Haven't seen this posted on MUSEUM-L yet so here you go...
 
Robbin Murphy
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======================FORWARDED MESSAGE==================
 
DATE:  January 19, 1994
 
TO:  Internet Listservs
 
FROM:  The National Initiative for Humanities and Arts Computing
 
We are happy to share the following news with you.  Please redistribute this
notice to listservs that may find it of interest.
 
 
NATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR HUMANITIES AND ARTS COMPUTING MOVES FORWARD
 
At a critical meeting on January 17, the ad hoc steering committee of the
National Initiative on Humanities and Arts Computing met to plan the next
steps in gaining a voice for humanities and arts in the development of the
National Information Infrastructure, the much-publicized plan for a national
telecommunications system.  The group agreed on a number of action items.  The
Getty Art History Information Program, the Coalition for Networked Information,
and the American Council of Learned Societies -- the sponsors of the National
Initiative -- will convene two working groups to develop a profile of
humanities and arts computing in the United States.  In the coming three
months, these working groups will gather a nationwide array of experts in
scholarly, instructional, and creative computing in order to draw a picture of
the breadth and vitality of technology in the humanities and arts.
 
The Working Group on Technical Requirements will define the particular
challenges that these fields pose for technology.  The Working Group on
Electronic Resources will survey the range and variety of computer-based
information and tools, available and in development for transmission on the
electronic superhighways.  The findings of these working groups will be
presented in June to a National Task Force, comprised of major organizations
and institutions involved in humanities and arts computing in America.
 
The goal of this process is to reinstate the values and basis for community
that the humanities and arts bring to the dialogue shaping public policy.  The
sponsors recognize that this goal requires gaining the recognition and support
of the Clinton-Gore administration if the special needs of this vital community
are to be met.  Only a coordinated National Initiative can secure a future for
the American people's cultural heritage in the digital environment, and
guarantee the network as a medium of creativity and learning.
 
The Getty Art History Information Program will provide the seed money for these
initial steps, with the expectation that other interested organizations will
demonstrate their commitment to the National Initiative through significant
contributions, according to their means.
 
***
 
At a meeting of the Coalition for Networked Information on November 19, 1993,
this National Initiative was launched by a group of twenty-five concerned
leaders in the movement to automate humanities and arts information.  At that
time the group produced the following statement of purpose:
 
The absence of the humanities and arts in the development of a national
information infrastructure ignores the value of the American people's cultural
heritage, and the network as a medium of creativity and learning, in the
crucial formation of technology policy.
 
The members of the Task Force on a National Initiative for Humanities and Arts
Computing endorse the principle that humanities and arts voices are critical --
indeed equal to the recognized interests of the sciences -- in the balanced
development of the nation's technological infrastructure.
 
Reinstating the humanities and arts in the dialogue shaping this public policy
is of utmost urgency.  We call for the reintroduction of the humanities and
arts in the formation of such policy.
 
Goals agreed upon by the Task Force:
 
1.  Define a rubric that articulates the value of humanities and arts computing
for a democratic society.
 
2.  Build a profile of humanities and arts computing using data that identifies
the breadth and vitality, as well as the needs, of technology in these fields.
 
3.  Form alliances with identified stakeholders in order to engage program-
matically in national policy development and planning.
 
***
 
For further information about the National Initiative, contact Dr. Charles
Henry, Director of Libraries, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY 12601
([log in to unmask]) or Dr. Susan Siegfried, Getty Art History Information
Program, 401 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 1100, Santa Monica, CA  90401
([log in to unmask]).