St. George Street, Toronto, Canada M5S 1A5. Our telephone number is (416) 978-4238. Please feel free to distribute this notice. Ian Lancashire Willard McCarty 14 September 1987 ========================================================================= Date: Monday, 14 September 1987 2234-EST Reply-To: KRAFT@PENNDRLN Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: KRAFT@PENNDRLN Subject: ARTFL Concerning the ARTFL Project and materials, it would be useful for HUMANIST to carry details of how institutions can become subscribers to this data bank, if this has not already been done. It is my impression that costs are reasonable and benefits great for Romance Language departments, although I'm not sure that the French people at my own institution have taken advantage of the situation yet. Is there an ARTFL spokesperson on HUMANIST to give precise details? (Or to repeat them, if I missed it at first.) Bob Kraft ========================================================================= Date: Monday, 14 September 1987 2301-EST Reply-To: KRAFT@PENNDRLN Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: KRAFT@PENNDRLN Subject: Copyright Apropos Randy Jones' important query/note about the copyright issue, much thought has necessarily been given to these matters by those involved in encoding ancient texts en masse, particularly the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae (TLG) project directed by Ted Brunner at U.California Irvine, and the newly formed Latin counterpart being coordinated at the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) under the direction of Stephen Waite in Los Altos, CA. It is also a central issue for CCAT in gathering various materials for a CD-ROM. We have found that some publishers are very interested in cooperation, especially if they can be made to see that having their material in electronic form can benefit them as well. Other publishers have adopted a go slow (or don't go) policy, since they have not yet thought much about the impact of computerized distribution on their materials. Still others are actively entering the computerized market, and thus reserve circulation rights to themselves. One lesson for authors and text editors is perhaps to attempt to retain copyright control for these purposes, or at least to recover the copyright if a publisher discontinues an author/editor's publication. I suspect that in the long run we will find that circulation of materials in electronic form increases the market for hard copy of the same materials (at least as present study and reading habits are constituted), but there is little hard evidence on which to test such a hypothesis, and many publishers are wary of what might happen with the increase of electronic distribution. Bob Kraft ========================================================================= Date: 16 September 1987, 07:04:30 EDT Reply-To: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Subject: Technical flaws A HUMANIST just pointed out to me that on this VM/CMS system an uploaded file often ends with what appears to be a double quotation mark, <">. Whatever it is, it becomes an end-of-file marker (1A in hex) when that file gets downloaded to a PC. If the downloaded file has been made part of another file, the end-of-file marker may make the rest of the larger file inaccessible until it has been removed. (I hope this is clear!) So, if you download something from HUMANIST that ends abruptly or seems to be much shorter than the corresponding entry in the directory would lead you to believe, one or more spurious hex 1A's are likely at fault. I have used the Norton Utility to remove them, though until now I have not understood where they came from. If you encounter this problem with a file from HUMANIST and cannot solve it, please let me know. The second technical flaw I have to report concerns discursive headers, i.e., those that specify the sender's full name and may also give his or her address, telephone number, etc. At least from this VM/CMS system, some messages so adorned are oddly treated by other mailers, which may take the discursive part for the electronic address. As far as I know, ListServ has not run into this problem, but I have when sending messages directly to individuals. For this reason, my full header has become a footer. Willard McCarty Centre for Computing in the Humanities University of Toronto (416) 978-4238 ========================================================================= Date: 16 September 1987, 11:26:38 EDT Reply-To: Philippa MW Matheson 416 585-4469 Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Philippa MW Matheson 416 585-4469 Subject: Re: Technical flaw My experience with the ~Z (hex 1A) character at the end of some messages is that it is easier to remove while it is still on the mainframe (i.e. *before* bringing to the PC). If the apparent double quote character (") at the end of a message is deleted, the problem does not occur on the PC. This makes a real incentive to a least browse through my HUMANIST mail on-line (before taking it home to print out and read on the bus on my way back to work...?) Interesting, though, that I have had this problem only with Willard McCarty's contributions--perhaps it is purely local. Philippa Matheson AMPHORAS at UTOREPAS ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 16 Sep 1987 12:13 CST Reply-To: "Robin C. Cover" Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: "Robin C. Cover" Subject: Offending EOF Characters Uploaded from MS-DOS (ascii) Files The offending EOF characters Willard has mentioned can be removed from a downloaded file with PC-Write (as well as with Norton Utilities). I think these must originate in MS-DOS files from some word processors when these text files are uploaded to the VM/CMS system. I have asked the mainframe operators if there is any way to eliminate these EOF characters from the (minidisk) file prior to downloading (with some global change), but the answer was "no." In general, the networks seem to handle hi-bit characters and control codes (1-32) in an irratic fashion...unless