+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DALY * Acknowledgements * A new Latin authors disk * Effects of the new
technology on previous methods of research *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Serving as moderator, James DALY acknowledged the generosity of all the
presenters for giving of their time, counsel, and patience in planning
the Workshop, as well as of members of the American Memory project and
other Library of Congress staff, and the David and Lucile Packard
Foundation and its executive director, Colburn S. Wilbur.
DALY then recounted his visit in March to the Center for Electronic Texts
in the Humanities (CETH) and the Department of Classics at Rutgers
University, where an old friend, Lowell Edmunds, introduced him to the
department's IBYCUS scholarly personal computer, and, in particular, the
new Latin CD-ROM, containing, among other things, almost all classical
Latin literary texts through A.D. 200. Packard Humanities Institute
(PHI), Los Altos, California, released this disk late in 1991, with a
nominal triennial licensing fee.
Playing with the disk for an hour or so at Rutgers brought home to DALY
at once the revolutionizing impact of the new technology on his previous
methods of research. Had this disk been available two or three years
earlier, DALY contended, when he was engaged in preparing a commentary on
Book 10 of Virgil's Aeneid for Cambridge University Press, he would not
have required a forty-eight-square-foot table on which to spread the
numerous, most frequently consulted items, including some ten or twelve
concordances to key Latin authors, an almost equal number of lexica to
authors who lacked concordances, and where either lexica or concordances
were lacking, numerous editions of authors antedating and postdating Virgil.
Nor, when checking each of the average six to seven words contained in
the Virgilian hexameter for its usage elsewhere in Virgil's works or
other Latin authors, would DALY have had to maintain the laborious
mechanical process of flipping through these concordances, lexica, and
editions each time. Nor would he have had to frequent as often the
Milton S. Eisenhower Library at the Johns Hopkins University to consult
the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae. Instead of devoting countless hours, or
the bulk of his research time, to gathering data concerning Virgil's use
of words, DALY--now freed by PHI's Latin authors disk from the
tyrannical, yet in some ways paradoxically happy scholarly drudgery--
would have been able to devote that same bulk of time to analyzing and
interpreting Virgilian verbal usage.
Citing Theodore Brunner, Gregory Crane, Elli MYLONAS, and Avra MICHELSON,
DALY argued that this reversal in his style of work, made possible by the
new technology, would perhaps have resulted in better, more productive
research. Indeed, even in the course of his browsing the Latin authors
disk at Rutgers, its powerful search, retrieval, and highlighting
capabilities suggested to him several new avenues of research into
Virgil's use of sound effects. This anecdotal account, DALY maintained,
may serve to illustrate in part the sudden and radical transformation
being wrought in the ways scholars work.
******
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MICHELSON * Elements related to scholarship and technology * Electronic
texts within the context of broader trends within information technology
and scholarly communication * Evaluation of the prospects for the use of
electronic texts * Relationship of electronic texts to processes of
scholarly communication in humanities research * New exchange formats
created by scholars * Projects initiated to increase scholarly access to
converted text * Trend toward making electronic resources available
through research and education networks * Changes taking place in
scholarly communication among humanities scholars * Network-mediated
scholarship transforming traditional scholarly practices * Key
information technology trends affecting the conduct of scholarly
communication over the next decade * The trend toward end-user computing
* The trend toward greater connectivity * Effects of these trends * Key
transformations taking place * Summary of principal arguments *
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Avra MICHELSON, Archival Research and Evaluation Staff, National Archives
and Records Administration (NARA), argued that establishing who will use
electronic texts and what they will use them for involves a consideration
of both information technology and scholarship trends. This
consideration includes several elements related to scholarship and
technology: 1) the key trends in information technology that are most
relevant to scholarship; 2) the key trends in the use of currently
available technology by scholars in the nonscientific community; and 3)
the relationship between these two very distinct but interrelated trends.
The investment in understanding this relationship being made by
information providers, technologists, and public policy developers, as
well as by scholars themselves, seems to be pervasive and growing,
MICHELSON contended. She drew on collaborative work with Jeff Rothenberg
on the scholarly use of technology.
