And in Closing
During the first 40 years of the infancy of computers--1950-1990--their academic use was dominated by
the sciences. In fact, it is rumored that a few scientists had thoughts like: "Why can't those humanities
folks get their acts together and productively use computers as we do?" Well, as we now know, the
humanities didn't use computers because the computers and their software were not up to the task. Just
now is computer technology reaching the point where it is effective in the humanities. Scientific computer
use is by-and-large algorithm oriented while the humanities are by-and-large data oriented. That a
scientist can translate a few formulas into Fortran and do productive work has no counterpart in the
humanities. Students and researchers in the humanities need computer access to tons of books, acres of
images, fortnights of sound recordings, and lifetimes of full-motion video. It is exciting to be a part of this
second computer revolution where we can begin to make computers effective for the other half of the
campus.
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