I am ignorant of some essential fact. I remove these EOF characters from downloaded files with PC-Write's alt-F4, alt-F6 sequence, which locates "non-ascii" (sic!) characters. ========================================================================= Date: 18 September 1987, 10:08:50 EDT Reply-To: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Subject: Announcements of new software & of updates I would like to propose that HUMANIST be used to announce the availability of new software and of updates to existing packages, whether they be commercial or in the public domain. Advertising in the usual sense seems inappropriate for an academic network, but I think all of us would appreciate knowing about new things in a timely fashion. Until we have the ability to store files centrally, these announcements should probably be brief and should each contain an offer of more information from the sender. Only major updates would likely be of interest. Comments? Willard McCarty Centre for Computing in the Humanities University of Toronto (416) 978-4238 ========================================================================= Date: 18 September 1987, 22:23:37 EDT Reply-To: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Subject: A sample report on interesting software Please consider the following technical report on CRITIQUE, an interesting example of work in natural language processing being done at the Watson Center of IBM. Many of you will of course already know about this work. I'm circulating the report primarily to suggest what we might publish on HUMANIST and to get your reactions. Please let me know directly what you think. Willard McCarty Centre for Computing in the Humanities University of Toronto (416) 978-4238 ========================================================================= CRITIQUE CRITIQUE, formerly known as EPISTLE, is a mainframe natural language processing system being developed at the Thomas Watson Research Center of IBM. This system analyzes the syntactic structure of sentences, diagnoses lexical, grammatical, and stylistic errors, offers corrections, and computes various statistics about the writing. It is currently used in IBM both as a research tool, in open-ended research on semantic analysis, and as an aid in the writing of documentation. CRITIQUE consists of two major components: a parsing "engine" constructed by means of PLNLP, the "Programming Language for Natural Language Processing, pronounced "Penelope"; and PEG, the "PLNLP English Grammar." The other components of the system are the dictionary, which contains syntactic information associated with 70,000 lexical items, and the style component, which consists of style-checking rules. CRITIQUE begins by separating sentences from each other, then subjects each sentence serially to lexical analysis. Parts of speech are labelled at this stage and word-level errors determined. Successful sentences are fed to a parser that segments them according to a parse-tree and detects grammatical errors. Sentences still free of errors are then examined for stylistic weaknesses, which are reported to the user. CRITIQUE's criteria for style are based on existing manuals modified in consultation with teachers of composition and on errors collected from a large database of IBM office correspondence. Examples of stylistic weakness that CRITIQUE might report are: excessive length of a sentence, excessive complexity, or unclear punctuation. CRITIQUE deals with one sentence at a time. It does not currently keep track of what it regards as infractions or infelicities so as to produce criticism of the writing in general. In recent tests 70% of the sentences given to CRITIQUE were analyzed in a single parse; 15% required multiple parses and were ranked according to a metric of preferred interpretations; and 15% were "fitted" or indeterminate parses, as in sentence fragments. A 20-word sentence, for example, can be processed on an IBM 3081 4Mb virtual machine in 1 CPU-second. [This report is based on a talk given by Dr. Yael Ravin (Natural Language Processing Group, Thomas Watson Research Center) on 26 March at the University of Toronto and is republished from the Ontario Humanities Computing newsletter, 1.3, June 1987, with thanks.] ========================================================================= Date: 19 September 1987, 09:45:37 EDT Reply-To: Norman Zacour 923 9483 Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Norman Zacour 923 9483 Subject: Software reviews Willard McCarty's suggestion about passing along information about new and updated software has much merit. I am not thinking about the usual commercial stuff, which gets a lot of advertising in all the usual places, and about which detailed information is readily available, but rather the specialized software, usually known only to the cognoscenti, developed for special purposes, which one runs across by accident, or ferrets out by asking friends of friends of friends. In my own case, I have more than a passing interest in dealing with the problems of blind computer users. While I am reasonably familiar with the major programs (e.g. SoftVert) and speech synthesizers that are available commercially, I should like to know who out there may be writing, or may know about, the equivalent of shareware or public-domain goodies that can make the sightless user's life a little easier. Others will have other interests, of course. But how to start? Throwing out information that no one may want seems like a waste of energy. Might it not be best to have everyone's needs known, so that others who can, can respond? ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 18 Sep 1987 23:45 MDT Reply-To: Randall Jones Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Randall Jones Electronic Text Corporation of Provo, Utah has just announced release 4.2 of WordCruncher (formerly BYU Concordance). They have also announced the ETC Bookshelf Series, indexed texts that can be accessed by WordCruncher's ViewETC. Already available is a set of 47 U.S. Constitution documents. Soon to be released will be the Riverside Shakespeare and selected volumes of the Library of America (e.g. Twain, Melville, Franklin, Jefferson, Faulkner, Cather, etc.). For information about the new features in 4.2 as well as the ETC Bookshelf Series write (via BITNET 4) to me. Randy Jones ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 20 Sep 87 12:15:04 BST Reply-To: CAMERON@EXETER.AC.UK Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: CAMERON@EXETER.AC.UK Subject: Hum.Comp.Yrbook Software Reviews - I'm in favour of general distribution of all reviews. Although users' needs are different, details of other progs can provide ideas of adaptation I should also like to see a Clearing House for details of projects in hand and of willingness to cooperate on development Keith Cameron, EXETER ========================================================================= Date: 21 September 1987, 06:39:40 EDT Reply-To: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Subject: Reviews and information The following is from Joseph Baumgarten, sent to me, and deserves to be passed on. =============================================================================== As a freshman in the learned circle of Humanist experts, I would greatly welcome the availability of current information about software. Yet, I think that specialized hardware also deserves mention. A specific example: We have had rave reviews of the capabilities of the Ibycus for accessing CD ROM data bases. Yet there are few users who can afford a computer which can do only this. Are there alternatives for users of standard computers? If so, what hardware and software is needed? Will the new generation of PCs be likely to approximate the capabilities of Ibycus? Another question in a different area: Is there any progress in the electronic indexing of periodicals in the humanities? Joseph M. Baumgarten (BAUMGARTEN@UMBC.BITNET) ========================================================================= Date: Monday, 21 September 1987 0932-EST Reply-To: KRAFT@PENNDRLN Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: KRAFT@PENNDRLN Subject: responses to inquiries, etc. It is difficult to know whether it is most practical to send separate notes to HUMANIST on separate items, or to package things as I am doing here. If there are strong feelings about this, it might be good to have a recommended policy. Doing separate notes may make it easier to organize what HUMANISTs wish to keep. In any event; 1. Brief information on hardware, software, etc., would be welcome via HUMANIST. For more elaborate treatment, including sometimes the source code of programs, Jack Abercrombie's ONLINE NOTES is an appropriate listing that goes out monthly to 200 or so e-mail addresses (write JACKA@PENNDRLS). Indeed, for informational purposes, the contents of such ONLINE NOTES and similar services could perhaps be listed in HUMANIST along with listings of other relevant e-mail sources. 2. More generally, on the information front, I would like response from HUMANISTs on how to reach the non-e-mail multitudes with what they need to know about computer related developments. For several years I have published a brief column (OFFLINE) in the main professional newsletter for Religious Studies, and I suspect that other professional society organs may have similar columns -- and that some professional groups do not. It is clear to me that many colleagues want such information and will not subscribe to the special computer publications (CHum, Scope, LLC, etc.) or join the associations that produce the special publications. These colleagues can be reached most easily through their own professional publications. But much of the information they need is not at all "discipline specific" so it occurred to me that perhaps we should encourage the creation of a "syndicated" column approach that we could offer to the various professional societies and editors for inclusion in newsletters, etc. It is one function that a consortium of professional societies might be interested in supporting. I would be interested in being involved, if the idea seems feasible and if others would also get involved, with their own professional groups in view. Responses? 3. Responding to Joseph Baumgarten's note, but with general information. Several HUMANISTs have first hand acquaintance with the IBYCUS System, I suspect, and I certainly do. It would be incorrect to describe the IBYCUS SC as capable ONLY of accessing CD-ROM material. It is an excellent all-around tool for scholarly, and especially textual, work. Its word processing capabilities are adequate and getting better. Its programming language (similar to C) is relatively transparent and powerful. Many programs of various sorts are available in this language (IBYX), which has been in use for nearly a decade by 15 centers and/or individuals who have owned the earlier (mini-computer based) versions of the IBYCUS System. We at CCAT hope to collect a utilities disk of such programs for the IBYCUS SC in the near future. An extensive review of the machine appeared in the inaugural issue of John Hughes' BITS AND BYTES REVIEW last October, and can be xeroxed for anyone interested. 4. For IBM DOS users, CCAT has been developing software for accessing the TLG and CCAT CD-ROMs from IBM type machines. We have worked with the Sony reader and interface card. This software will be available soon for testing, responses, etc., and will be sold for a nominal charge ($75 was announced) through CCAT. The attempt is to emulate IBYCUS for IBM. It will not be entirely successful since IBYCUS was built exactly for this sort of thing, IBM was not. But it should provide a reasonable alternative. Bob Kraft, CCAT ========================================================================= Date: 22 September 1987, 09:29:28 EDT Reply-To: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS The following, intended for HUMANIST, was addressed to the wrong Torontonian node of Bitnet/NetNorth -- a common mistake, easily made. Please note that although my account is on the UTOREPAS node, HUMANIST belongs to UTORONTO. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > 21 Sep 87 10:38:50 BST > Via: UK.AC.RL.EARN; Mon, 21 Sep 87 10:38:49 BST > Received: > Via: 000005121001.FTP.MAIL; 21 SEP 87 10:38:46 BST > Date: Mon 21 Sep 87 10:38 > From: D.MITCHELL@QMC.AC.UK > Message-ID: > To: HUMANIST@UTOREPAS > Subject: ATARI ST > > > Does anybody out there know if any software packages exist which will > produce concordances on an Atari St machine ? > > David Mitchell > D.MITCHELL @ UK.AC.QMC ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please address replies to the sender, not to HUMANIST. Thanks. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 22 Sep 87 15:01:29 -0800 Reply-To: mbb@jessica.Stanford.EDU Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: mbb@jessica.Stanford.EDU Subject: Spell checking programs A few weeks ago, I sent a note to HUMANIST requesting information on spell checking programs. Well, I received only a half-dozen responses, and nearly all of these contained no information but rather simply expressed interest in the outcome! Willard McCarty at UTOREPAS volunteered he was using a program named MicroSpell, but that was about it. Just as I was about to despair, in comes the latest issue of "Bits & Bytes Review," which contains reviews of four spell checking programs running in the DOS environment!! (Vol 1, #5) This is clearly the most comprehensive coverage of this subject, so anyone wanting to know about this stuff should read these reviews. Hughes reviews the following programs: JetSpell, which has the potential to check multilingual documents; MicroSpell, WordProof II, and Webster's NewWorld Spelling checker. As I say, the reviews are well done and make worthwhile reading if you want to find out about the latest and greatest in spell checking programs. Malcolm Brown Stanford University gx.mbb@stanford ========================================================================= Date: 24 September 1987, 14:31:21 EDT Reply-To: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Subject: An objection A good friend and fellow HUMANIST sent me the following objection to a tendency possibly dormant in our recent efforts to begin circulating reviews and notices of software. This friend felt quite diffident about addressing HUMANIST with a passionate and frank objection, but I am persuaded that we need to hear it. From reactions I have received, I've concluded that one aspect of HUMANIST many of its members find most stimulating is the discussion of issues and ideas. It seems to me that we can both engage in these discussions and circulate software reviews. Comments on the following are welcome. Willard McCarty Centre for Computing in the Humanities University of Toronto (416) 978-4238 ============================================================================ I was a little taken aback by your suggestion about HUMANIST and software reviews or notices. I am afraid of seeing HUMANIST change from a venue for interesting discussions of computing in general and specific issues relevant to humanities (such as desk-top publishing, copyright and machine-readable text, what students in the humanities are expected to learn by learning programming, etc.) to one largely dominated by exchange of news and gossip about the latest soft- and hard-ware, with the concomitant academic one-upsmanship, not to mention salesmanship. I realize that there is a place for HUMANIST as a locus from which information can be disseminated about new and important programs and machines, but I don't think it should become our focus. It seems to me that information about commercial programs is fairly well disseminated, and most of the other stuff seems precious (I mean it affects me as a woman preaching is supposed to have affected Dr. Johnson) or rather useless. I know that there is a solid "remnant" of useful stuff even as I say that, but I do think the chaff outweighs the wheat. Now you are free to (and perhaps would be wise to) dismiss this feeling as the amalgam of two rather unworthy emotions: a deep suspicion of all technological panaceas, especially those "silicon-based life-forms" which many humanities computer types seem to me to be peddling under the guise of parsers and "workbenches" and expert systems; and a self-contradictory but equally real jealousy of the technological fast-lane and those who have the knowledge and leisure to travel it. So I hope that your suggestion results in only a small rise in the amount of software reviews, announcements, etc. ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 24 Sep 87 21:38:44 MST Reply-To: Mark Olsen Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Mark Olsen Subject: A reply to the "nameless dissenter" I am not certain that I understand the objection posed by the nameless dissenter. Information about commercially available software -- particularly that aimed at the humanities -- is VERY slow getting out and can be rather outdated. A personal story might be appropriate. Almost two years ago I reviewed a very good package aimed at humanities applications. I submitted the review and before it appeared a radically revised version was released. The nice guy that I am, I rewrote the review and sent in an essentially new piece. Again, before the review could appear, the company was sold, the name was changed and the product updated yet again. I have updated the review, it has not yet appeared and I have found that, yes, a "new improved" version has been released. Since most of the journals aimed at humanities processing are quarterly academic journals, they tend to have slow turn around times. This is fine for book reviews and articles, which do not change as rapidly as computer related products. In another review that I wrote, the developer phoned me several times while I was writing the review, and released updates in response to the criticisms I raised about the product! Willard's proposal to circulate software reviews to the members of HUMANIST would certainly permit limited distribution of the text while it is current. There is no reason, in my opinion, to