MICHELSON sought to place the phenomenon of electronic texts within the
context of broader trends within information technology and scholarly
communication. She argued that electronic texts are of most use to
researchers to the extent that the researchers' working context (i.e.,
their relevant bibliographic sources, collegial feedback, analytic tools,
notes, drafts, etc.), along with their field's primary and secondary
sources, also is accessible in electronic form and can be integrated in
ways that are unique to the on-line environment.
Evaluation of the prospects for the use of electronic texts includes two
elements: 1) an examination of the ways in which researchers currently
are using electronic texts along with other electronic resources, and 2)
an analysis of key information technology trends that are affecting the
long-term conduct of scholarly communication. MICHELSON limited her
discussion of the use of electronic texts to the practices of humanists
and noted that the scientific community was outside the panel's overview.
MICHELSON examined the nature of the current relationship of electronic
texts in particular, and electronic resources in general, to what she
maintained were, essentially, five processes of scholarly communication
in humanities research. Researchers 1) identify sources, 2) communicate
with their colleagues, 3) interpret and analyze data, 4) disseminate
their research findings, and 5) prepare curricula to instruct the next
generation of scholars and students. This examination would produce a
clearer understanding of the synergy among these five processes that
fuels the tendency of the use of electronic resources for one process to
stimulate its use for other processes of scholarly communication.
For the first process of scholarly communication, the identification of
sources, MICHELSON remarked the opportunity scholars now enjoy to
supplement traditional word-of-mouth searches for sources among their
colleagues with new forms of electronic searching. So, for example,
instead of having to visit the library, researchers are able to explore
descriptions of holdings in their offices. Furthermore, if their own
institutions' holdings prove insufficient, scholars can access more than
200 major American library catalogues over Internet, including the
universities of California, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
Direct access to the bibliographic databases offers intellectual
empowerment to scholars by presenting a comprehensive means of browsing
through libraries from their homes and offices at their convenience.
The second process of communication involves communication among
scholars. Beyond the most common methods of communication, scholars are
using E-mail and a variety of new electronic communications formats
derived from it for further academic interchange. E-mail exchanges are
growing at an astonishing rate, reportedly 15 percent a month. They
currently constitute approximately half the traffic on research and
education networks. Moreover, the global spread of E-mail has been so
rapid that it is now possible for American scholars to use it to
communicate with colleagues in close to 140 other countries.
Other new exchange formats created by scholars and operating on Internet
include more than 700 conferences, with about 80 percent of these devoted
to topics in the social sciences and humanities. The rate of growth of
these scholarly electronic conferences also is astonishing. From l990 to
l991, 200 new conferences were identified on Internet. From October 1991
to June 1992, an additional 150 conferences in the social sciences and
humanities were added to this directory of listings. Scholars have
established conferences in virtually every field, within every different
discipline. For example, there are currently close to 600 active social
science and humanities conferences on topics such as art and
architecture, ethnomusicology, folklore, Japanese culture, medical
education, and gifted and talented education. The appeal to scholars of
communicating through these conferences is that, unlike any other medium,
electronic conferences today provide a forum for global communication
with peers at the front end of the research process.
Interpretation and analysis of sources constitutes the third process of
scholarly communication that MICHELSON discussed in terms of texts and
textual resources. The methods used to analyze sources fall somewhere on
a continuum from quantitative analysis to qualitative analysis.
Typically, evidence is culled and evaluated using methods drawn from both
ends of this continuum. At one end, quantitative analysis involves the
use of mathematical processes such as a count of frequencies and
distributions of occurrences or, on a higher level, regression analysis.
At the other end of the continuum, qualitative analysis typically
involves nonmathematical processes oriented toward language
interpretation or the building of theory. Aspects of this work involve
the processing--either manual or computational--of large and sometimes
massive amounts of textual sources, although the use of nontextual
sources as evidence, such as photographs, sound recordings, film footage,
and artifacts, is significant as well.
