[SIGCIS-Members] Fwd: IHPST NEWSLETTER: November 28, 2014

Thu Dec 4 12:42:30 PST 2014

Thanks to Nabeel Siddiqui for the comments. The ignorance of analogue 
computing and confusion over the term is widespread, not just among 
those who are associated with digital humanities. On analogue computing 
specifically I can recommend Charles Care's Technology for Modelling 
(Springer 2010), his chapter in Chris Bissell and Chris Dillon, eds. 
Ways of Thinking, Ways of Seeing (
Springer 2012), and James Small's The 
Analogue Alternative (Routledge 2001). Vannevar Bush's papers from the 
1930s are valuable, also his autobiography, Pieces of the Action.

To my mind the best way to think about digital humanities is to locate 
its intellectual and practical core in the intersection of computing and 
the humanities, or more radically, at the crash-site where they collide 
with each other. Its essential to avoid thinking of the relation which 
constitutes the field as one way, not just computing/CS impacting the 
humanities, leading to all manner of fascinating outcomes, nor just the 
humanities specifying applications to be written, leading to useful 
tools, but both simultaneously. The conditions under which computer 
science came to be and has grown are very different, but the two fields 
share some of the same problems.

Historically digital humanities grew out of technologically adept people 
in a position of service working for a small minority of interested 
scholars, leading to service centres of various kinds, most of which no 
longer exist because they did not have a purchase on the core mandate of 
their institutions. Academic departments and academic appointments are a 
very recent phenomenon, though the number of these are growing.

I suggest that anyone interested in matters of this sort subscribe to 
Humanist, dhhumanist.org, which has been going since 1987.

Yours,
WM

On 04/12/2014 17:48, Nabeel Siddiqui wrote:
> I think the question of the digital humanities as a discipline is
> critical here, and agree the question of "what is the science" in
> "computer science" needs to be asked.
>
>
>   I have recently started identifying more often as a cultural historian
> of new media/computers.  Previously, I identified with the digital
> humanities more, and I still identify with it it some degree.
>
>
> As I'v understood it, I think the digital humanities more or less
> consists of three groups.  One, individuals interested in a humanities
> oriented approach to the "digital," such as questions of access, race,
> gender, etc.  Two, individuals interested in using computational
> techniques in humanities research.  Three, individuals interested in
> digital media studies more broadly.
>
>
> While not all of them are related to the philosophy of computing or
> history of computing.  I think there is great overlap. The only problem
> are the role of analog computers.  I haven't seen much work in the
> digital humanities on them, but I would be curious as to what the
> history of computing can do in regards to breaking down the "digital"
> qualifier.  Perhaps the old term humanities computing would be better still.
>
>
> On Tue, Dec 2, 2014 at 8:50 PM, Paul Fishwick <metaphorz at gmail.com
> <mailto:metaphorz at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>     On Dec 2, 2014, at 7:43 PM, Fishwick, Paul <pxf130430 at utdallas.edu
>     <mailto:pxf130430 at utdallas.edu>> wrote:
>
>>
>>     On Dec 2, 2014, at 5:09 AM, Willard McCarty
>>     <willard.mccarty at mccarty.org.uk
>>     <mailto:willard.mccarty at mccarty.org.uk>> wrote:
>>
>>>     Dear all (from the sidelines),
>>>
>>>     I agree that the history and philosophy of computing belong in
>>>     close proximity to each other, that both are rich and important
>>>     fields -- and I'd like to see the usually far too utilitarian
>>>     digital humanities (at the intersection of computing and the
>>>     humanities) brought into the discussion. It's the intersecting
>>>     that makes it valuable here. I particularly like Mike Mahoney's
>>>     comment that the question "is computer science a science" is
>>>     actually two questions: "what happens to computing if you call it
>>>     a science?" and "what do you mean by 'science' if computing is one?”
>>
>>     This is one response to these two questions:
>>
>>     http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2601381.2601391
>>
>>     -p
>>
>>
>>>
>>>     Yours,
>>>     WM
>>>
>>
>>
>>     Paul Fishwick, PhD
>>     Chair, ACM SIGSIM
>>     Distinguished University Chair of Arts & Technology
>>        and Professor of Computer Science
>>     Director, Creative Automata Laboratory
>>     The University of Texas at Dallas
>>     Arts & Technology
>>     800 West Campbell Road, AT10
>>     Richardson, TX 75080-3021
>>     Home: utdallas.edu/atec/fishwick <http://utdallas.edu/atec/fishwick>
>>     Blog: creative-automata.com <http://creative-automata.com/>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>     Paul Fishwick, PhD
>     Chair, ACM SIGSIM
>     Distinguished University Chair of Arts & Technology
>         and Professor of Computer Science
>     Director, Creative Automata Laboratory
>     The University of Texas at Dallas
>     Arts & Technology
>     800 West Campbell Road, AT10
>     Richardson, TX 75080-3021
>     Home: utdallas.edu/atec/fishwick <http://utdallas.edu/atec/fishwick>
>     Blog: creative-automata.com <http://creative-automata.com>
>
>
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-- 
Willard McCarty (www.mccarty.org.uk/), Professor, Department of Digital
Humanities, King's College London, and Digital Humanities Research
Group, University of Western Sydney