Background. I graduated with a B.A. degree in mathematics from The University of the South (Sewanee) in 1962, completed a M.A. in English Literature at The University of South Carolina in 1964, during which I married my wife, Catherine Findley, and then taught (English lit and composition courses) at Clinch Valley College - a two-year branch of the University of Virginia - from 1964 to 1966. While at USC, our son, Ian, was born. In 1966, both Catherine and I began Ph.D. programs in English at The University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
In the first two years at UNC, I completed all of the course work and exams for the degree in English. However, in fall, 1967, I took my first computer science course - a PL/1 programming course for liberal arts majors with emphasis on natural language processing. It was taught by Sally Sedelow who held joint appointments in both the computer science and the English departments. I was hooked! I took a second course in the spring and began working as a research assistant for Sedelow in the summer of 1968. Since I was through by then with English department requirements (except for the dissertation), I spent the next two years taking (and auditing) computer science and psychometric courses, where I first learned about some very powerful statistical analysis and modeling tools. More important was the work I was doing for Sedelow's Automated Language Analysis research project, where I became familiar with then state of the art techniques and programming tools for natural language computing. During that period, I was also able to develop the software, analysis, and interpretive strategies used in the dissertation, which I completed in 1970. Works from the Sedelow annual reports and the published version of the dissertation are listed below and can be downloaded from those references.
Sally Y. Sedelow, Automated Language Analysis Project
- Smith, J.B. (1969), "PREFIX," in Sedelow, S.Y., Automated Language Analysis: 1968-1969, Chapel Hill: Department of Computer Science, Research Report Under ONR Contract N00014-67-A-0321-001, pp. 82-91.
- Smith, J.B. (1969), "PREFIX Progeam and Table Listing," in Sedelow, S.Y., Automated Language Analysis: 1968-1969, Chapel Hill: Department of Computer Science, Research Report Under ONR Contract N00014-67-A-0321-001, pp. 245-286.
- Smith, J.B. (1970), "PREFIX -- Revised Edition," in Sedelow, S.Y., Automated Analysis of Language Style and Structure: 1969-1970, Chapel Hill: Department of Computer Science, Research Report Under ONR Contract N00014-67-A-0321-001, pp. 131-135.
- Smith, J.B. (1970), "A Design for a General Statiscal Analyzer for Natural Language Texts," in Sedelow, S.Y., Automated Analysis of Language Style and Structure: 1969-1970, Chapel Hill: Department of Computer Science, Research Report Under ONR Contract N00014-67-A-0321-001, pp. 75-84.
- Smith, J.B. (1969), "CONTEXT," in Sedelow, S.Y., Automated Language Analysis: 1968-1969, Chapel Hill: Department of Computer Science, Research Report Under ONR Contract N00014-67-A-0321-001, pp. 92-115.
Dissertation: Imagery and the Mind of Stephen Dedalus
- Smith, J.B., (1980), Imagery and the Mind of Stephen Dedalus. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 294 pp. (research and writing completed in 1970).
I went to Penn State in 1970, with joint appointments in the English department and the Computation Center. For English, I taught conventional courses in literature, composition, as well as interdisciplinary courses, such as Science and Human Values. For the Comp Center, I was a member of the applications staff, and my primary charge was to promote and support use of computers in the liberal arts, especially the humanities. In 1972, I developed and began teaching a programming course for Liberal Arts students, similar to the one I took from Sedelow at UNC. Over the next several years, I added two more technology and methods courses so that by 1977, I discontinued the Comp Center appointment and took a half-time position in the College of Liberal arts in order to teach this three-course sequence.
During these Penn State years, I worked in some half-dozen humanities computing areas, listed below. These included work in natural language processing techniques and technology, bibliography systems and practice (our Shakespeare bibliography project was one of the first to support direct, computer driven typesetting), and computer-assisted analyses of literature as well as oral performances. Another area I found especially challenging was literary critical theory. I had become convinced that doing in-depth analyses and interpretations of literary works (and other types of texts) represented a fundamentally different mode of intellectual inquiry. To explain this view, I wrote several articles describe\ing what was different about this way of working/thinking but also situating it within traditional intellectual traditions, including structuralist/formalist criticism and Marxist criticism. The paper I never got around to writing would have attempted to explore the phenomenological implications for the critic, analogous to Wolfgan Iser's notion of "second readings," except on steroids!Literary Analysis
- Smith, J.B. (1971), "A Computer Analysis of Imagery in James Joyce´s A Portrait of the Arts as a Young Man," Proceedings of IFIP Congress '71, The Hague: North-Holland Publishing Co., pp 46-49.
