Information: A Historical Companion

Description

A landmark history that traces the creation, management, and sharing of information through six centuries Thanks to modern technological advances, we now enjoy seemingly unlimited access to information. Yet how did information become so central to our everyday lives, and how did its processing and storage make our data-driven era possible? This

Ann Blair is the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor at Harvard University. Paul Duguid is an adjunct full professor in the School of Information at the University of California, Berkeley. Anja-Silvia Goeing is professor of history of education at the University of Zurich and an associate in history at Harvard University. Twitter @debatesovert Anthony Grafton is the Henry Putnam University Professor of History at Princeton University. Twitter @scaliger

"A fascinating multidisciplinary essay collection that will appeal to information history junkies as well as history, journalism, and library science students." * Library Journal * "I did not want it to end. . . . It has thrown my personal information system out of equilibrium and reminded me how many things I still have to learn about my own field of study. There are not too many books I have read to the end and opened back to the introduction before setting it down. Well done. Information: A Historical Companion answers questions I did not know I had."---Jodi Kearns, Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology "This book is an essential work of reference accessible to historians and scholars across the humanities and social sciences. A great deal of good work went into its development, and the results reward it"---James W. Cortada, Journal of Interdisciplinary History "Ultimately, Information offers an informative, and indeed fresh, perspective on a phenomenon that, historically and contemporaneously, has been so central to our lives, technologies, and societies. While expertly summarizing existing literature across diverse disciplines, it reveals many exciting convergences between hitherto disparate approaches and creates compelling connections between technology, information, and history."---Marc Kosciejew, Technology and Culture "Surely the definitive work on the overall subject."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer "Rollicking"---N.J. Enfield, Times Literary Supplement