Texpert Systems [1997, rptd. 2008]

Abstract

Humanists who use information technology belong to one of three groups: 1) computer literate humanists, who use simple computing tools, such as word processors, to make their traditional work easier; 2) computing humanists, who develop novel approaches to research questions using the computer; and 3) computing fundamentalists, who believe that the computer alone offers a unique perspective on what is perhaps most central to the humanities. In this paper we present the principal tenets of computing fundamentalism in the framework of the expert systems approach to meaning evaluation. Dialogue is central to this approach and key to the humanities in general. Computing technology offers a new kind of dialogue in which retrievability and reusability play a dominant role, complementary to the role played by storage in printed works.