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An English prof blends humanities with state-of-the-art technology
by Beth Haysom
“William Shakespeare meets Bill Gates?” UVic English professor Ray Siemens laughs at this cheeky description of the new dimension of humanities computing.
“Well I’m sure some of my colleagues do consider me to be something of a classicist geek,” says Siemens, named the Canada Research Chair in Humanities Computing in 2004. “Certainly this is a difficult discipline for people to understand.”
By way of explanation, Siemens holds up a computer-generated graphic illustration of Paradise Lost. The entire 12 books of John Milton’s epic poem of humanity’s fall from grace are dramatically depicted as a radiating whorl of words. Oft repeated words like Satan, Adam, Eve, Earth and Serpent pop out as the focal point of the design.
“It’s aesthetically beautiful and a good example of the variety of ways that technology can help students think about and access the classics,” says Siemens, who brims with enthusiasm for the boundless possibilities that can be achieved by coupling the study of humanities with state-of-the-art technology.
Paradise Lost is a case in point, he explains. Over the years the poem, considered a masterpiece of the English language, has been “lost” to students unable or unwilling to explore its complexities. Now scholars reading computer versions of the texts, armed with a mouse, have explanatory annotations at their fingertips.
“That’s the goal of humanities, to learn from the past,” says Siemens, who believes that a world full of better readers with greater historical comprehension will be “a better place” and that new computing digital tools are a means to take us there.
Serendipitously, Siemens realized the potential of linking computers with humanities after he graduated in English and was scooped up to work for high-tech companies during the Silicon Valley boom in the ’80s. Now he’s leading the charge in the digital humanities evolution.
Since he arrived at UVic in 2004, Siemens has been developing models for the electronic scholarly study of humanities and the arts. Among his projects, The Devonshire Manuscript, a collection of verse, is the first significant example of men and women writing together.
Assisted by a team of researchers, Siemens is creating a context for the manuscript by linking it electronically to contemporary and historical texts, historical records, art work and critical reviews. “This resource would
be difficult to present in any other form,” he says.
Last fall, Siemens set up the electronic textual cultures lab, next to the humanities computer-assisted language laboratory, staffed by eight grad students from various disciplines. Siemens and his team spend endless hours encoding humanities documents and texts to make them accessible to academics and others.
On Siemens “to do” list, are the Shakespeare sonnets that he’s working on for the UVic-based Internet Shakespeare Editions, an internationally renowned online resource.
“We should be proud, UVic is definitely at the front of the pack in this field,” says Siemens, who is director of the Humanities Computing Summer Institute and hosts its fifth gathering at UVic this month. The event is a forum for dedicated digital enthusiasts to discuss and develop skills in new humanities and arts computing technologies.
Siemens has co-authored nine books on new technology topics including A Companion to Digital Humanities, which he hopes will serve as a roadmap for others following the digital path. He has presented over 50 papers and regularly crisscrosses North America and Europe to research and promote the latest findings in the digital field.
It’s not all about bits and bytes. Siemens also has a soft spot for Henry VIII and has given several presentations on song lyrics written by the youthful English monarch before he became maligned as the much-wifed architect of the English Reformation.
Young Henry, it turns out, wrote a kind of royal rap, remonstrating against the claustrophobia of the court, pleading that being allowed to play games would make him a better king.
Siemens has taken that tenet to heart. One of his courses at UVic teaches students the tools for computer interactivity. New technology allows readers to play an active part in storytelling, to choose a character, interact with the story and even change the ending.
Asked for his favourite interactive role, Siemens picks a character he chose while playing online literary games with his children: Amelia Black in Age of Empires 111. “She was the very capable daughter of a Scots adventurer-type with ties to the Knights Templar at the time of the discovery and exploration of the New World,” says Siemens.
No doubt Henry VIII would have approved.
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