Research and Representation: The M. Phil in History and Computing

Abstract

The M.Phil in History and Computing, offered by the University of Glasgow since 1989, is one of the longest running specialist masters' programmes in humanities computing. This article explains the thinking that lies behind the M.Phil, and considers such practical issues as course design and delivery, contributing to a debate which is emerging as postgraduate programmes in humanities computing become more common. Since the purpose of a postgraduate course is to prepare practitioners who will work within a discipline, the composition of masters' curricula in humanities computing must be closely related to the questions of whether or not such a discipline exists, and if so how it is constituted. Furthermore, what is the relationship between humanities computing overall and more specialised instances of the field, each with its own character, such as historical computing? The nature of humanities computing is more than a matter of academic interest. Although individuals are ultimately unlikely to embark on courses for which the career prospects are poor, it is nonetheless the responsibility of those offering such programmes to be sure that there are likely to be jobs for students who complete them successfully.1 My thinking on the nature of humanities computing has benefited from the recent stimulating discussion at the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, "Is Humanities Computing an Academic Discipline"?2 Yet this is by no means a new debate. The Association for History and Computing (AHC) has been discussing the nature of historical computing since its founding, and the issue remains vital to the association's future. A central question is whether the subject is closer to history or computing. Taken literally, the expression "historical computing" might suggest that the discipline should be viewed as a form of information science. When in the early 1990s a series of workshops met under the aegis of the International AHC to formulate a curriculum for historical computing, Leen Breure suggested the following definition: "historical computing comprises a wide variety of computer methods and techniques dealing with all kinds of irregularities in data processing related to the factors 'time' and 'space' ". "The primary goal",