Scholars have discovered that many of the methods of interpretation and
analysis that are related to both quantitative and qualitative methods
are processes that can be performed by computers. For example, computers
can count. They can count brush strokes used in a Rembrandt painting or
perform regression analysis for understanding cause and effect. By means
of advanced technologies, computers can recognize patterns, analyze text,
and model concepts. Furthermore, computers can complete these processes
faster with more sources and with greater precision than scholars who
must rely on manual interpretation of data. But if scholars are to use
computers for these processes, source materials must be in a form
amenable to computer-assisted analysis. For this reason many scholars,
once they have identified the sources that are key to their research, are
converting them to machine-readable form. Thus, a representative example
of the numerous textual conversion projects organized by scholars around
the world in recent years to support computational text analysis is the
TLG, the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae. This project is devoted to
converting the extant ancient texts of classical Greece. (Editor's note:
according to the TLG Newsletter of May l992, TLG was in use in thirty-two
different countries. This figure updates MICHELSON's previous count by one.)
The scholars performing these conversions have been asked to recognize
that the electronic sources they are converting for one use possess value
for other research purposes as well. As a result, during the past few
years, humanities scholars have initiated a number of projects to
increase scholarly access to converted text. So, for example, the Text
Encoding Initiative (TEI), about which more is said later in the program,
was established as an effort by scholars to determine standard elements
and methods for encoding machine-readable text for electronic exchange.
In a second effort to facilitate the sharing of converted text, scholars
have created a new institution, the Center for Electronic Texts in the
Humanities (CETH). The center estimates that there are 8,000 series of
source texts in the humanities that have been converted to
machine-readable form worldwide. CETH is undertaking an international
search for converted text in the humanities, compiling it into an
electronic library, and preparing bibliographic descriptions of the
sources for the Research Libraries Information Network's (RLIN)
machine-readable data file. The library profession has begun to initiate
large conversion projects as well, such as American Memory.
While scholars have been making converted text available to one another,
typically on disk or on CD-ROM, the clear trend is toward making these
resources available through research and education networks. Thus, the
American and French Research on the Treasury of the French Language
(ARTFL) and the Dante Project are already available on Internet.
MICHELSON summarized this section on interpretation and analysis by
noting that: 1) increasing numbers of humanities scholars in the library
community are recognizing the importance to the advancement of
scholarship of retrospective conversion of source materials in the arts
and humanities; and 2) there is a growing realization that making the
sources available on research and education networks maximizes their
usefulness for the analysis performed by humanities scholars.
The fourth process of scholarly communication is dissemination of
research findings, that is, publication. Scholars are using existing
research and education networks to engineer a new type of publication:
scholarly-controlled journals that are electronically produced and
disseminated. Although such journals are still emerging as a
communication format, their number has grown, from approximately twelve
to thirty-six during the past year (July 1991 to June 1992). Most of
these electronic scholarly journals are devoted to topics in the
humanities. As with network conferences, scholarly enthusiasm for these
electronic journals stems from the medium's unique ability to advance
scholarship in a way that no other medium can do by supporting global
feedback and interchange, practically in real time, early in the research
process. Beyond scholarly journals, MICHELSON remarked the delivery of
commercial full-text products, such as articles in professional journals,
newsletters, magazines, wire services, and reference sources. These are
being delivered via on-line local library catalogues, especially through
CD-ROMs. Furthermore, according to MICHELSON, there is general optimism
that the copyright and fees issues impeding the delivery of full text on
existing research and education networks soon will be resolved.
The final process of scholarly communication is curriculum development
and instruction, and this involves the use of computer information
technologies in two areas. The first is the development of
computer-oriented instructional tools, which includes simulations,
multimedia applications, and computer tools that are used to assist in
the analysis of sources in the classroom, etc. The Perseus Project, a
database that provides a multimedia curriculum on classical Greek
civilization, is a good example of the way in which entire curricula are
being recast using information technologies. It is anticipated that the
current difficulty in exchanging electronically computer-based
instructional software, which in turn makes it difficult for one scholar
to build upon the work of others, will be resolved before too long.
Stand-alone curricular applications that involve electronic text will be
sharable through networks, reinforcing their significance as intellectual
products as well as instructional tools.
