''Humanist'' is an international electronic

seminar A seminar is a form of academic instruction, either at an academic institution or offered by a commercial or professional organization. It has the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some parti ...

on humanities computing and the

digital humanities Digital humanities (DH) is an area of scholarly activity at the intersection of computing or Information technology, digital technologies and the disciplines of the humanities. It includes the systematic use of digital resources in the humanitie ...

, in the form of a long-running

electronic mailing list A mailing list is a collection of names and addresses used by an individual or an organization to send material to multiple recipients. The term is often extended to include the people subscribed to such a list, so the group of subscribers is re ...

and its associated archive. The primary aim of ''Humanist'' is to provide a forum for discussion of intellectual, scholarly, pedagogical, and social issues and for exchange of information among members. ''Humanist'' is also a

publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Conve ...

of the

Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations The Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (ADHO) is a digital humanities umbrella organization formed in 2005 to coordinate the activities of several regional DH organizations, referred to as constituent organizations. ADHO's constituent o ...

(ADHO) and the Office for Humanities Communication (OHC) and an affiliated publication of the

American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

(ACLS). In 2008, there were 1650 subscribers.

History

The ''Humanist'' list was created in 1987 by

Willard McCarty Willard McCarty is Professor of Humanities Computing in the Department of Digital Humanities at King's College London, England, where he is director of the doctoral programme in the department. He is a visiting professor in the Digital Humanities Re ...

, then at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, as a BITNET (NetNorth in Canada)

electronic mail Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronics, electronic (digital media, digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, ...

newsletter for people who support computing in the humanities for the

Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing The European Association for Digital Humanities (EADH), formerly known as the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing (ALLC), is a digital humanities organisation founded in London in 1973.History of Humanities Computing, in: A Compani ...

. McCarty, later at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, continued to edit it. Although ''Humanist'' started off as a means of communication for people directly involved in the support of humanities computing, it grew in scope to become an extended conversation about the nature of "humanities computing" (or "digital humanities", or one of a contested range of other names), about what computing looks like viewed from the humanities, and humanities from computing: "''Humanist'' remains the forum within which the technology, informed by the concerns of humane learning, can be viewed from an interdisciplinary common ground." As of 12 August 2020 the list went on hiatus for "a few weeks" for technical improvements. However, in February 2021 the list eventually moved to a new infrastructure, hosted at the University of Cologne, Germany.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://miskatonic.hki.uni-koeln.de/ (from February 2021) at th
Department for Digital Humanities
of the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

, Germany
Old website
(effective until August 2020) at

, allied with

(ADHO)
Office for Humanities Communication (OHC)
Digital humanities Electronic mailing lists Humanities education Computer-related introductions in 1987