- Smith, J.B. (1975), "Image and Imagery in Joyce's Portrait: A Computer-Assisted Analysis," in S. Weintraub & P. Young, eds., Directions in Literary Criticism (Festscrift for Henry W. Sams). University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 220-227.
Systems and Technology
- Smith, J.B. (1972), "RATS: A Middle Level Text Utility System," Computers and the Humanities, 6, 5 (May), 277-283.
- Smith, J.B. (1973), "Some Lucubrations and Specifications for a Natural Language Analyzer," Computer Studies in the Humanities and Verbal Behavior, 4, 2 (August), 91-96.
- Smith, J.B. (1974), "Computer Generated Analogues of Mental Structures from Language Data," Proceedings of IFIP Congress '74, The Hague: North-Holland Publishing Co., pp.842-845.
- Smith, J.B. (1974), "Random Accessible Text System for Associative Text Analysis," SIGLASH Newsletter, (December, 1974).
- Smiith, J. B. (1976), "Encoding Literary Texts: Some Considerations," ALLC Bulletin, 4,3,190-198.
- Smith, J.B. (1980), "RATSALL: A Language Analysis System for the Eighties," Style 14, 4 (Fall), 379-391.
- Smith, J.B. (1984), "ARRAS: A New Environment for Literary Analysis," Perspectives in Computing, 4, 213 (Summer/Fall), 20-31.
- Smith, J.B. (1985), "ARRAS and Literary Criticism," in Derval, B.; & Lenoble, M., (eds.), La Critique Littéraire et L'Ordinateur, Québec: Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec, pp. 79-93.
- Smith, J.B. (1985), ARRAS User's Manual, Report #85-036, Chapel Hill: Department of Computer Science, 96 pages.
Critical Theory and Methods
- Smith, J.B. (1975), "Thematic Structure and Complexity," Style, 9, 1 (Winter), 32-54.
- Smith, J.B. (1975), "Computer Studies in the Humanities: Intellectual, Educational, and Social Implications," Interdisciplinary Essays, IV (Spring), 38-46.
- Smith, J.B. (1978), "Computer Criticism," Style, 12, 4 (Fall), 326-356. Reprinted in Sedelow, W.A.; & Sedelow, S.Y., eds. (1983), Computers in Language Research 2: Trends in Linguistics, Studies and Mongraphs 19, Berlin: Mouton, pp. 25-59. Reprinted in Potter, R. G. (1989), Literary Computing and Literary Criticism, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 13-44.
- Smith, J.B. (1982), "Toward a Marxist Poetics," Style, 16,1 (Winter), 1-20.
- Smith, J.B. (1981), "Computers and Literary Theory," Association for Literary and Linguistic Computing Bulletin, 9, 3, 1-5.
- Smith, J.B. (1984), "ARRAS: A New Environment for Literary Analysis," Perspectives in Computing, 4, 213 (Summer/Fall), 20-31.
- Smith, J.B. (1985), "ARRAS and Literary Criticism," in Derval, B.; & Lenoble, M., (eds.), La Critique Littéraire et L'Ordinateur, Québec: Bibliothèque Nationale du Québec, pp. 79-93.
Folk Sermons Analysis
- Smith, J.B.; & Rosenberg, B.A. (1973), "Rhythms in Speech: The Formulaic Structure of Four Fundamentalist Sermons," Computer Studies in the Humanities and Verbal Behavior, 4, 3/4, 166-173.
- Rosenberg, B.A.; & Smith, J.B. (1974), "The Computer and the Finnish Historical-Geographical Method," with Bruce A. Rosenberg, Journal of American Folklore, 87, 344, 149-154.
