19.172 figures in a calculation

               Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 19, No. 172.
       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: Tue, 26 Jul 2005 06:56:53 +0100
         From: lachance_at_origin.chass.utoronto.ca (Francois Lachance)
         Subject: Figures in a Calculation

Willard,

Prompted by the recent thread on disciplines, I was going to contribute a
reminder that projects, positions, and departments are other beasts
besides disciplines. I was about to suggest an analogy with
sports... athletes, coaches and federations. Instead, a very orthogonal
comment by way of citation:

<quote>
Some scholars say that the Three Graces dancing in a circle in
Botticelli's famous painting Primavera represent Beauty, Restraint, and
Pleasure. According to Renaissance writings, these three are the graces of
life. What would a modern equivalent be - technology, information, and
communication?
<cite>
Thomas Moore
Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday
Life [1992]
278-279
</cite>
</quote>

A tripartite model of discipline? Would Humanities Computing be that
discipline concerened with the beauty of technology, the restraint of
information and the pleasure of communication? Moore's question could
also lead to mapping all three, Beauty, Restraint, and Pleasure onto
technology and again in turn onto information and communication. Like
corners of a cube... Of course, there is a distance between such
visualizations and the administrative praxis that ensure the maintance of
a flow of resources to projects, positions, and departments. Its curvature
maybe shorter than a straight line.

-- 
Francois Lachance, Scholar-at-large
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~lachance/jardin
Skill may be the capacity to manipulate perceptions of knowledge.
Magic is.