At Dakota State University, our mission is to use computers throughout the curriculum. Art courses cover computer graphics; Music majors learn to use computers to arrange and analyze music. English students learn to write with word processing, of course, and they use conferencing and communication programs; they employ computers for the analysis of literature. In addition, English majors are required to learn to program: they complete courses in at least two programming languages. Students in History and Geography use computers for simulations. There is a class for Health and Physical Education majors to learn to write programs for their applications.
When we need to hire faculty, it is exceedingly difficult to find applicants with a sound subject background and anything more than superficial knowledge of computing. If we advertise for an assistant professor of English, we will receive one to two hundred applications (and sometimes more), but only two or three will have a terminal degree in English and substantial knowledge of computing more advanced than word processing, and perhaps only one will be able to program. It is interesting that many academic job seekers these days think they must say something about computing skills on their vita, but upon investigation, such skills are often found to be laughably modest. (One candidate said that he was "poised to learn sophisticated computing applications;" it turned that he had never used a computer, but he was willing to try.) I have been advised by a colleague not to bother mentioning computer background in a job advertisement because no good applicants would have any.
Although the intensity of computer use in the humanities at my university may be atypical, I am certainly not the only dean perplexed about how to find good faculty with substantial computer background. The problem may result from the university advertising at the wrong time or in the wrong place in order to attract the computing humanist -- or, perhaps for some other reason, the position and the right applicant simply do not find one another. However, the issue is a little more complex.
Much genuinely interesting academic computing in the humanities is being done at universities in Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Texas, and even in South Dakota. These may not be the places that Ph.D. graduates (especially from prestigious universities) look for positions -- at least not at first. It is fairly easy to name the universities that are thought to have outstanding programs in the humanities. These are not necessarily the same universities that are developing and using advanced computer applications in the humanities. The academic affiliations of the editors of respected journals devoted to computing and composition, history, texts, and other areas in the humanities are often not the big-name universities.
Perhaps some kind of newsletter or list could be published that would specialize in advertising jobs in the humanities that require truly significant computer proficiency. In any case, computing humanists seeking positions need to keep an open mind about the level of sophistication of academic computing that is being done at various universities in all regions of the country.
Also, to be frank, there is an unpleasant side to the problem. Everyone in the academic world has known computer nerds: people who regardless of educational background think only about computers and the creation of cute programs -- half of which do not run for other users. No university wants to hire someone believed to be a sound humanist with significant computing skills, and end up with a computer nerd. Therefore, a university might withhold from its advertising that it seeks humanists with computing ability for fear that it will receive applications from nerds who will be accurately identified as such only after they are hired.
The probability of hiring a computer nerd is certainly much exaggerated in many deans' minds -- most computing humanists I have met are exceptionally well grounded in traditional disciplines -- but it is a real fear. Senior faculty with no computer competence may offer all kinds of arguments about the dangers of searching for computing humanists as excuses to avoid employing junior faculty who will make them appear antiquated. (It is ironic that after they are introduced to computing -- perhaps by their younger colleagues -- it is often senior faculty who become the most enthusiastic and resolute adherents to it.)
Therefore, the dearth of job announcements for computing humanists may not be an accurate refection of available positions. A university might fail to mention computer skills in a job announcement because there is doubt that qualified graduates with such skills will apply, or the announcement may refrain from mentioning computers because of the fears of deans and senior faculty.
I believe we are on the threshold of an awakening in education that will result in computers being used for nearly all facets of teaching, learning, and educational communication. Computers will become absolutely essential for academic research. In the near future, it simply will not occur to faculty to try to teach or to do research without them. However, at this present moment, it is no doubt true that a humanities graduate finds it difficult to locate a position where an understanding of computing can be put to use. Ironically, it is also true that it is not easy for a university to hire a good Ph.D. or M.F.A. in the humanities with significant computer knowledge.
At least a partial solution, currently, might be found if universities published descriptions of job openings repeatedly and extremely widely; they should delineate exactly what computing skills are desired, but they must make it clear that sound knowledge and love of a discipline are essential. Computing humanists who are seeking jobs should detail their computer expertise, but probably the major emphasis should be put on their formal education, and they must leave no doubt about their eagerness to teach their subject and to do research in it; they should keep an open mind about teaching at a university that is not well known, and they should be prepared to make many, many applications. I know that it is too easy to say, but computing humanists must try not to become discouraged and cynical.
When the situation changes for the better, which it certainly will, Stephen Clausing's cri de coeur may well be seen as instrumental in hastening that change. I will be pleased if my remarks are simply forgotten because they are out of date.
Eric Johnson is Professor of English and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Dakota State University. He is the author of more than one hundred published articles, volumes, and reviews mostly about computers, writing, and literary study. His email address is JohnsonE@jupiter.dsu.edu
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Creada: 15/09/2000 Última Actualización: 18/06/2001