The Role of Humanities Computing: Experiences and Challenges

Abstract

Dued to the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the Department for Literary and Documentary Data Processing in Tuebingen this article is written. It gives an overview of humanities computing developments since the formation of this Research-Department. The paper is devided into three parts. First, the experiences in humanities computing are reviewed. For these purposes the author points out various aspects of the development and exploitation of scholarly materials using computers, considering some of the current work to create new tools for research. This chapter is followed by the discussion of some of the key challenges of this century, by that humanities computing and the scholarship, of which it is a part, are faced with. Finally, the author gives a summary of what in his opinion would be the key roles of humanities computing in the future. * Aus dem Protokoll des 80. Kolloquiums über die Anwendung der Elektronischen Datenverarbeitung in den Geisteswissenschaften an der Universität Tübingen vom 18.

Spatial cyberinfrastructures, ontologies, and the humanities

“…To domains steeped in individuality and fluidity, ontologies may represent a fossilization of a particular school of thought, and spatial ontologies a method to rigidify political boundaries while ignoring extrastate phenomena (11,12). Like Friedlander (19), we view ontologies as a shared and ongoing conversation with researchers and other interested parties who want the functionality that a CI provides.…”