The second aspect of electronic learning involves the use of research and
education networks for distance education programs. Such programs
interactively link teachers with students in geographically scattered
locations and rely on the availability of electronic instructional
resources. Distance education programs are gaining wide appeal among
state departments of education because of their demonstrated capacity to
bring advanced specialized course work and an array of experts to many
classrooms. A recent report found that at least 32 states operated at
least one statewide network for education in 1991, with networks under
development in many of the remaining states.
MICHELSON summarized this section by noting two striking changes taking
place in scholarly communication among humanities scholars. First is the
extent to which electronic text in particular, and electronic resources
in general, are being infused into each of the five processes described
above. As mentioned earlier, there is a certain synergy at work here.
The use of electronic resources for one process tends to stimulate its
use for other processes, because the chief course of movement is toward a
comprehensive on-line working context for humanities scholars that
includes on-line availability of key bibliographies, scholarly feedback,
sources, analytical tools, and publications. MICHELSON noted further
that the movement toward a comprehensive on-line working context for
humanities scholars is not new. In fact, it has been underway for more
than forty years in the humanities, since Father Roberto Busa began
developing an electronic concordance of the works of Saint Thomas Aquinas
in 1949. What we are witnessing today, MICHELSON contended, is not the
beginning of this on-line transition but, for at least some humanities
scholars, the turning point in the transition from a print to an
electronic working context. Coinciding with the on-line transition, the
second striking change is the extent to which research and education
networks are becoming the new medium of scholarly communication. The
existing Internet and the pending National Education and Research Network
(NREN) represent the new meeting ground where scholars are going for
bibliographic information, scholarly dialogue and feedback, the most
current publications in their field, and high-level educational
offerings. Traditional scholarly practices are undergoing tremendous
transformations as a result of the emergence and growing prominence of
what is called network-mediated scholarship.
MICHELSON next turned to the second element of the framework she proposed
at the outset of her talk for evaluating the prospects for electronic
text, namely the key information technology trends affecting the conduct
of scholarly communication over the next decade: 1) end-user computing
and 2) connectivity.
End-user computing means that the person touching the keyboard, or
performing computations, is the same as the person who initiates or
consumes the computation. The emergence of personal computers, along
with a host of other forces, such as ubiquitous computing, advances in
interface design, and the on-line transition, is prompting the consumers
of computation to do their own computing, and is thus rendering obsolete
the traditional distinction between end users and ultimate users.
The trend toward end-user computing is significant to consideration of
the prospects for electronic texts because it means that researchers are
becoming more adept at doing their own computations and, thus, more
competent in the use of electronic media. By avoiding programmer
intermediaries, computation is becoming central to the researcher's
thought process. This direct involvement in computing is changing the
researcher's perspective on the nature of research itself, that is, the
kinds of questions that can be posed, the analytical methodologies that
can be used, the types and amount of sources that are appropriate for
analyses, and the form in which findings are presented. The trend toward
end-user computing means that, increasingly, electronic media and
computation are being infused into all processes of humanities
scholarship, inspiring remarkable transformations in scholarly
communication.
The trend toward greater connectivity suggests that researchers are using
computation increasingly in network environments. Connectivity is
important to scholarship because it erases the distance that separates
students from teachers and scholars from their colleagues, while allowing
users to access remote databases, share information in many different
media, connect to their working context wherever they are, and
collaborate in all phases of research.
The combination of the trend toward end-user computing and the trend
toward connectivity suggests that the scholarly use of electronic
resources, already evident among some researchers, will soon become an
established feature of scholarship. The effects of these trends, along
with ongoing changes in scholarly practices, point to a future in which
humanities researchers will use computation and electronic communication
to help them formulate ideas, access sources, perform research,
collaborate with colleagues, seek peer review, publish and disseminate
results, and engage in many other professional and educational activities.
In summary, MICHELSON emphasized four points: 1) A portion of humanities
scholars already consider electronic texts the preferred format for
analysis and dissemination. 2) Scholars are using these electronic
texts, in conjunction with other electronic resources, in all the
processes of scholarly communication. 3) The humanities scholars'
working context is in the process of changing from print technology to
electronic technology, in many ways mirroring transformations that have
occurred or are occurring within the scientific community. 4) These
changes are occurring in conjunction with the development of a new
communication medium: research and education networks that are
characterized by their capacity to advance scholarship in a wholly unique
way.
