Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 17, No. 331.
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
www.princeton.edu/humanist/
Submit to: humanist@princeton.edu
Date: Fri, 24 Oct 2003 06:23:42 +0100
From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: Hinton on Lederberg on publication
Norman Hinton, in Humanist 17.326, rightly points out that publication is a
different affair for us in the arts and letters than Lederberg describes
for the sciences. What I thought particularly relevant was his approach to
electronic publication and the digital library issues that follow: begin
with what one thinks to be the essential qualities and roles of publication
for one's field(s) of study, then (and only then) consider what happens and
could happen when it is done and housed digitally. In all too many
instances, the so-called experts begin with an unexamined notion of
e-publication or an equally unexamined idea of "the" digital library and
then tell us what the future looks like. Unfortunately some of these
experts have influence, and public policies are being made under it. I
won't "name and shame", as we say in this country, but I will point to two
other refreshingly intelligent pieces of work on the topic: David M. Levy
and Catherine C. Marshall, "Going Digital: A Look at Assumptions Underlying
Digital Libraries", Communications of the ACM 38.4 (1995): 77-84
(www.acm.org/dl/ -- to which I hope you have access); Marilyn Deegan and
Simon Tanner, Digital futures: Strategies for the information age (London:
Library Association Publishing, 2002).
I also deeply appreciate Lederberg's seriousness, his concern for what he
does, concern that others take it seriously and do it right. One must, as
he says, be able to say about one's work, "This, at least for now, is it.
Let my reputation stand or fall by what I have said here." Even if in the
very next publication one changes one's mind, as I seem constantly to be
doing these days. Publication venues such as Humanist provide a good means
of being less serious in some ways, sometimes. But, Lederberg is more or
less saying, we need a publication venue as demanding on us as the gallery
is to the artist or someone's house is to the builder who renovates it.
Comments?
Yours,
WM
Dr Willard McCarty | Senior Lecturer | Centre for Computing in the
Humanities | King's College London | Strand | London WC2R 2LS || +44 (0)20
7848-2784 fax: -2980 || willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk
www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/wlm/
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