Bibliography
- Smith, J. B. (1981), BAG/2: A Bibliographic and Grouping System for Natural Language Data, University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Computation Center, 25 pages.
- Meserole, H.T.; & Smith, J.B. (1979), "Shakespeare: Annotated World Bibliography for 1978," with Harrison T. Meserole, Shakespeare Quarterly, 30, 4 (Winter, 1979), 468-659 (sample).
- Meserole, H.T.; & Smith, J.B. (1980), "Shakespeare: Annotated World Bibliography for 1979," with Harrison T. Meserole, Shakespeare Quarterly, 31, 4 (Winter, 1980), 436-623 (sample).
- Meserole, H.T.; & Smith, J.B. (1982), "Shakespeare: Annotated World Bibliography for 1982," Shakespeare Quarterly, 34, 5 (Bibliography Issue, 1983), 516-784 (sample).
- Smith, J.B.; & Meserole, H. T. (1981), "Yet There Is Method In It," Perspectives in Computing, 1, 2 (April), 4-11. Reprinted in Butler, S.; & Stoneman, W. P. (1988), Editing, Publishing, and Computer Technology, New York, AMS Press, Inc., pp. 65-80.
During the latter part of my tenure at Penn State, I began to focus more on the computer or technical aspects of my work and less on the literature or humanities aspects. Consequently, I took a leave of absence in 1982 in order to spend the year as a visiting faculty member in computer science at The University of North Carolina. At the end of that year, they offered me a continuing appointment, and I joined the department in January, 1984. This began a period that was less focused on humanities research and more on hypertext systems, cognitive strategies and systems for knowledge construction (e.g., expository writing or system design), and collaboration technology and theory. During this time, we hosted the first international conference on hypertext, Hypertext '87, and one of the early conferences on computer supported cooperative work, CSCW '92, for both of which I served as conference co-chair.
A key part of this work was the attempt to integrate cognitive theory with system design and to use the system as a data collection device. To understand writers' cognitive strategies, we developed a number of tools including cognitive grammars to analyze system-recorded protocols. This approach was used first with respect to technical and professional writing. It was then extended to groups, where we added a social or anthropological perspective to the cognitive in order to understand how groups (sometimes) develop seamless, integrated conceptual structures - i.e., produced from a type of "collective intelligence." A hallmark of this work was to base the user's functional model of the system on an underlying mental model of the task - for writing systems, a cognitive theory of writing based on different cogtnitive modes, and, for collaboration systems, a cognitive/social theory of collaboration with emphasis on the artifacts developed to accomplish the task.
Hypertext Writing Systems, Theory, and Research
- Smith, J.B.; Weiss, S.F.; Ferguson, G.J.; Bolter, J.D.; Lansman, M.; & Beard, D.V. (1987), "WE: A Writing Environment for Professionals," Proceedings of National Computer Conference '87, Reston, VA: AFIPS Press, pp. 725-736.
- Smith, J.B.; Weiss, S.F.; & Ferguson, G.J. (1987), "A Hypertext Writing Environment and its Cognitive Basis," Proceedings of 1987 ACM International Conference on Research and Development in Information Retrieval, pp. 195-214. Revised version published in special issue of Information Processing and Management.
- Shan, Y-P; & Thorn, J. (1988), WE User Manual, Chapel Hill: Department of Computer Science, 63 pages.
- Smith, J.B.; & Weiss, S.F. (1988), "Hypertext," Communications of the ACM, 31, 7 (July), 816-819.
- Smith, J.B.; & Lansman, M. (1989), "A Cognitive Basis for a Computer Writing Environment," In B.K. Britton & S.M. Glynn (Eds.), Computer Writing Aids: Theory, Reserach, & Practice, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 17-56.
- Smith, J.B.; & Smith, C. (1990), "Writing, Thinking, Computing," Zwaan, R.A.; & Meutsch, D. (Eds.), Computer Models and Technology in Media Research, New York: Elsevier Science Publishers, 121-142. Reprinted in Poetics: Journal for Empirical Research on Literature, the Media and the Arts. Special Issue on Computer Models and Technology, 121-142.
