Humanities Indicators Now Available

January 11th, 2009

Posted by: admin

As part of its Initiative on the Humanities and Culture, the American Academy of Arts and Science released its Online Humanities Research Center this past week.  Analogous to the National Science Foundation’s Science and Engineering Indicators, the Humanities Indicators available at that site are an effort to establish a systematic compendium of data on humanities research and education in the United States (this would include the history and philosophy of sciences and medicine, but not the other disciplines usually found under the Science and Technology Studies/Science and Technology Policy Research umbrellas).

The indicators volume covers humanities education (K-graduate), the humanities workforce, research and funding in the field, and aspects of the humanities in American life (such as language, reading, and historic preservation).  Companion essays help place the indicators in various contexts, including public and higher education as well as public life.  One essay also outlines the idea of a humanities workforce that parallels the idea of a science and engineering workforce.  The essays are helpful in underlining a major goal of the project – to have a better understanding of the humanities and their ability to engage with various publics.  I find it a good model for other areas that have had challenges in connecting their academic research with practitioners ‘in the field.’

I make a point of this not for any particular cheerleading of the humanities but for noting the usefulness of having data, and establishing regular data collection of data relevant to a field or fields.  Such systematic assessment is often low on the research priority list, as the rewards associated with breakthroughs in this area don’t accrue the same value as more traditional research problems.  This helps explain why projects like this, or the Science of Science Policy program at NSF are rare.  Another reason why is the difficulty in developing useful measures and capturing the necessary data.  Some of the data for the humanities indicators just isn’t there, but hopefully the establishment of indicators will encourage capturing that data.

While the indicators don’t appear to address how knowledge in the field is (or isn’t) transferred to relevant policymakers, having them is a necessary first step for facilitating that transfer.  I envy the humanities in this effort, as I don’t see any similar effort happening in science and technology policy.  The researchers and the questions in this area are too diffuse and spread across too many fields to be easily collected and organized.

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