assume that HUMANIST would become the realm of "right to silicon life" enthusiasts since most of the participants are active academics, not software developers, whose comments about availability and performance of programs are on the whole rarely self-serving or breach professional ethics of disclosing personal interest in a product. I am also rather shocked that the writer of this objection could eliminate non-commercial software from serious consideration. The SNOBOL and Icon projects at the University of Arizona, University of Toronto's MTAS and COGS, and numerous PD packages are examples of non-commercial software that is of high quality. Beyond packages, a number of scholars circulate specialized utilities, source code libraries, and other useful tools -- frequently free of charge (or for the cost of distribution). Few of these are EVER covered in the main computer press, but many are of particular interest to individuals involved in humanities processing. A far more serious problem that must be addressed is the issue of electronic publication. It is difficult, if not impossible, to convince journal editors and publishers to accept mss. that have appeared electronically, and even harder to have academic colleagues to accept electronic media as a serious form of publication. I should like to see HUMANIST act as a sort of electronic journal, if only to serve as a trial electronic academic publication forum. There is, in my opinion, no technical reason barring a fully electronic publication medium. Rather, it is going to take a major shift in what academics view as a substantial publication -- something that can be given whatever credit the piece deserves -- before the medium can be used. Until that time, HUMANIST cannot attract anything more than occaisonal commentary. ========================================================================= Date: 25 September 1987, 11:04:47 EDT Reply-To: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Subject: Russian texts The following query is from Harry Gaylord. Please send your replies to him directly, at the address given below. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 25 Sep 87 16:19 N From: I have been trying to assemble Russian texts for students to work with in stylistics. Does anyone have suitable machine-readable material? I can offer in exchange M. Ju. Lermontov's Geroj Nasego Vremeni which we have keyed in. Harry Gaylord GALIARD@HGRRUG5 ========================================================================= Date: 28 September 1987, 06:35:58 EDT Reply-To: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Subject: Both an exchange of ideas and a review of software Most recently two HUMANISTs argued about the appearance of software reviews and notices here. One was cautious about it, fearing an invasion of the marketplace; the other was much more positive. It is good to see that our philosophical "flaming" is appreciated. (Do I understand that word correctly? I mean "ardent discussion.") The plan to introduce reviews and notices on HUMANIST should not threaten the exchange of ideas, however. What's likely is that reviews and descriptions of software will be radically summarized for automatic distribution on HUMANIST, but that the full versions will be kept centrally and made available to individuals on request. If the summaries were to become burdensome, they could be moved to a central file, available only on request, but this seems unlikely. The Humanities Computing Yearbook, which I'm involved with, should make some of the posting of notices unnecessary, but HUMANIST will remain a timely place for new developments to be announced. If that's what you want. Comments? Willard McCarty Centre for Computing in the Humanities University of Toronto (416) 978-4238 ========================================================================= Date: 28 September 1987, 11:02:00 EDT Reply-To: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Subject: Flaming defined Peter Roosen-Runge, a HUMANIST at nearby York University, has sent me the following learned exposition of the verb "to flame" and its related noun. Be it known that when I attributed flaming to fellow HUMANISTs I did so in utter ignorance of the history of the word -- a grievous scholarly fault for which I apologize. Willard McCarty Centre for Computing in the Humanities University of Toronto (416) 978-4238 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From the Hacker's Dictionary (citing terms which came into use in the mid-70s or earlier) "FLAME v. To speak incessantly and/or rabidly on some relatively uninteresting subject or with a patently ridiculous attitude. FLAME ON: v. To continue to flame. See RAVE." But this meaning is now somewhat antiquated; "flame" began to be used as a term of self-derogation to protect oneself against the accusation of flaming. In the middle of an E-mail discussion, one might write FLAME ON FLAME OFF and continue in a less offensive manner. (Note the shift in meaning of the ON here to make possible the "FLAME OFF".) Another common use today is "No flames, please", i. e. don't bother to send criticisms, especially vehement ones. FLAME is rarely today used in its original sense to criticize someone else's utterances; instead, it is used to characterize the tone of an utterance, typically by its author, and as you suggested conveys a sense of warmth or vehemence. But a necessary ingredient now is that the FLAME *itself* be critical, indeed highly, irresponsibly, and even offensively critical. As Usenet developed, flames of this sort became very common and contributed so much "noise" to the discussions that they were confined to a group all their own, now known as talk.flame, I believe. I haven't read it for a while, but its existence is a great tribute to the net's dislike of censorship. