Haven't seen this posted on MUSEUM-L yet so here you go... Robbin Murphy [log in to unmask] ======================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]).