Introduction to Humanities Computing
Spring 1999
Introduction to Humanities Computing
François Lachance
416 326-2524 (o)
TSH 205 (drop off)
lachanc@mcmaster.ca
Email
How do students get email accounts?
good question. They should all have Muss accounts (muss.cis.mcmaster.ca is
the student e-mail machine). Some may not have activated them. If they
haven't activated their account they can do it through MUGSI which is a WWW
site for students where they can do such things. It will be up with the new
students on May 3. If they can't get around MUGSI they should go to the KTH
labs where a student consultant will walk them through it.
http://www.mcmaster.ca/dataserv-htm/mcss0001.htm
Decorum
CODE OF CONDUCT
FOR
COMPUTER AND NETWORK USERS
URL: http://www.mcmaster.ca/cis/policy/netcond.htm
Course WWW site
URL: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~lachance/mcmaster.htm
Fun & Difficult

Computer Literacy

Not just how to work a
machine

Programming
How people discuss
technology

Not at all how to write
software

Formatting
Not just how to add bells
& whistles & pictures
Rhetoric of computing
Critique
How to assess
applications

Analysis
How to address
substantive issues
Course Topics
 What
is a computer?
 The Internet & Computer Mediated Communication
 The Electronic Text
 Hypertext and Hypermedia
 Operating Systems & Human Computer Interaction
 The Digital Image
 What is Humanities Computing?
Course Format
 Lectures/Discussion
 Tutorials
 E-mail
List: HUMCOM-L@mcmail.cis.mcmaster.ca
Send me a message with your to be added!
 World
Wide Web Materials
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~lachance/mcmaster/
Information Sources
 Text
Book: Computer Confluence
 Online Resources
E-mail - Get your account created!
WWW - Look at them; Find more
 Handouts
 Library
 Magazines
(Wired, Byte, MacUser ...)
 Newspapers (Technology Sections)
Assignments
 Participation
 Homework
 Text Analysis
Paper *
 Short HTML Paper*
 Final Exam
 Skills Test
*Group work
10%
10%
20%
20%
30%
10%
Participation
 Electronic
Participation
 Share things with the class
Newspaper clippings
Advertisements
Bizarre stories
Jargon Watch
Ancient Computers (Old Games)
 Class/Tutorial
Participation
Text Analysis Paper
 Work
in pairs
 Text-analysis using TACTweb
http://tactweb.humanities.mcmaster.ca/
 About 5 pages
 Handed in on disk in Word format
 Paper copy also submitted
 Keep a copy!
 Due May 26
HTML - Assignment
 Work
in small groups (4 to 5 people)
 2500 Words (500 wpp)
 Upload or by e-mail in HTML
 Separate Handout
 Due June 2
Skills Test
 E-mail
 WWW
 Operating
System
 Word Processing
 Database
Date: June 9
MILE
 Online
Quiz
Due Date: May 17
Exam
Some example questions
URL:http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~lachance/mcmaster/final.htm
Date: June 16
Questions
 Name
and Student Number
 E-mail Address
 What sort of computer experience do you
have? (List software you are familiar with, courses
taken, and general experience)
 What
do you expect to learn from this
course?
 What questions would you like addressed?
End
Just the beginning
101