ALLC/ACH 2004
Humanist is managed chiefly by one person, the Editor, occasionally by the Assistant Editor (David Gants). On the average I estimate that running Humanist requires ca. 30-45 minutes per day, 365 days per year.
Technical help is supplied by the staff of IATH (Virginia) and the Office of Information Technology (OIT, Princeton). IATH maintains mail relaying, message digesting and archiving functions, OIT the Listserv software. Apart from keeping the archive and fixing breakdowns in the software, IATH also supports Humanist by managing the yearly changeover in archive volumes.
Technically competent members sometimes freely volunteer their services as well.
Statistics regarding membership and messages are given in the attached figures. It is, as usual, difficult to know what these statistics indicate. Note that the Humanist year begins in early May.
Figure 1, Figure 2, and Figure 3 show membership, comparing the figures for 2002-3 to those of 2003-4. The absolute number of members is down by 85 overall, primarily due to a drop from the USA of 75 and from the UK of 6. Note, however, the gain of 9 from Italy and 3 from the Netherlands, perhaps due to the recent initiatives in those countries; the gain of 2 from France and Hungary; and of 1 from a few others.
Figure 2 shows membership by percentage of population, Figure 3 by area. The latter of these groups countries roughly by geography, with the exception of EU vs candidates for EU membership and three countries that would not easily group with the others. Figure 3 also groups even more roughly by language, showing the expected dominance of those from primarily Anglophone countries. Note, however, the gain in those from primarily non-Anglophone countries.
Figure 4 charts the number of messages per year over the last decade. Activity would appear to go up and down over a 3-4 year cycle. The level is satisfyingly up from last year, but the variation is somewhat puzzling. Given the nature of Humanist as it has evolved over the years, however, I suspect that the variation has more to do with the editor's level of participation, i.e. the degree to which he "stirs the pot", from year to year.
During 2003-4 spamming has risen dramatically, as we all know. During the year attacks on Humanist loaded the archive with spurious messages, necessitating considerable assistance from IATH in rebuilding the archive. Shayne Brandon (IATH) was particularly helpful with this problem and with other minor difficulties. David Sitman (Tel Aviv) provided good advice on how to configure Listserv to block spamming in the future. The changes he suggested have been made and would appear to have solved the problem.
Humanist is a publication of the Association for Computers and the Humanities, the Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing and the Office for Humanities Communication (King's College London). Since 1995-6, when Stanley N. Katz was its President, Humanist has also been an affiliated publication of the American Council of Learned Societies. Following the two elections to the Presidency since then, of John D'Arms in 1997 and of Pauline Yu in 2003, I have written to the new President to re-establish and attempt to strengthen ties. This has been welcomed by Professor Yu. It would appear that she is as strongly interested in the community that Humanist represents as was Professor Katz.
By a deeply familiar yet mysterious process, Humanist would seem to have taken on as stubborn an identity as any "social fact". Experience suggests that its more or less steady state is a feature of our landscape.
Given the convergence of ALLC with ACH under the umbrella of ADHO, I recommend, however, that thought be given as to how Humanist might fit into the new structure and how use of it by our professional organizations might be extended. There are a couple of matters to consider in this regard.
The welcome and effective support of IATH, which has been informally reaffirmed this year for the time being, may be reconsidered once the new Director has reviewed IATH's commitments. It may therefore become necessary to find a new institutional home for Humanist. For that and perhaps for other reasons, ADHO may wish to take a direct role in its technical support. The multi-institutional distribution of Humanist's operations is a valuable sign of its collaborative, international nature and so, I think, should be continued.
In the past ACH and ALLC have rarely used Humanist, and although the endorsement has been unwavering, these associations have not invested resources in its operation. Imaginative administrative help, for example to organize guest editors of topical discussions, would be one way to improve Humanist that would require some investment. A rotating part-time studentship at the (post-)graduate level, funded by ADHO, would have the benefit not only of enlivening discussion but would also strengthen the field as a whole. Part-time or occasional technical assistance to take a proactive role in improving operations (e.g. via a technical audit) might also be a good idea.
Willard McCarty
Editor, Humanist
30/5/04
