LIBERAL ARTS
Reproduced with permission from NeXT Computer, Inc.
A Reference Guide to NeXT in Higher Education, Fall 1992
ยช 1992 NeXT Computer, Inc
More than a quarter century ago, IBM sponsored a conference at its then-new research facility near Yorktown Heights, New York, to formally recognize that computer technology had a role to play in the humanities.
Despite Big Blue's proclamation, for the longest time, computers and humanists were not on the friendliest terms. Many liberal arts faculty found themselves using computer technology that was either obsolete or didn't completely support their needs. It wasn't until 1988-with the introduction of the original NeXT computer-that humanists had cause to embrace a new computing technology. With an easy-to-use, sophisticated graphical interface, built-in multimedia support, including CD-quality sound, more than 30 bundled applications, and "best of breed" productivity software, the NeXT platform became the first workstation to offer humanists the mix of performance features, and accessibility they require for computer-based curriculum development.
More rapidly than any platform before, NeXT computers have spread beyond the traditional computing enclaves in science and engineering to many of the liberal arts disciplines: history, economics, fine arts, English, philosophy, foreign language, and more. Next generation tools have made transition this possible, for example, like the NeXT 3D Graphics Kit-the NeXTSTEP 3 enhancement that provides interactive and photoreal three-dimensional rendering on NeXT computers-and Imagine's MediaStation, an authoring tool for combining photographic-quality images, CD-quality sound, real-time video, animation, and text into dynamic presentations. Also from Imagine is forthcoming InterActive Author, hypermedia software allowing users to tie together multimedia through navigational links, making it a powerful tool for creating hypermedia applications, interactive training presentations, and multimedia games. Plus, CraftMan, a new application from Xanthus, may well prove to be the next generation authoring tool: a truly object-oriented multimedia authoring environment that transcends the HyperCard metaphor with the power of NeXTSTEP's development environment and superior graphics.
In the next several pages, you'll find that NeXTSTEP is a catalyst in the liberal arts education process. You'll find historians who are creating customized interactive software tutorials in the NeXTSTEP development environment; faculty who have adapted multimedia software like MediaStation and Knowledge Tool to create multimedia databases for their students to learn the history of architecture or grasp common themes in Renaissance art; social scientists who are using statistical packages, like SAS, to conduct complex statistical and mathematical analysis; and English and foreign language departments that have developed innovative electronic classrooms using NeXT technology.