[1] From: "Eric S. Rabkin" <esrabkin@umich.edu> (29)
Subject: Webifying Humanist
[2] From: brians@wsu.edu (14)
Subject: Humanities Web links
[3] From: "John M. Unsworth" <jmu2m@virginia.edu> (34)
Subject: Re: 9.485 the Web and Humanist
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 96 11:17:11 EST
From: "Eric S. Rabkin" <esrabkin@umich.edu>
Subject: Webifying Humanist
Dear Willard and gang,
It seems to me that Web pages and e-lists are radically different genres and
normally have radically different uses. It would be fine if useful Humanist
web pages attracted some non-members to join the e-list, but I think it
would be a shame if members like me, who usually only lurk on Humanist,
decided that consulting the Web site occasionally could substitute for
overhearing the conversation and effectively ceased to be members. So I
suggest that the Web site ought to have as little functional overlap with
the e-list as possible. Having said that, I'd still have no objection to
webifying Humanist's archive not because I endorse having the archive
accessible to non-members but because a handy gui could be such an
improvement over the current search procedures. I also positively endorse
the idea of having a Humanist Web page that might point to the sorts of
rationalized resources that Andrew Burday maintains for philosophy-related
material. I'm involved in a similar site for fantasy and science fiction
materials, http://www.umich.edu/~umfandsf/, and would be happy to have a
Humanist webmaster consider linking the Humanist page to it. Links to
resources on subjects of interest in Humanist discussions might be helpful.
But, of course, there are already well maintained subject-oriented guides to
the Internet (e.g., http://www.lib.umich.edu/chhome.html), so anyone
contemplating being the webmaster ought to consider the marginal utility to
the Humanist community of the effort s/he would need to contribute. I'd be
happy to have someone do it, but I'd certainly counsel an untenured
colleague not to volunteer.
Best,
Eric
Eric S. Rabkin esrabkin@umich.edu
Dept of English 313-764-2553: Office
Univ of Michigan 313-764-6330: Dept
Ann Arbor MI 48109-1045 313-763-3128: Dept'l Fax
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 11:28:36 -0500
From: brians@wsu.edu
Subject: Humanities Web links
For whatever it's worth, I created a page of links for our English
Department's introduction to graduate studies course which others may find
helpful:
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/english-websites.html
My "favorite sites" page also emphasizes serious resources in the arts and
humanities:
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/favorite_sites.html
Paul Brians, Department of English,Washington State University
Pullman, WA 99164-5020
brians@wsu.edu
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians
--[3]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 24 Jan 1996 13:56:54 -0500 (EST)
From: "John M. Unsworth" <jmu2m@virginia.edu>
Subject: Re: 9.485 the Web and Humanist
Willard,
In my view, the issue here is whether one should be able to peruse an
archive of the back issues of Humanist (its past postings) and if so,
how. Most list processing software will allow you to archive the
postings of the list, and will allow readers to request those logs or
archives by mail. I haven't checked lately, but I don't think Humanist
does this at present. Once upon a time, there was a facility at Syracuse
(?) that allowed one to browse and search Humanist archives (boy, it's
been a long time: I think it was a telnet connection, login as some
special user, and then you were presented with a menu of choices that
included browse, search, etc.). Hypermail would make it easy to provide
that kind of browsing access (by subject line, thread, author, date--at
the browser's discretion) and would entail replacing or in any way
changing the underlying listproc/email functioning of Humanist. Everyone
would continue to receive Humanist mail, and to interact with Humanist,
just as now happens: in addition, though, one would be able to browse a
hypertextual, web-based archive of Humanist postings.
The other question, of a search for a Humanist web-master, is entirely
separate. In my view, it would be a relatively simple matter for the
Humanist web page to provide pointers to some of the highest-level, most
comprehensive humanities web resources, and to leave the detail work of
updating those resources to the people, like Alan Liu, who so ably
perform that task already. I have some suggestions for a short list:
The Voice of the Shuttle
Chorus
The HUMBUL Gateway
The (Kovacs et al.) Directory of Scholarly Electronic Conferences
The WWW Virtual Library of Humanities Web Servers
IATH Related Readings
The CMU Online Books Page
If you want me to create and maintain *that* sort of page, I'd be glad
to.
John Unsworth
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.village.virginia.edu/~jmu2m/ jmu2m@virginia.edu
[In answer to the above question, such a high-level meta-list was exactly
what I had in mind, with perhaps a few... what could one call them?
escape hatches? signs of the wit that cannot be classified? Nominations
are now open! --WM]