Histoire, Informatique, Mesure

Abstract

Jean-Philippe Genet. History, Computers, and Measurement. After thirty years of experience, it is high time to question the effects of the development and use of computers in historical disciplines. The computer obliges the historian to rethink his information : it must be processed as though these data formed a closed system ; historical data banks must be constructed with care ; they must be consciously organized with a meta-source based on an initial theory. Only then can objective criteria of evaluation be introduced, whether it is a question of quantitive or qualitive analysis. In any case, such a procedure still implies a certain familiarity with statistical and mathematical techniques of analysis, or, at least, an appreciation of underlying mathematical assumptions. In addition, at several stages, it represents an enormous task in theoretical work, especially in history. It is thus necessary and urgent to debate and discuss these questions not only between historians, but between all researchers interested in this field.