- Schuler, W.; & Smith, J.B., (1990), "Author's Argumentation Assistant (AAA): A Hypertext-Based Authoring Tool for Argumentative Texts," Proceedings of European Conference on Hypertext, Cambridge: Cambridge University press, pp. 137-151.
- Smith, J.B.; & Lansman, M. (1992), "Designing Theory-Based Systems: A Case Study," Proceedings of CHI '92, New York: ACM Press, 479-488.
- Smith, J.B.; Smith, D.K.; & Kupstas, E. (1993), "Automated Protocol Analysis," Human-Computer Interaction, 8, 2 (1993), 101-145.
- Lansman, M.; Smith, J.B., and Weber, I. (1993), "Using the Writing Environment to Study Writers' Strategies," Computers and Composition, 10, 2 (April), 71-92.
Writing Instruction
Smith, J.B; & Smith, C.F, (1987), A Strategic Method for Writing, Chapel Hill: Online Document.
Collaboration: Systems and Theory
- Smith, J.B.; & Smith, F.D. (1991), "ABC: A Hypermedia System for Artifact-Based Collaboration," Proceedings of Hypertext '91, New York: ACM Press, pp 179-192.
- Jeffay, K.; Lin, J.K.; Menges, J.; Smith, F.D.; & Smith, J.B. (1992), "Architecture of the Artifact-Based Collaborations System Matrix," Proceedings of CSCW '92, New York: ACM Press, pp. 195-202.
- Shackelford, D.E., Smith, J.B.; & Smith, F.D. (1993), "The Architecture and Implementation of a Distributed Hypermedia Storage System," Proceedings of Hypertext '93, New York: ACM Press, pp, 1-13. Reprinted in Olsen, G.M.; Malone, T.W.; & Smith, J.B. (2001), Coordinatiion Theory and Collaboration Technology, Mahway, NJ: Lawreence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 391-408.
- Smith, J.B. (1994), Collective Intelligence in Computer-Based Collaboration. Hillsdale, NJ: Laurence Erlbaum Associates, 248 pp.
Query Reformulation
- Gauch, S.; & Smith, J.B. (1989), "Query Reformulation Strategies for an Intelligent Search Intermediary," Proceedings of Annual AI Systems in Government Conference, Washington, DC.
- Gauch, S.; & Smith, J.B. (1988), "Intelligent Search of Full-Text Databases," Proceedings of RIAO '88, Cambridge, MA: MIT, pp. 167-171. Revised version published as "An Expert System for Searching in Full-Text," Information Processing and Management, 25, 3, pp. 253-263.
- Gauch, S.; & Smith, J.B. (1991), "Search Improvement via Automatic Query Reformulation," ACM Transactions on Information Systems, 9, 3 (July), 249-280.
- Gauch, S.; & Smith, J.B. (1993), "An Expert System for Automatic Query Reformulation," Journal of the American Society of Information Scientists, 44, 3 (April), 124-136.
Text Systems
- Smith, J.B.; & Weiss, S.F. (1987), "Formatting Texts Accessed Randomly," Software: Practice and Experience, 17, 1, 5-16.
- Smith, J.B.; Weiss, S.F.; & Ferguson, G.J. (1987), "MicroARRAS: An Advanceed Full-Text Retrieval and Analysis System," Proceedings of SIGIR 1987, pp. 187-195.
Data Analysis Environment
Young, F.W.; & Smith, J.B. (1991), "Towards a Structured Data Analysis Environment: A Cognition-Based Design," Computing and Graphics in Statistics, A. Buja and P.A. Tukey, eds. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1991, pp. 253-279.
Background. In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee wrote a withepaper describing an Internet-based hypertext system, which he called the WorldWideWeb, to be developed at CERN. Its primary purpose was for sharing scientific papers, particularly among high-energy physicists. He then wrote a simple proof-of-concept implementation of his ideas in early 1990. His work quickly attracted attention and users, even though it could only be accessed at that time through a command line client. In 1993, the first graphical, point and click browser appeared. Called Mosaic - later to be named Netscape - it dramatically increased the speed and convenience of the Web. And, as they say, the rest is history.