MICHELSON also reiterated her three principal arguments: l) Electronic
texts are best understood in terms of the relationship to other
electronic resources and the growing prominence of network-mediated
scholarship. 2) The prospects for electronic texts lie in their capacity
to be integrated into the on-line network of electronic resources that
comprise the new working context for scholars. 3) Retrospective conversion
of portions of the scholarly record should be a key strategy as information
providers respond to changes in scholarly communication practices.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
VECCIA * AM's evaluation project and public users of electronic resources
* AM and its design * Site selection and evaluating the Macintosh
implementation of AM * Characteristics of the six public libraries
selected * Characteristics of AM's users in these libraries * Principal
ways AM is being used *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Susan VECCIA, team leader, and Joanne FREEMAN, associate coordinator,
American Memory, Library of Congress, gave a joint presentation. First,
by way of introduction, VECCIA explained her and FREEMAN's roles in
American Memory (AM). Serving principally as an observer, VECCIA has
assisted with the evaluation project of AM, placing AM collections in a
variety of different sites around the country and helping to organize and
implement that project. FREEMAN has been an associate coordinator of AM
and has been involved principally with the interpretative materials,
preparing some of the electronic exhibits and printed historical
information that accompanies AM and that is requested by users. VECCIA
and FREEMAN shared anecdotal observations concerning AM with public users
of electronic resources. Notwithstanding a fairly structured evaluation
in progress, both VECCIA and FREEMAN chose not to report on specifics in
terms of numbers, etc., because they felt it was too early in the
evaluation project to do so.
AM is an electronic archive of primary source materials from the Library
of Congress, selected collections representing a variety of formats--
photographs, graphic arts, recorded sound, motion pictures, broadsides,
and soon, pamphlets and books. In terms of the design of this system,
the interpretative exhibits have been kept separate from the primary
resources, with good reason. Accompanying this collection are printed
documentation and user guides, as well as guides that FREEMAN prepared for
teachers so that they may begin using the content of the system at once.
VECCIA described the evaluation project before talking about the public
users of AM, limiting her remarks to public libraries, because FREEMAN
would talk more specifically about schools from kindergarten to twelfth
grade (K-12). Having started in spring 1991, the evaluation currently
involves testing of the Macintosh implementation of AM. Since the
primary goal of this evaluation is to determine the most appropriate
audience or audiences for AM, very different sites were selected. This
makes evaluation difficult because of the varying degrees of technology
literacy among the sites. AM is situated in forty-four locations, of
which six are public libraries and sixteen are schools. Represented
among the schools are elementary, junior high, and high schools.
District offices also are involved in the evaluation, which will
conclude in summer 1993.
VECCIA focused the remainder of her talk on the six public libraries, one
of which doubles as a state library. They represent a range of
geographic areas and a range of demographic characteristics. For
example, three are located in urban settings, two in rural settings, and
one in a suburban setting. A range of technical expertise is to be found
among these facilities as well. For example, one is an "Apple library of
the future," while two others are rural one-room libraries--in one, AM
sits at the front desk next to a tractor manual.
All public libraries have been extremely enthusiastic, supportive, and
appreciative of the work that AM has been doing. VECCIA characterized
various users: Most users in public libraries describe themselves as
general readers; of the students who use AM in the public libraries,
those in fourth grade and above seem most interested. Public libraries
in rural sites tend to attract retired people, who have been highly
receptive to AM. Users tend to fall into two additional categories:
people interested in the content and historical connotations of these
primary resources, and those fascinated by the technology. The format
receiving the most comments has been motion pictures. The adult users in
public libraries are more comfortable with IBM computers, whereas young
people seem comfortable with either IBM or Macintosh, although most of
them seem to come from a Macintosh background. This same tendency is
found in the schools.
