Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 38, No. 452.
Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
Hosted by DH-Cologne
www.dhhumanist.org
Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org
[1] From: Paul Barrett <barrettp@uoguelph.ca>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.450: Humanist as a research instrument (117)
[2] From: J.J. Naughton <jjn1@cam.ac.uk>
Subject: Pinboards vs discussion (25)
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2025-04-09 13:54:10+00:00
From: Paul Barrett <barrettp@uoguelph.ca>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.450: Humanist as a research instrument
Dear Willard (and list),
I thought I would just chime in here to say that I'm the process of completing,
with my colleague, Sarah Roger, the Routledge Introduction to Canadian
Literature and Digital Humanities and that Humanist has been a very rich
resource for understanding the history of DH in Canada and elsewhere. It was at
the heart of our research as we put together the book. The book is a strange
pairing, to be sure, but our mandate was to think about the overlap between
studies of CanLit (as it tends to be called) and DH. Humanist provides a window
into the development of humanities computing, DH, and related fields, over the
past several decades. The book will be out in July.
We aren't writing a history by any means, but reading through the Humanist
archives was very useful to us as we tried to understand the evolution of DH in
Canada. It was particularly fun for me: I was a CompSci student at Toronto in
the late 90s / early 2000s, and remember taking classes with some of the people
whose names pop up on the list.
Best,
Paul Barrett
Associate Professor
University of Guelph
________________________________
From: Humanist <humanist@dhhumanist.org>
Sent: April 9, 2025 2:34 AM
To: Paul Barrett <barrettp@uoguelph.ca>
Subject: [Humanist] 38.450: Humanist as a research instrument
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Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 38, No. 450.
Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
Hosted by DH-Cologne
www.dhhumanist.org<http://www.dhhumanist.org>
Submit to: humanist@dhhumanist.org
Date: 2025-04-08 07:38:07+00:00
From: maurizio lana <maurizio.lana@uniupo.it>
Subject: Re: [Humanist] 38.441: Humanist as a research instrument
hi Willard,
i read in your message is an implicit response to the tendency which
sees the mailing lists as pinboards to announce conferences workshops
and the like. a tendency which appears all around.
useful and interesting things these announcement, who would deny it? -
but the mailing list are (should be? would be?) in essence discussion lists.
among those which i subscribed i know only one discussion list really
full of discussions: that of the Nexa Center based in Politecnico of
Turin (Italy); and also, partially, that of AIB - Associazione Italiana
Biblioteche.
Maurizio
Il 06/04/25 10:44, Humanist ha scritto:
> Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 38, No. 441.
> Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
> Hosted by DH-Cologne
> www.dhhumanist.org<http://www.dhhumanist.org>
> Submit to:humanist@dhhumanist.org
>
>
>
>
> Date: 2025-04-06 08:38:38+00:00
> From: Willard McCarty<willard.mccarty@mccarty.org.uk>
> Subject: Humanist as a research instrument
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> As those who have lingered here for years will know, from time to time I
> observe that Humanist makes a very useful instrument for research. This
> is of course obvious when you're looking for something you cannot find.
> It's less so for the perplexities and wild notions which cluster around
> development of an idea into a paper or essay or lecture. I fear that the
> perceived need for bullet-proof arguments keeps many from putting those
> perplexities and wild ideas into words and posting them here. Where they
> belong.
>
> One of my deepest debts is to a senior colleague who taught me by
> example that daring to say what you can about something, and so getting
> others to respond, and so keeping our pot stirred and one's own mind
> from congealing, can be not just a very good thing to do but what this
> sort of work is all about. A paper or book ms to be published is another
> matter, demands more restraint, but this here is a 'serious playground',
> a safe space in which to venture ideas.
>
> Or so I trust will be even more the case during Humanist's next 40
> (almost) years.
>
> All best,
> Willard
> --
> Willard McCarty,
> Professor emeritus, King's College London;
> Editor, Humanist
> www.mccarty.org.uk<http://www.mccarty.org.uk>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
lo straniero non parla e non capisce la nostra lingua,
che non è più nostra, perché la nostra vera lingua
diventa la traduzione, lo scambio
luca ferrieri, dalla public library all’open library
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maurizio Lana
Università del Piemonte Orientale
Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici
Piazza Roma 36 - 13100 Vercelli
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2025-04-09 08:46:28+00:00
From: J.J. Naughton <jjn1@cam.ac.uk>
Subject: Pinboards vs discussion
Dear Willard
As a daily reader I agree with Maurizio Lana about the way the pinboard function
somehow crowds out discussion. Since I don’t work in Digital Humanities myself,
the notices of events, job openings, etc. are not relevant for me. But as
someone who is deeply involved in studying the cultural and other implications
of digital technology, it’s the discussions on this newsletter that really add
value, not least because they enable me to escape from the silo-d discourses on
tech and political economy in which I am normally enmeshed and to get different
perspectives that I would otherwise miss.
I think the pinboard function is clearly useful for the DH community. But is
there a way of keeping it separate?
Best
John
…..
Professor John Naughton
Senior Research Fellow, CRASSH
University of Cambridge
Director, Wolfson Press Fellowship Programme
e: jjn1@cam.ac.uk
w: memex.naughtons.org
@jjn1.bsky.social
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