Statement of Computer Support


Classical studies has now a tradition of active involvement with computers. Due to the early availability of significant quantities of machine-readable Greek and Latin texts as well as early and ambitious efforts to coordinate these and other data for the purposes of researchand pedagogy, Classics has rightly been regarded as a leader in the use of computers for humanistic inquiry. The purpose of this documentis to outline support considerations which may help Classics maintain this position of leadership.


  1. Computer literacy. Many of the basic resources of Classical scholarship and pedagogy are becoming or have become electronic. Among these resources are text and image data banks, basic tools such as bibliographies, and the unstable but profound resources that come with connectivity to computer networks, from the chat of mailing lists to formal pedagogical interchange to complex and growing webs of "published" materials. Able use of such resources is therefore increasingly essential to our profession. With full awareness of demands on time and the constraints of local finances, the Association nonetheless affirms as an ideal the following:

    • Working scholars and teachers should as a matter of course include competency in computer resources among the goals of their own continuing education.
    • Graduate departments should make competency in the use of electronic tools a basic element in the training of graduate students, with due concern for the hiring, support, and promotion of faculty able to offer this training.

  2. Development and use of electronic resources. Useful electronic tools will be developed principally by scholars and teachers and not by computer support personnel. But faculty will often require technical assistance in the construction of such tools, and may also require significant training in software and hardware systems if they are to realize the advantages offered by electronic technology. In addition, there must be a suitable forum for the use of these tools if faculty efforts are to bear fruit. Though, again, local constraints may make immediate or full implementation impossible, the following support considerations merit particular attention:

    • In order to make good use of electronic resources, faculty need to have support beyond basic and continuing training in electronic technologies. Institutions are therefore urged to provide support personnel to faculty for (1) systems advice, that is, technical advice on the feasibility of ideas and on the strategies for their implementation; and (2) direct technical assistance, that is, the availability of technically-competent personnel to accomplish tasks not requiring expert knowledge of the academic discipline.

    • In order to integrate electronic resources more fully into teaching and learning, and in order to take full advantage of resources for research purposes, it is requisite that institutions provide faculty with classrooms and other facilities (such as computing "laboratories") capable of giving access to available technology. Members who write or influence proposals to create technological facilities are encouraged to contact the APA Committee on Computer Activities for specific advice as needed.

  3. Support for non-traditional scholarship and pedagogy in technological areas. Faculty members who develop computer-based educational applications and scholarly products should receive due recognition for such curricular, pedagogical, and scholarly contributions. Included here is the support and promotion of scholars who create enabling technologies, that is, technologies which permit other scholars to pose new questions in their research, or teach their classes in new ways. Examples are the generation of complex data bases, or the development of software specific to research or pedagogy in the Classics. The creation of such enabling technologies requires singular expertise both in high technology and in Classical scholarship, involves intellectual and imaginative effort of a high order, and directly benefits the profession. In recognition of these facts, and with the express purpose of fostering more creative activity combining these skills, the Association urges that departments and institutions give due recognition in the tenure and promotion process to contributions to the Classics that make significant use of electronic technologies. Electronic contributions should be evaluated as other comparable materials, through external review by experts, and without prejudice to the non-traditional forms in which such contributions are commonly disseminated. Institutions are encouraged to contact the APA Committee on Computer Activities for guidance in cases where local resources are inadequate for the evaluation of non-traditional contributions.


Approved by the APA Board of Directors December 30, 1995