What kinds of things do users do with AM? In a public library there are
two main goals or ways that AM is being used: as an individual learning
tool, and as a leisure activity. Adult learning was one area that VECCIA
would highlight as a possible application for a tool such as AM. She
described a patron of a rural public library who comes in every day on
his lunch hour and literally reads AM, methodically going through the
collection image by image. At the end of his hour he makes an electronic
bookmark, puts it in his pocket, and returns to work. The next day he
comes in and resumes where he left off. Interestingly, this man had
never been in the library before he used AM. In another small, rural
library, the coordinator reports that AM is a popular activity for some
of the older, retired people in the community, who ordinarily would not
use "those things,"--computers. Another example of adult learning in
public libraries is book groups, one of which, in particular, is using AM
as part of its reading on industrialization, integration, and urbanization
in the early 1900s.
One library reports that a family is using AM to help educate their
children. In another instance, individuals from a local museum came in
to use AM to prepare an exhibit on toys of the past. These two examples
emphasize the mission of the public library as a cultural institution,
reaching out to people who do not have the same resources available to
those who live in a metropolitan area or have access to a major library.
One rural library reports that junior high school students in large
numbers came in one afternoon to use AM for entertainment. A number of
public libraries reported great interest among postcard collectors in the
Detroit collection, which was essentially a collection of images used on
postcards around the turn of the century. Train buffs are similarly
interested because that was a time of great interest in railroading.
People, it was found, relate to things that they know of firsthand. For
example, in both rural public libraries where AM was made available,
observers reported that the older people with personal remembrances of
the turn of the century were gravitating to the Detroit collection.
These examples served to underscore MICHELSON's observation re the
integration of electronic tools and ideas--that people learn best when
the material relates to something they know.
VECCIA made the final point that in many cases AM serves as a
public-relations tool for the public libraries that are testing it. In
one case, AM is being used as a vehicle to secure additional funding for
the library. In another case, AM has served as an inspiration to the
staff of a major local public library in the South to think about ways to
make its own collection of photographs more accessible to the public.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
FREEMAN * AM and archival electronic resources in a school environment *
Questions concerning context * Questions concerning the electronic format
itself * Computer anxiety * Access and availability of the system *
Hardware * Strengths gained through the use of archival resources in
schools *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Reiterating an observation made by VECCIA, that AM is an archival
resource made up of primary materials with very little interpretation,
FREEMAN stated that the project has attempted to bridge the gap between
these bare primary materials and a school environment, and in that cause
has created guided introductions to AM collections. Loud demand from the
educational community, chiefly from teachers working with the upper
grades of elementary school through high school, greeted the announcement
that AM would be tested around the country.
FREEMAN reported not only on what was learned about AM in a school
environment, but also on several universal questions that were raised
concerning archival electronic resources in schools. She discussed
several strengths of this type of material in a school environment as
opposed to a highly structured resource that offers a limited number of
paths to follow.
FREEMAN first raised several questions about using AM in a school
environment. There is often some difficulty in developing a sense of
what the system contains. Many students sit down at a computer resource
and assume that, because AM comes from the Library of Congress, all of
American history is now at their fingertips. As a result of that sort of
mistaken judgment, some students are known to conclude that AM contains
nothing of use to them when they look for one or two things and do not
find them. It is difficult to discover that middle ground where one has
a sense of what the system contains. Some students grope toward the idea
of an archive, a new idea to them, since they have not previously
experienced what it means to have access to a vast body of somewhat
random information.
Other questions raised by FREEMAN concerned the electronic format itself.
For instance, in a school environment it is often difficult both for
teachers and students to gain a sense of what it is they are viewing.
They understand that it is a visual image, but they do not necessarily
know that it is a postcard from the turn of the century, a panoramic
photograph, or even machine-readable text of an eighteenth-century
broadside, a twentieth-century printed book, or a nineteenth-century
diary. That distinction is often difficult for people in a school
environment to grasp. Because of that, it occasionally becomes difficult
to draw conclusions from what one is viewing.
