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@gmail.com> wrote:

On Dec 2, 2014, at 7:43 PM, Fishwick, Paul <pxf130430@utdallas.edu> wrote:


On Dec 2, 2014, at 5:09 AM, Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@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:


-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









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


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