In Australia, all forms of computational research come under the banner of ‘eResearch’. This is probably because Australia has such a small population and our academic traditions tend to favour the generalist. Still, I am not sure that it always works and the eResearch Conference is somewhat indicative of this. Although the Scientists and support staff I meet are always kind, supportive, flexible and well-rounded in their approach, there is a problem in that the Humanities, like the Sciences, is a specialist research tradition. In other words, it isn’t really possible to say anything interesting about ‘the humanities’ unless you have invested a good deal of you life and career pursuing humanistic questions. Still, the relationship of Science and the Humanities could be a fruitful one if someone had the courage to make explicit the power imbalances inherent in the relationship (and structured the conference in a much more innovative way). It is dominant culture versus elite culture. It is the Goldcoast meets Florence!
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