PREPRINT VERSION No such thing as Humanities Computing? An Analytical History of Digital Resource Creation and Computing in the Humanities1

This article seeks to answer the following questions: How is the outcome of a humanities computing project affected by the context in which it is established? Does this context have an effect on the way in which research is integrated into more traditional scholarly culture? What is the impact of national infrastructure and funding regimes? The research sought to determine how, within the confines of what is practicable and realistic, the creation and use of digital resources in the humanities can best be carried out. Research was conducted using qualitative case-study methods and compared the history and development of a sample of projects in the USA and England. Findings were that institutional commitment to humanities computing was vital, and that this is best achieved when centres focus on research rather than teaching or support. Funding was found to be a key issue, as was the way in which young scholars are developed. All of these issues were affected by the prestige which humanities computing is perceived to have amongst more traditional scholars, since the discipline has been threatened in institutions where humanities computing is not held in high esteem. It is therefore argued that researchers in humanities computing must communicate the importance of their work to their more traditional colleagues to ensure the continued survival of the discipline