20.121 applying the humanities to the world

From: Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard McCarty willard.mccarty_at_kcl.ac.uk>
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2006 09:38:49 +0100

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 20, No. 121.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
  www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/humanities/cch/research/publications/humanist.html
                        www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                     Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu

         Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 12:28:49 +0100
         From: Willard McCarty <willard_at_mccarty.me.uk>
         Subject: On the Uses of the Humanities

Many here have been involved at one time or another in worrying the
intersection of the humanities, computing and the world. Humanities
computing has been promoted to students as a way of getting ahead in
life, and part of that promotion has involved the (proto)argument
that computing connects the humanities to the world at large. We've
claimed that if you learn how to tackle the hardest problems known --
those of the humanities -- empirically, you'll have a leg up on the
simpler task of applying the computer to the problems one encounters,
say, on the job. The question from students, "Why should I be
interested in that, whatever it is?", is as urgent as ever. We are in
need of genuine, straightforward arguments (as mutatis mutandis are
our colleagues in all the other disciplines of the humanities).

Some help may be found in a report by the Institute of Society,
Ethics and the Life Sciences, Hastings Center (US), On the Uses of
the Humanities: Vision and Application (1984),
http://www.thehastingscenter.org/, Publications / Books and
Monographs / Download list of books and monographs. It's not a
go-read-this-and-you'll-know book, but it should prove useful.

Yours,
WM

Dr Willard McCarty | Reader in Humanities Computing | Centre for
Computing in the Humanities | King's College London | Kay House, 7
Arundel Street | London WC2R 3DX | U.K. | +44 (0)20 7848-2784 fax:
-2980 || willard.mccarty_at_kcl.ac.uk www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/wlm/
Received on Sat Jul 29 2006 - 05:00:28 EDT

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