FREEMAN also noted the obvious fear of the computer, which constitutes a
difficulty in using an electronic resource. Though students in general
did not suffer from this anxiety, several older students feared that they
were computer-illiterate, an assumption that became self-fulfilling when
they searched for something but failed to find it. FREEMAN said she
believed that some teachers also fear computer resources, because they
believe they lack complete control. FREEMAN related the example of
teachers shooing away students because it was not their time to use the
system. This was a case in which the situation had to be extremely
structured so that the teachers would not feel that they had lost their
grasp on what the system contained.
A final question raised by FREEMAN concerned access and availability of
the system. She noted the occasional existence of a gap in communication
between school librarians and teachers. Often AM sits in a school
library and the librarian is the person responsible for monitoring the
system. Teachers do not always take into their world new library
resources about which the librarian is excited. Indeed, at the sites
where AM had been used most effectively within a library, the librarian
was required to go to specific teachers and instruct them in its use. As
a result, several AM sites will have in-service sessions over a summer,
in the hope that perhaps, with a more individualized link, teachers will
be more likely to use the resource.
A related issue in the school context concerned the number of
workstations available at any one location. Centralization of equipment
at the district level, with teachers invited to download things and walk
away with them, proved unsuccessful because the hours these offices were
open were also school hours.
Another issue was hardware. As VECCIA observed, a range of sites exists,
some technologically advanced and others essentially acquiring their
first computer for the primary purpose of using it in conjunction with
AM's testing. Users at technologically sophisticated sites want even
more sophisticated hardware, so that they can perform even more
sophisticated tasks with the materials in AM. But once they acquire a
newer piece of hardware, they must learn how to use that also; at an
unsophisticated site it takes an extremely long time simply to become
accustomed to the computer, not to mention the program offered with the
computer. All of these small issues raise one large question, namely,
are systems like AM truly rewarding in a school environment, or do they
simply act as innovative toys that do little more than spark interest?
FREEMAN contended that the evaluation project has revealed several strengths
that were gained through the use of archival resources in schools, including:
* Psychic rewards from using AM as a vast, rich database, with
teachers assigning various projects to students--oral presentations,
written reports, a documentary, a turn-of-the-century newspaper--
projects that start with the materials in AM but are completed using
other resources; AM thus is used as a research tool in conjunction
with other electronic resources, as well as with books and items in
the library where the system is set up.
* Students are acquiring computer literacy in a humanities context.
* This sort of system is overcoming the isolation between disciplines
that often exists in schools. For example, many English teachers are
requiring their students to write papers on historical topics
represented in AM. Numerous teachers have reported that their
students are learning critical thinking skills using the system.
* On a broader level, AM is introducing primary materials, not only
to students but also to teachers, in an environment where often
simply none exist--an exciting thing for the students because it
helps them learn to conduct research, to interpret, and to draw
their own conclusions. In learning to conduct research and what it
means, students are motivated to seek knowledge. That relates to
another positive outcome--a high level of personal involvement of
students with the materials in this system and greater motivation to
conduct their own research and draw their own conclusions.
* Perhaps the most ironic strength of these kinds of archival
electronic resources is that many of the teachers AM interviewed
were desperate, it is no exaggeration to say, not only for primary
materials but for unstructured primary materials. These would, they
thought, foster personally motivated research, exploration, and
excitement in their students. Indeed, these materials have done
just that. Ironically, however, this lack of structure produces
some of the confusion to which the newness of these kinds of
resources may also contribute. The key to effective use of archival
products in a school environment is a clear, effective introduction
to the system and to what it contains.
******
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
DISCUSSION * Nothing known, quantitatively, about the number of
humanities scholars who must see the original versus those who would
settle for an edited transcript, or about the ways in which humanities
scholars are using information technology * Firm conclusions concerning
the manner and extent of the use of supporting materials in print
provided by AM to await completion of evaluative study * A listener's
reflections on additional applications of electronic texts * Role of
electronic resources in teaching elementary research skills to students *
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
During the discussion that followed the presentations by MICHELSON,
VECCIA, and FREEMAN, additional points emerged.
