| Abstract: | ABSTRACT This article, the first of two on electronic text and electronic text centers, looks at the period from the end of World War II to the late Eighties. It is a survey of the early history of working with electronic texts and a number of major initiatives, projects and standards are discussed. The author argues that electronic texts can only be understood in the wider context of humanities computing which during this period mistakenly modeled itself after work done in the pure and social sciences. Such an emphasis was based on a limited view of the computer and has now been largely superseded by developments in technology more propitious to humanistic endeavor. |
