Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 40, No. 103.
        Department of Digital Humanities, University of Cologne
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        Date: 2026-07-28 08:10:20+00:00
        From: Willard McCarty <willard.mccarty@mccarty.org.uk>
        Subject: augmenting, not replacing

Considering how your work might be published, what role(s) would you
assign to the digital medium at what stages? Let's assume the work,
including the working out of it, would benefit authors and readers if
circulated.

In the natural sciences and engineering, where quick publication of
results is needed and commonplace, there is little need for the codex
book in print, I take it, except perhaps in edited collections such as
Springer et al. produce at pace. Are not the humanities and nearby
social sciences different in this respect? Nevertheless under the
influence of the former fields, one may feel pressure to give up on the
printed book. The cost of books and the stately pace at which
publication of them proceeds add to this pressure, especially on
early-career scholars.

What are we to do? It seems to me in my roles as both author and editor
that for the philosophical-historical disciplines the printed codex
remains essential in most cases. There the digital medium is essential
for searching, note-taking, discussing, exchanging papers and so on. The
codex, however, is to my mind for serious reading. It establishes the
conditions under which we want to be read--not our 'results' but our
ideas and arguments. The online medium augments, not replaces, I say.

This does not make the problem for early-career scholars any easier.
That's an institutional and political problem to be addressed. But it
preserves a space for serious written thought that in many cases--and is
certainly our goal, I'd think--lasts for centuries. I ask, how long does
anything last online?

Comments?

Best,
WM
--
Willard McCarty,
Professor em., King's College London;
www.mccarty.org.uk


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