Willard McCarty <MCCARTY@vm.epas.utoronto.ca> (01/19/90)
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 3, No. 944. Thursday, 18 Jan 1990. Date: 17 Jan 90 20:52:54 EST From: George Aichele <73760.1176@CompuServe.COM> Subject: computers and humanities (again) I have been receiving the HUMANIST e-mailings for about two months now, with great interest. One of the more fascinating themes has been the question of support for computer-assisted research and publication in the humanities, in relation to other questions of academic politics, the future of the humanities, prospects for electronic publication, and even, recently, the civil service! I note (from the membership list which I was sent when I joined HUMANIST) than the vast majority of members are affiliated with large state or wealthy private universities. Much of the discussion in HUMANIST supposes a reader at such a school, where funding for research and publication (computer-assisted or not) is readily available--at least compared to the sort of place where I work. I do not object to this emphasis, but I would like to call attention to the rather different problems faced by some computing humanities scholars (even if there's not many of us on HUMANIST). The goal of this posting is neither to win your pity, nor to fill you with gratitude for your good fortune. But... I work at one of those places where we're all supposed to be "dedicated to the liberal arts tradition" or some such thing--in short we're supposed to care more about teaching than we do about salaries, teaching loads, or working conditions. Along with no "publish or perish" comes no support for research or publication. Our entire faculty is probably smaller than some of your departments. This gives each individual a much larger role in the workings of the whole. However, our endowment is laughable. Budgeting and planning is a day-by-day, hand-to-mouth affair, and the administration is terrified at the thought of raising tuition. The college uses a beat-up old mainframe which (so I'm told) does not have the capacity for a BITNET connection. Unlike nearly all of you, I pay for my HUMANIST access by the minute, via the INTERNET gateway on Compuserve, which I call on my computer at home. All my computer costs are paid out of my own pocket--and at a salary roughly 2/3 that of my state university counterparts (according to the AAUP). (If my wife didn't work, I might have to get a real job!) There's no particular point to these ramblings, except to remind you that the "Big State U." model is rather foreign to some of us--at least in relation to our present situations. And, of course, I haven't addressed the situation of the "independent scholar," who may even be looking with some longing at my job! George Aichele Adrian College 73760,1176@compuserve.com