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 28 Sep 87 12:37:43 MDT Reply-To: Chuck Bush Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Chuck Bush Subject: More on FLAMEs As the BITNET "Postmaster" for our installation, I see lots of notes from other Postmasters complaining about BITNET and MAILER problems. Lately some have been trying to express the degree (pun intended) of their flames. I noticed one today that expressed it as "moderately high flames--microwave level 80%." Interesting, the versitility of this language we speak. Chuck Bush BYU Humanities Research Center ========================================================================= Date: 28-SEP-1987 20:44:54 GMT Reply-To: A_BODDINGTON@VAX.ACS.OPEN.AC.UK Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: A_BODDINGTON@VAX.ACS.OPEN.AC.UK Subject: Flames ..... Taken (more or less verbatim) from NOTABLE COMPUTER NETWORKS, *Comm of the ACM*, 29, 10 1986, p 932-971 p 967 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- One of the most obvious effects of networks is their tendency to induce users to "flame", that is, to produce many words on an uninteresting topic or in an abusive or ridiculous manner; "raving" is almost a synonym for flaming. The usual explanation for why computer networks tend to aggrevate flaming is that the flamer is isolated from the readers and has no negative feedback to inhibit such behaviour. There are typographic conventions that have developed on the various networks to get around the difficulties of expressing nuances in ASCII characters. One of the more universal is that UPPERCASE means SHOUTING (much to the chagrin of those with micros that only have uppercase). Some *surround phrases with asterisks* to indicate emphasis, while others s p a c e the characters out. People will mark or . Facial expressions often get spelled out <*grin*>. There are many ways to indicate the start of a flame, such as *FLAME ON!*. A shorter way to indicate the lack of serious intent is :-) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (hint : try looking at :-) sidewards) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here at the Open University, we are expending much effort in developing computer conferencing and electronic mail. Besides the conventions mentioned above people seem to emphasise /this way/ while the asterisks seem be used for *formal italics* (titles etc.). Two more facial expression's are common Sadness :-{ Suprise 8-0 We also seem to have a coherent use of Flame. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< FLAME ON >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Its primary use is to SHOUT opinions across in the general morass of conversation (or as one brilliant proponent from Finland recently argued, /mediocrity/). FLAMES are arguably one of the most stimulating environments in the E-conference theatre. They focus the MIND and cut the /drivel/. <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< FLAME OFF >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Some of the OU's staff build up to /flames/ for days (hence mine is weak, its a two minute demonstration, not a heart-rending experience). /Flames/ seem to have got out of control on some communications networks and have been relegated to vehicles for /fun/. Our users seem to prefer them to express deep emotion via the ASCII character set. Andy Boddington Open University Milton Keynes England ========================================================================= Date: 28 September 1987, 16:06:41 EDT Reply-To: CSHUNTER@UOGUELPH Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: CSHUNTER@UOGUELPH Subject: Change of User Name Hello; Effective immediately my USERNAME for Netnorth/Bitnet/Earn is changed from ENGHUNT@UOGUELPH to CSHUNTER@UOGUELPH Please make the necessary changes in your files and notes. Dr. C. Stuart Hunter, Department of English, University of Guelph, GUELPH, Ontario, Canada, N1G 2W1, 519-824-4120, ext. 3251. CSHUNTER@UOGUELPH ========================================================================= Date: 28 September 1987, 20:40:08 EDT Reply-To: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Subject: Redistribution of HUMANIST The following question was sent to me by Andy Boddington of the Open University (UK): ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 28-SEP-1987 20:18:55 GMT From: A_BODDINGTON@VAX.ACS.OPEN.AC.UK To: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Subject: Humanist etc. I still continue to enjoy the contributions flowing in over the Ether. Here we run a conferencing system called CoSy (it comes from your corner of the world). I would quite like to post extracts from parts of HUMANIST into some of the CoSy conferences as they would be valid and useful contributions to the debate(s). Now what are the implications of this? Is HUMANIST discussion only appropriately discussed within HUMANIST or can extracts be displayed elsewhere. Naturally such contributions would be acknowledged. But would this offend your contributors, would it indeed amount to piracy? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the third or fourth such request, and my answer to Andy is the same as to the rest: that he is welcome to redistribute conversations on HUMANIST as he sees fit, but that anyone who wants to participate must join directly and thus be known to us all. In places where the cost of international electronic transmission is very high (e.g., New Zealand), direct membership by a number of people is not feasible, so we allow indirect membership provided that each of the active members sends a biography and that the person in charge of redistribution takes the responsibility for wicked flaming. I have two purposes for telling you all this: to get your reactions, if any, and to invite you to do the same if you chance to run a local bulletin board or redistribution list. Willard McCarty Centre for Computing in the Humanities University of Toronto (416) 978-4238 ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 29 Sep 87 19:08:59 BST Reply-To: CMI011@IBM.SOUTHAMPTON.AC.UK Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: CMI011@IBM.SOUTHAMPTON.AC.UK Re: Flaming (and I apologize for a cretinous mailer thay has no subject field) I am surprised that no-one pointed out the derivation of FLAME ON and FLAME OFF; the Hackers