I first became interested in the Web in the 1994-95 period. Unlike other hypertext systems, which were most often single computer applications, the Web was an architecture - that is, a set of protocols that anyone could implement and deploy on the Internet. The three primary protocols or standards were the URL, which describes the address of an object on the Internet; HTTP, which describes a transfer protocol for Web clients (browsers) to communicate with Web servers; and HTML, a standard for basic formatting of documents that could be implemented in diverse browsers. Another of the main reasons the Web succeeded so spectacularly versus other hypertext systems is that the Web simply ignored several particularly thorny problems that the hypertext community had viewed as fundamental. Among these were inherent support for authorship and protocols for insuring that links were viable (no "dangling" or "broken" links). These assumptions or requirements were simply left out of the architecture of the Web, to be provided through other, undefined means or not at all.
I became convinced by 1995 that conventional hypertext had been superseded and that if it were to retain any relevance, it would have to redefine itself within the context of the Web and implement its ideas as extensions of the Web architecture. Thus, I believed that we were living through a paradigm shift. I also believed that a large proportion of computing would shift from stand-alone systems to functional systems evoked and accessed through the Internet, with the Web serving as or providing the user interface. As a result, I shifted my activities from designing and building stand-alone hypertext systems to designing and building Web-based systems, and from writing and publishing in hard-copy form to writing and publishing on the Web.
In the interval between 1995 to 2000, I developed a three-course sequence of computer science courses concerned with such systems. Although they evolved, their basic form and respective purposes remained the same. The first course was concerned with building simple client-server applications using low-level tools such as Perl and CGI, soon replaced by JavaScript and PhP. Both configurations usually fronted a database system such as MySQL. These configurations supported simple applications often involving rudimentary database queries with little programmed function. The second course was intended for developing applications in which more extensive processing was required on the server side. At about the same time the Web took off, the Java programming language appeared. It was a powerful, object-oriented language with extensive support for Internet-based applications. Consequently, this second course was based on Java and a Java server. Both of the first two courses presumed applications and/or services for which a single server would be sufficient. For larger, enterprise applications, particularly those with high traffic volumes requiring multiple servers, the third course used the IBM WebSphere platform (also Java based) and its DB2 database. Thus, it dealt with more sophisticated system designs and used more complex, more powerful "industrial strength" tools and middleware.
To support my teaching in this area for the next 15 years or so, I developed some 80 online lessons that explained basic concepts but also illustrated implementation details through extensive code samples, with commentaries. Unfortunately, most of those lessons were lost when they were deleted by a Comp Sci staff member, without notice or giving me the chance to move them elsewhere. The samples included below are a remnant of some early lessons I had saved in personal disk space. They are dated, some of the images are missing, and some of the links broken, but they give a taste of this work.
Web-Based Systems and Instructionn
Automatic Generation of Enterprise Systems
Retirement: 2011 - PresentI have been retired since 2011. During that time, most of my time and energy, as well as my wife's, Catherine's, has been spent on our farm, ChicoryLane, located in rural central Pennsylvania. Never a very productive agricultural plot, it is a wonderfully diverse habitat for native plants, wildlife, insects, and quiet, pleasing natural landscapes - both small and close as well as distant. Our understanding as well as feelings for the place have deepened during these years. In trying to understand them, we have settled on the notion, a sense of place. That is, we are trying to consciously develop an evolving, multifaceted understanding and appreciation for one simple, undeveloped place. A catalyst as well a tool for recording information and thoughts about the place is a Web site and database we have created. (It is also an outlet for my programming urges.) It includes slideshows of the place and events held here. A blog records musings about ChicoryLane - our sense of this place. A database catalogs over 300 native plants and a Google map lets us see not just the farm as a whole but also the locations of specific plant. We invite you to browse ChicoryLane by clicking on the link, below. (To gain full access to the database, please register and create a login.)ChicoryLane Farm: Web Site, Database, and GPS System
Final ThoughtsOver the years, I have been fortunate to have a number of outstanding collaborators. Many are included as co-authors in the bibliography. Others, most notably students, are not named but are remembered, and I thank them. I especially wish to thank Geoffrey Rockwell; it was his idea to pull together this archive, and his encouragement has made it happen. Finally, I thank my wife, Catherine, for her collaboration, contributions, and comments for more than fifty years.