7.0464 US Initiative on Arts and Humanities Computing (1/103)
Elaine Brennan (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 10 Feb 1994 18:44:35 EST
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 7, No. 0464. Thursday, 10 Feb 1994.
Date: 04 Feb 1994 15:47:22 -0400 (EDT)
From: cni-announce@cni.org (by way of chhenry@vaxsar.vassar.edu)
Subject: National Initiative on Arts and Humanities Computing
The following may be of interest to HUMANIST subscribers
Charles Henry
Executive Committee
National Initiative for Humanities and Arts Computing
__________
> NATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR HUMANITIES AND ARTS COMPUTING MOVES
> FORWARD
>
> At a critical meeting on January 17, the ad hoc steering
> committee of the National Initiative on Humanities and Arts
> Computing met to plan the next steps in gaining a voice for the
> humanities and arts in the development of the National
> Information Infrastructure, the much-publicized plan for a
> national telecommunications system. The group agreed on a number
> of action items. The Getty Art History Information Program, the
> Coalition for Networked Information, and the American Council of
> Learned Societies -- the sponsors of the National Initiative --
> will convene two working groups to develop a profile of
> humanities and arts computing in the United States. In the
> coming three months, these working groups will gather a
> nationwide array of experts in scholarly, instructional, and
> creative computing in order to draw a picture of the breadth and
> vitality of technology in the humanities and arts.
>
> The Working Group on Technical Requirements will define the
> particular challenges that these fields pose for technology. The
> Working Group on Electronic Resources will survey the range and
> variety of computer-based information and tools, available and in
> development for transmission on the electronic superhighways.
> The findings of these working groups will be presented in June to
> a National Task Force, comprised of major organizations and
> institutions involved in humanities and arts computing in
> America.
>
> The goal of this process is to reinstate the values and basis for
> community that the humanities and arts bring to the dialogue
> shaping public policy. The sponsors recognize that this goal
> requires gaining the recognition and support of the Clinton-Gore
> administration if the special needs of this vital community are
> to be met. Only a coordinated National Initiative can secure a
> future for the American people's cultural heritage in the digital
> environment, and guarantee the network as a medium of creativity
> and learning.
>
> The Getty Art History Information Program will provide the seed
> money for these initial steps, with the expectation that other
> interested organizations will demonstrate their commitment to the
> National Initiative through significant contributions, according
> to their means.
>
> ***
>
> At a meeting of the Coalition for Networked Information on
> November 19, 1993, this National Initiative was launched by a
> group of twenty-five concerned leaders in the movement to
> automate humanities and arts information. At that time the group
> produced the following statement of purpose:
>
> The absence of the humanities and arts in the development of a
> national information infrastructure ignores the value of the
> American people's cultural heritage, and the network as a medium
> of creativity and learning, in the crucial formation of
> technology policy.
>
> The members of the Task Force on a National Initiative for
> Humanities and Arts Computing endorse the principle that
> humanities and arts voices are critical -- indeed equal to the
> recognized interests of the sciences -- in the balanced
> development of the nation's technological infrastructure.
>
> Reinstating the humanities and arts in the dialogue shaping this
> public policy is of utmost urgency. We call for the
> reintroduction of the humanities and arts in the formation of
> such policy.
>
> Goals agreed upon by the Task Force:
>
> 1. Define a rubric that articulates the value of humanities and
> arts computing for a democratic society.
>
> 2. Build a profile of humanities and arts computing using data
> that identifies the breadth and vitality, as well as the needs,
> of technology in these fields.
>
> 3. Form alliances with identified stakeholders in order to
> engage programmatically in national policy development and
> planning.
>
> ***
>
> For further information about the National Initiative, contact
> Dr. Charles Henry, Director of Libraries, Vassar College,
> Poughkeepsie, NY 12601 (chhenry@vassar.edu) or Dr. Susan
> Siegfried, Getty Art History Information Program, 401 Wilshire
> Boulevard, Suite 1100, Santa Monica, CA 90401
> (ssiegfried@getty.edu).
>
>