humanities computing centres and courses, cont. (83)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@VM.EPAS.UTORONTO.CA)
Fri, 14 Apr 89 22:47:08 EDT
Humanist Mailing List, Vol. 2, No. 840. Friday, 14 Apr 1989.
(1) Date: Fri, 14 Apr 89 09:43:00 EDT (39 lines)
From: N.J.Morgan@vme.glasgow.ac.uk
Subject: Re: humanities computing centres, cont. (32)
(2) Date: Fri, 14 Apr 89 09:53:28 CDT (24 lines)
From: Donald J. Mabry <DJMABRY@MSSTATE>
Subject: Humanities computing
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 89 09:43:00 EDT
From: N.J.Morgan@vme.glasgow.ac.uk
Subject: Re: humanities computing centres, cont. (32)
At Glasgow we teach students history, using the computer as one
of a number of tools. We don't (normally) teach programming, and although
most of our students probably know that Basic is a language, they still
all think that C is something they c by the cside.
We use computers because it allows our students to use materials that
they could otherwise never hope to make sense of; they can think
in more detail about the nature and structure of sources containing
information about the past, and from this cogitation obtain a better
understanding of arguments about, and interpretations of, the past
that historians have produced using the same or different materials.
So, as will be clear to any historians reading this, we are teaching
our students nothing new. We are simply adjusting our methods
of teaching in order to take advanatge of the potential of
technological change. And so our end product is no different; a
historian trained to deal with large ammounts of information,
to analyse problems, and suggest answers based on the information
available. What is different is that this historian will have the
skills to hold her or his own in a contemporary working environment;
as a consequence the discipline we teach (and research !!!) in
universities will not be deemed to be irrelevant because we
produce graduates ill-equiped to meet the needs of the modern
world.
Does this help in the debate on humanities computing centres ?
Nicholas Morgan
Scottish History
University of Glasgow
Janet N.J.Morgan@Glasgow.vme
Bitnet N.J.Morgan@vme.Glasgow.ac.uk
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------31----
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 89 09:53:28 CDT
From: Donald J. Mabry <DJMABRY@MSSTATE>
Subject: Humanities computing
Regarding humanities computing programs.
The University of Glasgow has a fine master's program in History and
Computers. For information, write:
E.Mawdsley@vme.Glasgow.ac.uk <Evan Mawdsley>
L.M.Richmond@vme.Glasgow.ac.uk <Lesley Richmond>
N.J.Morgan@vme.glasgow.ac.uk <Nicholas Morgan>
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!Donald J. Mabry !DJMABRY@MSSTATE !
!Professor ! !
!History Department !P.O. Box 1096 !
!Mississippi State University !Mississippi State, MS 39762 !
!Mississippi State, MS 39762 !Tel: (601) 325-7084 !
! ! !
! Senior Fellow, CISS ! !
!Miss State Univ. !Home Phone: (601) 323-6852 !
!Research Interests: Latin American narcotics diplomacy; !
!20th Century Mexico; origins of rock'n'roll !