About Humanists @ the Command Line
Humanists at the Command Line has a straightforward goal: publish, explore, advance, and share technology useful for humanistic work.
More bluntly: technology moves rapidly; academia does not.
In short, this is dev tools for humanists and humanities data
For humanists, whether or not they would claim to be in the academic field of "digital humanities", material here is meant to bridge the gap between technologist and humanist mindsets and practices. Technology changes rapidly. One of the most difficult things for humanists is not so much keeping up with all of that so much as being able to get one's bearings amidst that onslaught of technological hype. There's a lot that could and should be of use to humanists, whether for research or publication or teaching, but all of that is useless if it remains unknown or unapproachable. The university itself moves so slowly, especially when it comes to technology, that there is often not much institutional support for keeping humanists and non-tech disciplines in particular up to speed on technologies that may very well be of interest. Within an academic context, students are often the mediators for faculty about what's new and hot in technology. But students are poor guides in this regard, both because their own focus, for all good intentions, is very different from that of researchers and teachers, and also because it is very easy to overestimate the novelty and novel value of new technology.
You'll find a few different types of content here The main stuff is "Dev Tools for Humanists" containing reviews, how-to guides, technology overviews and perspectives. Beyond that though generative AI has been the hype cycle of the past year; I've done a lot in that area and thought a lot about where that fits into the humanist's toolkit. For convenience, that's collected under "AI". In addition, I think we can learn a lot about both technology and humanism from looking at technologies of the past with the perspective granted by our ever-moving present. You'll find that on occasion under "RetroFuture Desk." Technology is a signifier against which we measure progress as well as what matters to us, particularly what matters about the humanistic core of literature, art, society, and ideas. Retrotech is not just a fun hobby or side venture; it's the visible reminder of the long history of tech, stretching back from retrocomputing and yellowing classic computers to typewriters, photography, recording, manuscripts, and the ancient roots of writing, tooling, crafting, and creating to the earliest whispers of humanity.
About Me
Hi! I'm Allen, currently working in technology and formerly a professor in digital humanities and Classics. I used to teach things like Ancient Greek, myth, and literature; I also used to teach things like NLP, web development, and various other technologies. You can find more about my professional activities elsewhere.
You can also contact me via email at allen@commandline.press.