Another Suitcase, Another Student Hall - Where Are We Going To? What ACH/ALLC 2001 Can Tell Us About the Current Direction of Humanities Computing

th – June 17 th 2001, showcased the wide spectrum of research being undertaken within the field of " Digital Media and Humanities Research " at present. This was the largest ever ACH/ALLC (the oldest established meeting of scholars working at the intersection of advanced information technologies and the humanities), providing a meeting point for the expanding Humanities Computing community, whilst giving an indication of the type and quality of work being pursued in the arena. The conference was well attended, with over 324 participants registered, and a further 50 or so witnessing the webcasts of the opening and closing sessions (a first for the ACH/ALLC). Whilst over half of these participants came from academic institutions within the USA, the international academic community was also well represented 1. There was an increased presence of attendees from projects out with academic institutions, and industry. The community of ACH/ALLC, whilst being very westernised, is international, predominantly academic, but with necessary and welcome links to the practical application of its techniques in the heritage, teaching, and commercial sectors. This segue between the research based and the practical, industry and academia, demonstrates the rich paradox of the meeting of the computing and humanities fields. Humanities " explored the meeting of these two different academic disciplines thoroughly. It is hard to know enough to work in the field of Humanities Computing – after all, it is a discipline which embraces the technical subjects but depends on a long background of humanities research. From the perspective of the humanist this is not a