Suchergebnisse

With detailed case studies addressing the sources of innovation in information technology, along with a conceptual framework to explain their effects, this book will be of interest to students and teachers of Western economic and social history, as well as to the general reader with an interest in the social impact of innovation

Information Technology has become symbolic of modernity and progress almost since its inception. The nature and boundaries of IT have also meant that it has shaped, or become embedded within a wide range of other scientific, technological and economic developments. Governments, from the outset, saw the computer as a strategic technology, a keystone of economic development and an area where technology policy should be targeted. This was true for those economies interested inmaintaining their technological and economic leadership, but also figured strongly in the developmental programmes of thos

This book tells the story of how, over centuries, people, society and culture created laws affecting supply of information. In the 21st century, uniform global copyright laws are claimed to be indispensable to the success of entertainment, internet and other information industries. Do copyright laws encourage information flow? Many say that copyright laws limit dissemination, harming society. In the last 300 years, industries armed with copyrights controlled output and distribution. Now the internet's disruption of economic patterns may radically reshape information regulation. Information freedom, a source of emancipation, may change the world

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Introduction:Remembering "Information " -- 2. European Documentation: Paul Otlet and Suzanne Briet -- 3. Information Theory,Cybernetics, and the Discourse of "Man " -- 4. Pierre Lévy and the "Virtual " -- 5. Heidegger and Benjamin: The Metaphysics and Fetish of Information -- 6. Conclusion:"Information " and the Role of Critical Theory -- Notes -- Works Cited -- Index -- Author Bio -- Back Cover

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- What Are Information Revolutions? -- Defining an Information Revolution -- Six Information Revolutions -- Shared Characteristics -- The Power of Information -- Highway and Village -- Sorting Media from Content -- Replacing Transportation -- Shaping and Being Shaped -- Difficult Beginnings -- Life Is Different -- Political Tools and Weapons -- Arresting Gorbachev -- Tiananmen Square -- The Infection of Mass Communication -- Terrorism and the Media -- Clandestine Radio -- Middle Eastern Examples of Media's Force -- New World Information Order -- Cultural Imperialism -- Economic Freedom with Political Controls -- Altering American Politics -- The Gulf War -- Notes -- 1: Writing The First Revolution -- The Invention of Writing -- Writing on Clay -- Advancing Knowledge -- Skin and Bones and Papyrus -- Papyrus in Egypt -- Papyrus in Greek Hands -- Parchment -- Other Writing Surfaces -- The Greeks -- The Alphabet -- Out of the Dark Ages -- A Time of Turmoil -- Supplementing an Oral Culture -- The Warning of Socrates -- From Greece to Rome -- The First Libraries -- The Lamp of Reason -- Carrying the Message -- Notes -- 2: Printing The Second Revolution -- Turbulent Europe -- Sources of News -- Reformation and Renaissance -- A Gift from China -- Origins -- No Information Revolution -- Paper Moves West -- 300 Sheep Skins for One Bible -- Books and Universities -- The First Universities -- The New Book Culture -- Censorship -- Punishment for Publishing -- Mail in the Middle Ages -- Postal Services for Town and Gown -- Postal Service as a Business -- Here a New, There a New -- Forerunners of Newspapers -- The First Newspapers -- Unintended Consequences -- Printing and Literacy -- Vernacular Printing -- Why Bother to Read? -- The Engines of Printing and Literacy