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.
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