REACH, December 1989 -------------------- Research & Educational Applications of Computers in the Humanities ----------------------------------- Newsletter of the Humanities Computing Facility of the University of California at Santa Barbara ------------------------------------------------ HUMANITIES COMPUTING FACILITY ESTABLISHED THIS FALL AT UCSB The last several years have seen a rapid increase of interest among humanists in the use of computers for research and instructional purposes, and predictions are being made that humanities computing will be the fastest growing area of academic computing during the coming period. In response to the needs of this emerging area, the College of Letters and Science this fall created the UCSB Humanities Computing Facility, joining the ranks of leading institutions such as UCLA which have organized similar facilities in the last several years. The new Humanities Computing Facility at UCSB is designed to provide faculty and students with a central resource for the exploration of advanced research and instructional computer uses in the humanities. Two locations of the Facility are about to open, one in Phelps Hall and the other in South Hall. An Advisory Committee has now been appointed, and its first task will be to identify the primary goals and needs of humanities computing at UCSB, and to formulate a detailed plan of action designed to develop the necessary set of resources and activities. The Committee will also be establishing links with humanists involved in computing at other UC campuses, as well as at other institutions, and with national and international organizations, such as the Association for Computers and the Humanities, and the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing. Gunther Gottschalk of the Department of Germanic, Oriental & Slavic Languages and Literatures has been elected Chair of the Committee, with Giorgio Perissinotto of the Department of Spanish & Portuguese elected Vice Chair. Eric Dahlin will serve as Coordinator of the Facility. Although the Facility is designed primarily to serve the members of the humanities departments, it will also be open to anyone in a department outside the area of the humanities who is interested in the same objectives, applications, and activities. ------------------------------------------------------------ GRADS NEEDED We need graduate students in the humanities to participate in the activities of the Facility by spending an hour or two each week in one or the other of the two locations, maintaining access, answering general questions, and serving as a link with their departments. If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please phone Eric Dahlin, the coordinator of the Facility, at Ext. 2208. ------------------------------------------------------------ INFORMATION If you have any questions, please communicate with either of the following individuals: Gunther Gottschalk, Chair Phone: 805/961-2374 E-Mail: gs01gott@ucsbuxa.bitnet Eric Dahlin, Coordinator Phone: 805/961-2208 E-Mail: hcf1dahl@ucsbvm.bitnet ------------------------------------------------------------ 15-PERSON ADVISORY COMMITTEE APPOINTED Fifteen individuals, nominated by their departments, have agreed to serve on the Advisory Committee for the Humanities Computing Facility. The members of the committee are: William Ashby French & Italian Alva Bennett Classics Edward Branigan Film Studies John DuBois Linguistics Gunther Gottschalk, Chair Germanic, Oriental & Slavic Allan Grapard Religious Studies Barbara Harthorn Inter. Humanities Center Gerald Horne Black Studies Albert Lindemann History Ursula Mahlendorf Women's Studies Michael O'Connell English Giorgio Perissinotto, Vice Chair Spanish & Portuguese Nathan Salmon Philosophy Guadalupe San Miguel Chicano Studies Fikret Yegul Art History Liaison will also be developed with the departments of Art Studio, Dramatic Art, and Music. ------------------------------------------------------------ NEW TECHNOLOGIES EXPLORED Humanities computing is now undergoing rapid growth and change, and the Humanities Computing Facility will be making every effort to keep in touch with technological advances and innovative applications. Among its recent exploratory activities were the following: Early last summer, several administrators and humanists from UCSB visited the Humanities Computing Facility at UCLA, where they met with Director Vicky Walsh, User Relations Liaison Michael Cohen, and Professor George Guffey of English, the Chair of their Advisory Committee, to discuss the development of humanities computing at UCLA, where much innovative activity is underway. The group also saw demonstrations of various design and film projects. Later in the summer, several UCSB representatives attended a Saturday workshop at the UCLA Humanities Computing Facility, and viewed demonstrations of computerized instruction programs, on both the IBM-PC and the Macintosh, in Arabic, French, German, Greek, Old Irish, and World Literature. At a Committee meeting in November, Stan Nicholson and Rick Johnson of Instructional Development gave the members demonstrations of a Hypercard program on the Macintosh for the teaching of elementary German, a second Hypercard program for an introductory archeology course, and an interface program on the Mac II which provides precise and rapid display of selected segments of any video laser disk. Last month, a UCSB group visited UC Irvine for a demonstration of a sophisticated video laser disk program developed to teach the recognition of spoken Japanese to English speakers. The program was created by Professor Alfred Bork of the Educational Technology Center at UCI, a leading figure in the instructional uses of computers, with support from Nippon Television and Fujitsu. ------------------------------------------------------------ EDITOR'S NOTES In order to make _REACH_ as useful as possible to all humanists, I'll need to know which topics are likely to be of interest. If you have any areas of particular concern which you want to see explored, give me a call, or send me a note, either by e-mail or through the usual channels. I'm also on the lookout for information on projects or discoveries in humanities computing at UCSB or elsewhere. If you have a particular application, program, or technique which you want to mention to others, or have encountered something intriguing at a conference or during a visit to another institution, please tell me about it so I can include it in a future edition of _REACH_. --Eric Dahlin ------------------------------------------------------------ REACH is published monthly by the Humanities Computing Facility of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Advisory Committee: William Ashby French & Italian Alva Bennett Classics Edward Branigan Film Studies John DuBois Linguistics Gunther Gottschalk, Chair Germanic, Oriental & Slavic Allan Grapard Religious Studies Barbara Harthorn Interdisciplinary Humanities Center Gerald Horne Black Studies Albert Lindemann History Ursula Mahlendorf Women's Studies Michael O'Connell English Giorgio Perissinotto, Vice Chair Spanish & Portuguese Nathan Salmon Philosophy Guadalupe San Miguel Chicano Studies Fikret Yegul Art History ------------------------------------------------------------ Editor: Eric Dahlin Phone: 805/961-2208. E-Mail: hcf1dahl@ucsbvm.bitnet ------------------------------------------------------------ REACH is produced on an IBM-AT, using Microsoft Word, Version 5.0, and Xerox Ventura Publisher, Version 2.0, with camera ready copy printed on an HP LaserJet II. Printing is by UCSB Printing & Reprographic Services. ------------------------------------------------------------