THE CANADIAN COMMITTEE
 FOR HISTORY AND COMPUTING

  MINUTES

Minutes of the Business Meeting held at
University of Manitoba, Thursday June 3, 2004, 12:00 - 1:15 p.m.


PRESENT: John Bonnett (President), John Belshaw (Treasurer), Dale Anderson, Tracy Penny Light, Robert Sweeny, Jean Martin, James Muir, José Iguartua, John Lutz, Chad Gaffield

1. Adoption of the agenda

The agenda of the meeting was adopted, as were the minutes of the last business meeting, Dalhousie University, 2003.

2. Report of Activities

a) President's Report The President’s Report focussed largely on improving the profile of the CCHC and its interests.  John Bonnett also surveyed work done in the last year.  His principal message was that Canada is in a good position to lead the field of History and Computing in the new century and that the resources to do so are available.

  1. Promotion of CCHC:

    2. John Bonnett identified a need to address the fact that historians are neglecting opportunities to exploit computer resources.  To that end, the President suggested several projects:

         
        • Host an International Conference, perhaps as a stream in the annual meeting of the CHA or as a separate symposium with the Congress.  We might invite leading figures in the field to stimulate interest.

          •  
        • Collaborate on the generation and delivery of a distance-learning graduate course devoted to history and computing, a course that would be available to students across the country, and one in which two more members of the CCHC collaborated to deliver the course.

          •  
        • Engage in a large-scale project comparable in size to the Canadian Century Research Infrastructure (CCRI).  Funding is potentially available for new media development from the Department of Canadian Heritage and other granting agencies.   Two streams of research could stem from such a project – one devoted to practice, the other devoted to education.

          •  
          • Practice-oriented research centres on the development of new conventions to govern narration, representation and documentation for history expressed in new media.

            •  
          • Education-oriented research centres on how new media can be deployed to support teaching.  Resort to new media is based on two premises:  computers represent information differently than print-based materials; and some forms of communication do a better job at communicating patterns of interest than others.  Bonnett argued that the challenge here is for historians to incorporate these observations into their teaching.

            •  
        • Generate a textbook or portal devoted to providing recent readings on the topic of history and computing.

          •  
        • Greater attempts to outreach, to attract more members and to support the CHA.  For example, our website needs refurbishing. We might generate an annual bibliography of relevant research.  Conference news and calls for papers could be posted.  New papers on the field could be circulated in this venue as well.  An aggressive recruitment campaign might also be included in our arsenal: there are likely personnel located in Geography departments, to take one example.  Collaborative enterprises should be undertaken and we should explore the possibility of an Annual Prize.

          •  
    1. The Past Year:

      2.  
b) Treasurer's Report

John Belshaw presented the Treasurer’s Report, and it is appended below.  In response, José Igartua suggested that the CCHC explore getting a CHA line account.

Canadian Committee on History & Computing
Treasurer’s Report, 2003-2004

Date:  29 June 2004
 
 

  1. CCHC Chequing Account:  At the 2003 Annual Meeting in Halifax the Committee's GIC was cashed and deposited in an account with the CIBC at a Halifax branch.  Signing authority was established for the President (John Bonnett), the Treasurer (John Belshaw), and the past-President (Lisa Dillon).  The balance when the account was opened was $702.61.  Given the fact that service charges on the savings account run to roughly a dollar a month, the executive might want to look into a better service.

    2.  
  2. 2003 Budget:

    3.  

 
a. Balance at May 2003 $1,702.61
Term Account: 
$1,000.00
Savings Account:
$702.61

b.
Liabilities arising from 2003 AGM		  
i. Sodexho [Dalhousie]: Catering
- $117.30
ii. Refund to Pat Dunae:  Overpayment of Dues
-$15.00
 

c.
Revenue
 

Dues 2003 (Paid to May 2004): 
  

+$65.00
  

d.
Other Expenses
 

Miscellaneous Expenses: 
  

-$2.29

e.
Interest
 

Term Deposit Renewal Interest: 
  

+$12.73
(31 May 2004)  Balance:
 $1645.75
 

Term Account: 
  

$1031.33
Savings Account: 
$614.42


Membership and Dues:  .The Committee currently has 24 members, of whom only half have paid their 2003/4 dues.  This is a problem for which I can offer no reasonable solution, beyond courting harassment  charges.


-- John Belshaw, Treasurer



3. Elections

CCHC members unanimously elected Pat Dunae, University of Victoria / Malaspina University-College, as the new secretary for the CCHC.

4. Reports from other CCHC Members
 

5. Other Business/New Initiatives/Discussion