3.827 supporting some European humanists (61)
Willard McCarty (MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca)
Tue, 5 Dec 89 19:57:32 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 827. Tuesday, 5 Dec 1989.
DATE: 05 DEC 89 17:39 CET
FROM: A400101@DM0LRZ01
SUBJECT: Humanities computing support - # 779 793 etc.
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
Postfach 34 02 23
D-8000 Muenchen 34
Dr. Timothy Reuter
Tel. (089)-21 98 381 bzw. 391 (Nachrichten 385)
Willard McCarty asks about the European situation. There isn't a single
one (any more than for North America); I write only from my experience,
that of a Brit historian currently in permanent employment as historian and
de facto computer specialist at a German research institute.
Here the critical difference is between those who are on fixed-term
contract and those whose contract is limited only by retiring age.
I'm employed until retiring age and if anyone says "Boy!" to me I can tell
them to ...; much harder if you're going to need good references or a
decision on re-employment in a couple of years time. Most people here in
the research institutes (though not in universities) have retiring-age
contracts, including computer support staff (though these, like me, are
mostly historians, linguists or whatever who were originally employed as
such and then made themselves computerate, rather than DP specialists).
It's a different matter with grant-funded projects, which are mostly
situated in the universities and of which I can say little. So we do have
"tenure", as well as respect, I suppose, though not much in the way of
further career opportunities except in the roles we were signed on as
(historians, linguists or whatever). BUT, I don't think it's any good
looking to us for a model, because concepts of employment, security, how
employers treat employees (and those higher up in the hierarchy treat those
lower down) are *very* culturally dependent. You couldn't even transfer the
German notions easily to England (or vice versa), let alone North America.
What is difficult with this kind of set up is simply keeping up. MFFGKGN
from Manchester says you need a fairly comprehensive knowledge of all
software and O/S used on site. OK - but (if it's part of your job) how do
you decide what should be there? How do you evaluate, for a humanities
usership, the relative merits of WORD X and WORD Y for academic word-
processing? I could use each in my own academic work for two or three
months to see what the advantages/drawbacks are, but I have to write papers
and reviews, not just practise WP. In practice I recommend what I know and
what I know works, rather than what might be the best available. And that
goes for everything else as well. Software reviews (hardware isn't so
problematic in this respect) rarely give you the whole feel that you get
from extensive use of a program. In particular it's difficult to sort out
all the hype and decide what it would be cost effective to look at more
closely; and I reckon the problem is getting worse the cheaper powerful
computing gets, so that sooner or later I'll have to decide whether to be a
humanities computing specialist or a historian, 'cos you can't any longer
be both. Which is a pity, because I find it helps me, and I think helps
others whom I advise, for me to be my own interface between the humanities
person and the computing person.
D-8000 Muenchen 34
Dr. Timothy Reuter
Tel. (089)-21 98 381 bzw. 391 (Nachrichten 385)
Willard McCarty asks about the European situation. There isn't a single
one (any more than for North America); I write only from my experience,
that of a Brit historian currently in permanent employment as historian and
de facto computer specialist at a German research institute.
Here the critical difference is between those who are on fixed-term
contract and those whose contract is limited only by retiring age.
I'm employed until retiring age and if anyone says "Boy!" to me I can tell
them to ...; much harder if you're going to need good references or a
decision on re-employment in a couple of years time. Most people here in
the research institutes (though not in universities) have retiring-age
contracts, including computer support staff (though these, like me, are
mostly historians, linguists or whatever who were originally employed as
such and then made themselves computerate, rather than DP specialists).
It's a different matter with grant-funded projects, which are mostly
situated in the universities and of which I can say little. So we do have
"tenure", as well as respect, I suppose, though not much in the way of
further career opportunities except in the roles we were signed on as
(historians, linguists or whatever). BUT, I don't think it's any good
looking to us for a model, because concepts of employment, security, how
employers treat employees (and those higher up in the hierarchy treat those
lower down) are *very* culturally dependent. You couldn't even transfer the
German notions easily to England (or vice versa), let alone North America.
What is difficult with this kind of set up is simply keeping up. MFFGKGN
from Manchester says you need a fairly comprehensive knowledge of all
software and O/S used on site. OK - but (if it's part of your job) how do
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Date: Tue, 05 Dec 89 19:57:32 EST
From: Willard McCarty <MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca>
Subject: 3.827 supporting some European humanists (61)
To: Humanist Discussion Group <Humanist@utoronto>
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 827. Tuesday, 5 Dec 1989.
DATE: 05 DEC 89 17:39 CET
FROM: A400101@DM0LRZ01
SUBJECT: Humanities computing support - # 779 793 etc.
Monumenta Germaniae Historica
Postfach 34 02 23
D-8000 Muenchen 34
Dr. Timothy Reuter
Tel. (089)-21 98 381 bzw. 391 (Nachrichten 385)
Willard McCarty asks about the European situation. There isn't a single
one (any more than for North America); I write only from my experience,
that of a Brit historian currently in permanent employment as historian and
de facto computer specialist at a German research institute.
Here the critical difference is between those who are on fixed-term
contract and those whose contract is limited only by retiring age.
I'm employed until retiring age and if anyone says "Boy!" to me I can tell
them to ...; much harder if you're going to need good references or a
decision on re-employment in a couple of years time. Most people here in
the research institutes (though not in universities) have retiring-age
contracts, including computer support staff (though these, like me, are
mostly historians, linguists or whatever who were originally employed as
such and then made themselves computerate, rather than DP specialists).
It's a different matter with grant-funded projects, which are mostly
situated in the universities and of which I can say little. So we do have
"tenure", as well as respect, I suppose, though not much in the way of
further career opportunities except in the roles we were signed on as
(historians, linguists or whatever). BUT, I don't think it's any good
looking to us for a model, because concepts of employment, security, how
employers treat employees (and those higher up in the hierarchy treat those
lower down) are *very* culturally dependent. You couldn't even transfer the
German notions easily to England (or vice versa), let alone North America.
What is difficult with this kind of set up is simply keeping up. MFFGKGN
from Manchester says you need a fairly comprehensive knowledge of all
software and O/S used on site. OK - but (if it's part of your job) how do
you decide what should be there? How do you evaluate, for a humanities
usership, the relative merits of WORD X and WORD Y for academic word-
processing? I could use each in my own academic work for two or three
months to see what the advantages/drawbacks are, but I have to write papers
and reviews, not just practise WP. In practice I recommend what I know and
what I know works, rather than what might be the best available. And that
goes for everything else as well. Software reviews (hardware isn't so
problematic in this respect) rarely give you the whole feel that you get
from extensive use of a program. In particular it's difficult to sort out
all the hype and decide what it would be cost effective to look at more
closely; and I reckon the problem is getting worse the cheaper powerful
computing gets, so that sooner or later I'll have to decide whether to be a
humanities computing specialist or a historian, 'cos you can't any longer
be both. Which is a pity, because I find it helps me, and I think helps
others whom I advise, for me to be my own interface between the humanities
person and the computing person.