10.0809 examples of good work? Shelley poem?

WILLARD MCCARTY (willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk)
Tue, 25 Mar 1997 21:07:16 +0000 (GMT)

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 10, No. 809.
Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities (Princeton/Rutgers)
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
Information at http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/

[1] From: Willard McCarty <Willard.McCarty@kcl.ac.uk> (32)
Subject: ethics & other strong subjects

[2] From: David Thomson <davidt@unixg.ubc.ca> (8)
Subject: Mary Shelley's poem to her dead husband

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Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 10:57:04 GMT
From: Willard McCarty <Willard.McCarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: ethics & other strong subjects

Many Humanists will likely know of the very fine work done by Preston Covey
and colleagues at Carnegie Mellon on the teaching of applied ethics with the
aid of computers. About a year ago Routledge published David Andersen,
Robert Cavalier, and Preston K. Covey, <cite>A right to die? the Dax Cowart
case</cite> on CD-ROM (ISBN: 0-415-91753-0). Some or all of the material
existed on videodisc for years, and Covey has written about it during this
time, but the publication on CD makes the work much more easily available,
at a much lower price -- thus my own exposure to it, and this note.

The Dax Cowart CD is, to put it mildly, strong stuff, very well done indeed.
I have nothing directly to do with the teaching of ethics, but as a good
example of computer-based learning the CD interests me and provokes both my
public praise and a question. What other such examples do we have?

As I recall that Covey has argued quite eloquently, the Dax case works so
well because it brings college-age students, many of whom have never
suffered a serious moral crisis in their young lives, face to virtual face
with one. What you experience isn't quite as rough as Bergman's masterpiece
"Cries and Whispers", but it comes close. The skill in the design of the CD
comes out in how quickly the user is made to realise his or her own deep
uncertainties. Good preparation for a probing discussion of ethical choice.

I keep hearing our colleagues say that almost above all else we need good
examples of work in humanities computing. So again my question: in the Dax
mode, what else is there?

For Routledge in general, see <http://www.routledge.com/>, and for Dax in
particular <http://www.thomson.com/routledge/indepth/dax_main.html>.

WM

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Dr. Willard McCarty
Senior Lecturer, Centre for Computing in the Humanities
King's College London
Strand
London WC2R 2LS
+44 (0)171 873 2784 voice; 873 5081 fax
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kis/schools/hums/ruhc/wlm/

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Date: Tue, 25 Mar 1997 11:40:22 -0500 (EST)
From: David Thomson <davidt@unixg.ubc.ca>
Subject: Mary Shelley's poem to her dead husband

Hi,

I'm trying to help a colleague locate a poem Mary Shelley wrote in 1823
or 1824 called "The Choice." It concerns the loss of her husband. We
think it's been out of print for many years and wonder if anyone has an
idea of where it could be found.

yours

David Thomson
Dept. of English
UBC