Most of you know that I have a longstanding interest in the use of Emacs outside the programming/engineering fields. I’m strictly within those fields, of course, but it’s always seemed to me that Emacs has a lot to offer someone who isn’t: someone in the Liberal Arts or Humanities. And why not? If you are in the humanities, chances are your job involves a lot of writing and Emacs excels in wrangling text.
Despite what you hear folks who don’t know what they’re talking about say, out-of-the-box Emacs is an excellent editor and by adding a few packages to customize it for your typical writing tasks, it arguably becomes the best such editor. I know that I can write in Emacs faster than with any other application and I often get annoyed when I’m, say, texting and can’t edit or spell correct with my usual ease.
I’m not the only one who feels this way. Paul Rankin, a screenwriter and filmmaker from Australia—he’s also the author of fountain-mode, Olivetti, binder, and freeze-it—decided to do something about spreading the word. He pushed for and created a new GNU email list, emacs-humanities, dedicated to discussions of Emacs by or for those in the humanities. In the first post, Rankin lays out why he started the list and how he hopes it will evolve.
This is a great idea and will, I hope, bring the Emacs gospel to those who, while they may not have heard of Emacs, are in desperate need of it.