LESK asked if MICHELSON could give any quantitative estimate of the
number of humanities scholars who must see or want to see the original,
or the best possible version of the material, versus those who typically
would settle for an edited transcript. While unable to provide a figure,
she offered her impressions as an archivist who has done some reference
work and has discussed this issue with other archivists who perform
reference, that those who use archives and those who use primary sources
for what would be considered very high-level scholarly research, as
opposed to, say, undergraduate papers, were few in number, especially
given the public interest in using primary sources to conduct
genealogical or avocational research and the kind of professional
research done by people in private industry or the federal government.
More important in MICHELSON's view was that, quantitatively, nothing is
known about the ways in which, for example, humanities scholars are using
information technology. No studies exist to offer guidance in creating
strategies. The most recent study was conducted in 1985 by the American
Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), and what it showed was that 50
percent of humanities scholars at that time were using computers. That
constitutes the extent of our knowledge.
Concerning AM's strategy for orienting people toward the scope of
electronic resources, FREEMAN could offer no hard conclusions at this
point, because she and her colleagues were still waiting to see,
particularly in the schools, what has been made of their efforts. Within
the system, however, AM has provided what are called electronic exhibits-
-such as introductions to time periods and materials--and these are
intended to offer a student user a sense of what a broadside is and what
it might tell her or him. But FREEMAN conceded that the project staff
would have to talk with students next year, after teachers have had a
summer to use the materials, and attempt to discover what the students
were learning from the materials. In addition, FREEMAN described
supporting materials in print provided by AM at the request of local
teachers during a meeting held at LC. These included time lines,
bibliographies, and other materials that could be reproduced on a
photocopier in a classroom. Teachers could walk away with and use these,
and in this way gain a better understanding of the contents. But again,
reaching firm conclusions concerning the manner and extent of their use
would have to wait until next year.
As to the changes she saw occurring at the National Archives and Records
Administration (NARA) as a result of the increasing emphasis on
technology in scholarly research, MICHELSON stated that NARA at this
point was absorbing the report by her and Jeff Rothenberg addressing
strategies for the archival profession in general, although not for the
National Archives specifically. NARA is just beginning to establish its
role and what it can do. In terms of changes and initiatives that NARA
can take, no clear response could be given at this time.
GREENFIELD remarked two trends mentioned in the session. Reflecting on
DALY's opening comments on how he could have used a Latin collection of
text in an electronic form, he said that at first he thought most scholars
would be unwilling to do that. But as he thought of that in terms of the
original meaning of research--that is, having already mastered these texts,
researching them for critical and comparative purposes--for the first time,
the electronic format made a lot of sense. GREENFIELD could envision
growing numbers of scholars learning the new technologies for that very
aspect of their scholarship and for convenience's sake.
Listening to VECCIA and FREEMAN, GREENFIELD thought of an additional
application of electronic texts. He realized that AM could be used as a
guide to lead someone to original sources. Students cannot be expected
to have mastered these sources, things they have never known about
before. Thus, AM is leading them, in theory, to a vast body of
information and giving them a superficial overview of it, enabling them
to select parts of it. GREENFIELD asked if any evidence exists that this
resource will indeed teach the new user, the K-12 students, how to do
research. Scholars already know how to do research and are applying
these new tools. But he wondered why students would go beyond picking
out things that were most exciting to them.
FREEMAN conceded the correctness of GREENFIELD's observation as applied
to a school environment. The risk is that a student would sit down at a
system, play with it, find some things of interest, and then walk away.
But in the relatively controlled situation of a school library, much will
depend on the instructions a teacher or a librarian gives a student. She
viewed the situation not as one of fine-tuning research skills but of
involving students at a personal level in understanding and researching
things. Given the guidance one can receive at school, it then becomes
possible to teach elementary research skills to students, which in fact
one particular librarian said she was teaching her fifth graders.
FREEMAN concluded that introducing the idea of following one's own path
of inquiry, which is essentially what research entails, involves more
than teaching specific skills. To these comments VECCIA added the
observation that the individual teacher and the use of a creative
resource, rather than AM itself, seemed to make the key difference.
Some schools and some teachers are making excellent use of the nature
of critical thinking and teaching skills, she said.
Concurring with these remarks, DALY closed the session with the thought that
the more that producers produced for teachers and for scholars to use with
their students, the more successful their electronic products would prove.
******