Dictionary someone quoted is seriously misleading in claiming that FLAME ON means 'carry on flaming'. As any fule kno, the idea of a FLAME comes from Johnny Storm, part of the Fantastic Four (Marvel Comics), who could become a being of fire (and incidentally fly) at will. In the way that comic book heroes have, he appeared to find it necessary to say 'FLAME ON' to set the reaction going, and 'FLAME OFF' at the end when he sank to the ground to be a moody and spotty teenager again. Similarly, Judge Dredd says aloud 'Armour Piercing!' when he switches his Lawgiver gun to that setting to bring down a fleeing juve's car. A curious bit of popular Kultur, isnt it. Its typical of computer types (ie usenet gurus) to get their whole culture from junk comics, but then to forget its origin, and make up a pompous explanation. One is reminded of the claims people made that they knew what KERMIT stood for, when it was just the name of a certain frog. I found Andy Boddington's note about visual stress fascinating; I think it is a genuinely interesting problem, forced on us by the ASCII-Devil. If, of course, we agreed on an SGML-conformant markup for our messages, we could each have interpreters to display HUMANIST messages in a readable way. I think it would be sad if HUMANIST started to adopt the symbol conventions, dont you? :-) The use of asterisks and slashes, however, is /quite/ sensible. *UNLESS* you /overdo/ it. Brave New Worlds rule ok - lets NOT become like usenet.... sebastian rahtz. computer science, southampton, uk ========================================================================= Date: 29 September 1987, 16:43:55 EDT Reply-To: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: MCCARTY@UTOREPAS Subject: A concert of noise? Greg Waite, who kindly manages the redistribution for HUMANIST in New Zealand, has sent me the following: -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A local reader of HUMANIST has asked me to pass on his observations about the subject matter of HUMANIST messages. He says: I note that there was some discussion about what sort of thing HUMANIST should be used for. May I, through you, suggest less chatter, and more solid discussion of Humanities-based topics, less about the computer, which is only a tool, and more about what we are using it for - teaching, research, etc. I ADORE computers and computing, but not for their own sake, only because of the way in which they can help me do other things. The people to whom I am trying to sell the HUMANIST idea do not adore computers, and the sort of exchanges which seem to be most frequent in HUMANIST do nothing to persuade them that they want to join in. I agree with these sentiments, but I concede that one of the factors which makes e-mail worthwhile is the rapidity with which information can be exchanged. This rapidity can only be maintained if there is no "editor" (the human kind), who is required to read and select material, thereby creating a delaying bottleneck. However, I believe users must exercise a certain editorial control over their contributions. While "chatter" is perhaps a relatively minor matter for many users in North America, merely clogging one's disk and taking a few seconds to skim and delete, in this part of the world mail-users bear all charges directly (and, unfortunately, we pay to receive as well as send trans-Pacific mail). It would be extremely helpful to us if chatter were kept to a minimum, and even highly important messages kept as concise as possible. This would surely benefit ALL users who store such mail and have limited disk space. Our point of view is a minority one, but perhaps you could put it out as a suggestion for consideration in any case. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [W.M. again] Here is a problem. Since most of us never think of cost when we use HUMANIST, we can allow ourselves the liberty of sporting with each other to relieve the rarely relieved seriousness of things. We can play with language (which Milton would argue is how prelapsarian language was used). We can risk saying something, at length, that might or might not prove valuable to someone else. Our New Zealand friends have a very real point, however. I guess it's a matter of perspective. Are other HUMANISTs affected by costs of transmission, even indirectly? Do those who are not have the impression of a significant amount of worthless chatter? I agree with Greg that self-control is the only kind worth having, but do you think that some of us need a bit more of it? Willard McCarty Centre for Computing in the Humanities University of Toronto (416) 978-4238 ========================================================================= Date: 29 September 1987, 21:22:27 EDT Reply-To: Norman Zacour 923 9483 Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Norman Zacour 923 9483 Subject: Visual Stress What I find somewhat surprising in the chatter about "visual stress" (Boddington-Rahtz) is the fact that humanists, of all people, have to "get around the difficulties of expressing nuances in ASCII". And here I thought that the relative force of one's written ideas depended on the richness of language, not little signs to tell the reader - hey, look, I just said something subtle, or important, or worth reading, or... ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 29 Sep 87 22:16 EDT Reply-To: GUEST4@YUSOL Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: GUEST4@YUSOL Subject: Audio-Visual Stress Even a Toronto humanist can apparently see the words but miss the message. Of all people, allow a mere musician to demur. Isn't it time that hard-shell text-happy Humanities types faced up to the real danger they are courting by even a casual involvement with this new medium? It is not only costly (particularly if one chooses to live halfway round the world), but also hopelessly corrupt and corrupting, fooling one, by its very speed and immediacy, into thinking that one is no longer straightjacketed by mere print, but free to actually chatter away and draw pictures in the sand and even sing, not just chisel colums of cold, unadorned prose into tablets of lead or stone. Old Gutenberg's galaxy is larger and messier now, I fear, than some who identify humanistic study too closely with the uniformly printed page might feel comfortable to allow. I would urge all such, after making a quick detour to peruse the Book of Kells or the handiwork of the Benediktbeuern scriptorium (now those were TEXTS!!), to rush out and buy their first Macintosh. Life in the Ivory Tower (and notions of what constitutes worthwhile software for the humanities) may never be the same again. Hypertextually yours, S. Beckwith, York University ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 30 Sep 87 11:48:57 +0200 Reply-To: "Prof. Choueka Yaacov" Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: "Prof. Choueka Yaacov" Subject: Address and e-mail Please note my new address and e-mail: Yaacov Choueka Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel, 52100 choueka@bimacs.bitnet ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 30 Sep 87 13:24:16 EDT Reply-To: Steve Younker Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: Steve Younker Subject: Humanist Chatter and New Zealand Expenses ======================================================================== I happened to catch some of the conversation about 'chatter', 'off topic discussions', and costs of e-mail to subscribers in New Zealand. As Postmaster of a NetNorth site and ultimate controller of various 'goings on' within the LISTSERV groups at the University of Toronto, I feel that a little background to NetNorth, EARN, Bitnet, and LISTSERV may be of interest to the HUMANIST group. Basically the academic networks NetNorth, EARN, and Bitnet were formed to encourage a free exchange of academic and research information in a very fast and very cheap manner. One must admit that the speed of these networks surely beats the heck out of snail mail (Canada Post) and even, with respect, the efficient British Post Office (well, it's more efficient than anything on this side of the pond). How the costs of these networks are distributed varies with the network. Certainly, in Canada, one is not charged for incoming and outgoing e-mail. My British, European, and American colleagues can correct me, but I'd say that in general, this situation prevails across the networks. Thus, we in North America, the UK, and Europe are fortunate to have a reasonably cheap medium for academic exchange. It is indeed an unfortunate situation that those of you in New Zealand are being charged a greater amount to take advantage of HUMANIST on a different network. Maybe in the future, communication costs will drop in New Zealand. All I can say is that there are different ways of charging for e-mail and we are the lucky ones. I don't mean that last statement to sound mercenary, but the manner in which the system is used will in some way be driven by dollars, pounds, lira, etc. Can the costs be controlled by controlling chatter? Well, LISTSERVs are set up to encourage disscussion on a broad basis among many people. Willard is your editor and guiding light in this matter. As editor he has decided, after consultation with the initial subscribers, to let all participants submit material without editorial review. So, what this means is simply your group is self-regulating. How broad your discussions become and how much innovation occurs is up to you. I believe the expression, "free-wheeling" is appropriate here. If one or more people feel that submissions to the group are becoming a little fuzzy or irrelevant, all that has to be done is to send a gentle and Willard has told me that in his opinion, the group has found its intended purpose rather than strayed from it. In that, you are to be congratulated, for other LISTSERV groups have been known to turn into real zoos. So, if our friends down under are charged by the line, I guess I can encourage you to be succinct in your submissions. On the other hand, if they are charged by the number of 'pieces of mail' received, then such a suggestion is unnecessary. Maybe our New Zealand friends can tell us how they are charged and suggest some ways of making it cheaper for them. Is each individual charged for each piece of mail arriving in New Zealand? If you send or receive mail to one another in New Zealand, are you charged for each piece and is it cheaper than to send and receive mail from overseas? If there is a problem here, I don't think it is going to go away, because HUMANIST is growing all the time and therefore the number of potential submissions and hence traffic is also going to increase. HUMANIST started with a relatively small number of participants. At the moment, it well over 100 subscribers and growing weekly. I hope that this letter has been at least informative and that after seeing your latest discussions on FLAMES, I don't get roasted from the four corners of the earth, especially from the boiling mud of Rotorua. :-) I think that the HUMANIST discussion group is the greatest thing since sliced bread as it is exploring a new medium for your field. It certainly seems to have great potential. Enjoy it folks. If there is anything I can do to make it better or CHEAPER, please get in touch with me. Steve Younker, Postmaster - University of Toronto ================================================= ========================================================================= Date: Wednesday, 30 September 1987 1542-EST Reply-To: JACKA@PENNDRLS Sender: HUMANIST Discussion From: JACKA@PENNDRLS The staff of the Center for Computer Analysis of Texts at the University of Pennsylvania is pleased to announce the availability of downloadable fonts for the HPLaserjet + and Series II. Raw fonts for Armenian, Coptic, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew and international phonetics, Font editor and Download program can be purchased from the Center for $100 (individual license) and $200 (university license). To receive a brochure and order form, send me (John R. Abercrombie) a request. Include your name and surface mailing address. Thank you.