18.341 questions for the community

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 18, No. 341.
       Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
                   www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
                        www.princeton.edu/humanist/
                     Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu

         Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2004 09:07:03 +0000
         From: Susan Hesemeier <s.hesemeier_at_utoronto.ca>
         Subject: Re: 18.336 questions for the community

Hi Vika, the survey instrument used for the study "Modelling the Humanities
Scholar at Work" by Toms, Rockwell, Sinclair & Siemens would be helpful, as
the questions appear to get at the same line of inquiry (i.e. what electronic
resources are useful or not useful to the humanities scholar), and it might
make it easier to collect this type of information in a survey. A paper about
the study is also being presented at the TAPoR conference on November 21st:

http://tapor1.mcmaster.ca/~faceoftext/abstracts.htm#toms

Susan

--
Susan Hesemeier, PhD Student
Department of English
University of Toronto
s.hesemeier_at_utoronto.ca
Quoting "Humanist Discussion Group (by way of Willard McCarty
<willard.mccarty_at_kcl.ac.uk>)" <willard_at_LISTS.VILLAGE.VIRGINIA.EDU>:
  >                Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 18, No. 336.
  >        Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
  >                    www.kcl.ac.uk/humanities/cch/humanist/
  >                         www.princeton.edu/humanist/
  >                      Submit to: humanist_at_princeton.edu
  >
  >
  >
  >          Date: Fri, 05 Nov 2004 06:33:34 +0000
  >          From: Vika Zafrin <amarena_at_gmail.com>
  >           >
  >
  > Dear Humanists,
  >
  > I've been doing some research for a paper, and would appreciate your
  > feedback on some questions I have for the community.  These questions
  > are intended not only for people interested in humanities computing
  > but also for those who find that currently available electronic
  > resources (including weblogs as discussion tools, for example) are
  > *not* useful to them.  If you wish to pass this on to colleagues who
  > would be amenable to answering, I'd very much appreciate it; they are
  > welcome to respond to me directly at vika--wordsend-org (substitute
  > all dashes with appropriate punctuation).  The questions aren't in any
  > particular order and do not have a unifying agenda; I'm trying to
  > tackle a series of different issues.
  >
  > Disclosure: if some of the questions seem to imply a hidden agenda or
  > a presumed correct answer, that is not my intention.  My premise is
  > rather uncontroversial (or is it?): the use of technology to
  > communicate and collaborate in the humanities is spreading, but
  > slowly.  Too slowly, in my view, especially amongst the many humanists
  > who still don't view the network or computing as a useful tool.  I
  > want to find out why, what makes people tick with regard to various
  > forms of available communication, what puts them off.  There are easy
  > general answers -- not enough time in the day, learning curve doesn't
  > make a particular technology worth it, the tenuous relationship of
  > work performed on the network to tenure reviews, etc.  I'd like to get
  > some more personal and specific answers that aren't covered by the
  > above, or even ones that contradict the above.
  >
  > 1.  Do you use a personal weblog for your work?
  >     1a. If yes, and you have reasons beyond the obvious (place to put my
  > thoughts, get feedback, treat it as personal workshop), what are they?
  >    How important is the aesthetics of your weblog to you?  How important
  > is the functionality (diversity and substance of tools your weblog
  > uses to allow/encourage participation from readers)?  Whose needs are
  > primary in considering the aesthetics and functionality of your blog:
  > yours, or the audience's?
  >     1b. If no _and you otherwise use computers and the internet a lot
  > for work_, why not weblog?  ("can't be bothered to learn how" is
  > perfectly valid, as is any other reasoning)
  >
  > 2.  Do you read others' academic weblogs?
  >     2a. If yes, how important is the blog's aesthetic feel?  (If the
  > text is hard on your eyes, are you more likely to skip large swathes
  > of it, regardless of your level of interest in the author's thoughts,
  > or do you persevere?)  How important is its functionality? (Do you use
  > a syndication feed aggregator?  When a particular feed chokes, do you
  > contact the blog's author and alert them?  Are you more or less likely
  > to read a weblog that doesn't allow for comments?)
  >     2b. If no, is there a reason for it other than lack of time?
  >
  > 3.  Do you see generations in the evolution of humanities computing?
  > Are there things, issues, tools that you consider to be tacit
  > knowledge in the field generally, useful in *any* application of
  > computing to *any* humanities subject?  If you were introducing an
  > interested colleague or student to humanities computing as a field,
  > would you present any set of concepts and/or skills as tacit knowledge
  > that they should acquire?  What are a few items you would include in
  > this set?
  >
  > 4.  Do you see apprenticeship as gaining any ground in humanities
  > computing?  If so, why aren't we calling it apprenticeship?  Is
  > "research assistant" always "apprentice"?  If you said yes to question
  > 3 above, what do you see as the general trends of interaction between
  > generations of humanities computing scholars, including students?
  >
  > Thanks for your thoughts.
  > -Vika
  >
  > --
  > Vika Zafrin
  > Director, Virtual Humanities Lab
  > http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Italian_Studies/vhl/
  >
  > Brown University Box 1942
  > Providence, RI 02912 USA
  > (401)863-3984
  >