Historian's Guide to Computing (Oxford Guides to Computing for the Humanities)

This comprehensive guide is written for historians and other scholars with no prior expertise in the use of computers who need to know what kind of problems computers can solve. Dr Greenstein offers advice on how to exploit the computer and avoid potential pitfalls in day-to-day tasks, from bibliographic management to the use of electronic mail, and on-line library catalogues. The three central chapters on research methods examine databases and information management; numbers and measurement (including statistics, and graphical and tabular display); and document preparation and textual analysis. The final chapter offers an eight-point guide to project management which will help the user to harness the computer in a cost-effective, efficient, and productive manner for projects of any size and complexity.
Throughout the book methodological and technical discussion is presented in straightforward and precise language, augmented by comprehensible diagrams, with reference to real historical problems and data sets. The book is not tied to specific software or solutions, but offers numerous signposts for the reader in search of more detailed or more narrowly defined information.

Daniel I. Greenstein is Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Glasgow.