Toni Weller

The social and technological origins of the information society: An analysis of the crisis of control in England, 1830‐1900

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the theory of a control revolution in nineteenth century England, and its social and technological implications for the information society. It takes up where most historical interpretations of the industrial revolution end, and before most analyses of the digital era begin. The work focuses on three distinct types of technological advance – in transportation, in communication, and in the processing of information – without adopting a technologically deterministic argument.Design/methodology/approach – Historical analysis, based on both primary and secondary sources.Findings – The article first considers the introduction of the railways, and makes a case in that there were two crises of control involving railway technology in the nineteenth century: a crisis of communication, and a crisis of organisation. It goes on to assess the growth of bureaucracy and organisation in commerce. The expansion of government surveillance power towards the end of the ninete...

Information history: its importance, relevance and future

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the emergent field of information history (IH) and to move towards a definition of IH. Some of the more traditional historical approaches to information science are challenged in their claims to be information history.Design/methodology/approach – The historiography of the field is discussed, and an analysis of the continuing development of IH is explored.Findings – IH is a field that has been attracting increasing attention in recent years from historians and information scientists alike. Although still a relatively young area, this paper argues that IH has the potential to develop into a highly relevant and dynamic field of research. The paper concludes with a look at the future for this area of research, with some suggestions as to how IH needs to develop in order to gain the credence and recognition it deserves.Originality/value – This paper attempts to augment the debate on IH and to encourage a broader recognition of this young and dynamic field with...

Where do we go from here? An opinion on the future of LIS as an academic discipline in the UK

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the current situation of academic LIS research, specifically in the UK and to provide some thoughts considering the future of the discipline. According to the opinion of the authors, this situation is characterised by a lack of cohesion, the need for justification of academic research in terms of its immediate applicability to the professional education of practitioners, and a disjuncture between the information profession and information research. The paper attempts to offer introductory thoughts regarding these circumstances.Design/methodology/approach – The current situation is briefly reviewed and commented on from the authors’ viewpoint. Aspects of Pierre Bourdieus study of the university as a hierarchically structured field of forces are considered. Some reference is made to previous literature.Findings – The paper advances the view that the role of academic LIS research, debate and theory formation needs to be strengthened and that this needs to be...

Preserving Knowledge Through Popular Victorian Periodicals: An Examination of The Penny Magazine and the Illustrated London News, 1842–1843

Abstract For the Victorians, just as for us, information and knowledge were being used and manipulated in a complex series of ways to sell, to inform, and to represent a culturally fluid and dynamic information society. Based upon a detailed empirical study of every weekly issue of the British Penny Magazine and the IllustratedLondon News (ILN) for a period of twelve months between May 1842 and May 1843, this paper argues that there was a strong contemporary awareness of this dynamism. Both The Penny Magazine and the ILN embraced the idea of preserving knowledge by themselves becoming part of the process of preservation, in a conscious effort to become objects of reference and of the historical record. In contrast to the notion that such publications were largely ephemeral products of the Victorian publishing world, it is suggested in this paper that The Penny Magazine and the ILN contributed to, and reflected the desire to see, knowledge popularly preserved and referenced as well as popularly disseminated, and that they had a substantial and significant degree of success in their editorial efforts.

What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria?20093Edited by Moustafa El‐Abbadi and Omnia Mounir Fathallah. What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria?. Leiden: Brill 2008. 259 pp., ISBN: 978‐9‐00416‐545‐8

Email: marketing@brill.com In adopting the theme of What Happened to the Ancient Library of Alexandria? this book aims at presenting afresh, a highly specialized discussion of primary sources related to the diverse aspects and episodes of that long disputed question. The book covers a wide range of topics, beginning with an initial presentation of different Ancient Egyptian types of library institutions, with a special focus on the later Coptic Nag Hamadi Library. It then deals with the troubled times under later Ptolemies and Romans, when the Royal Library, the Daughter Library and the Mouseion, came under a succession of threats: Caesar’s Alexandrian War in 48 B.C., and during the tragic developments in the third and fourth centuries which ultimately culminated in the destruction of the Serapeum that housed the Daughter Library. A discussion of the intellectual milieu during the fourth and fifth centuries, follows, as well as the conflicting attitudes within the Church with regard to classical learning. An analysis of historical and new archaeological evidence confirms the fact that Alexandria continued to be a city of books and scholarship centuries after the ...

The Government Machine: A Revolutionary History of the Computer

Come with us to read a new book that is coming recently. Yeah, this is a new coming book that many people really want to read will you be one of them? Of course, you should be. It will not make you feel so hard to enjoy your life. Even some people think that reading is a hard to do, you must be sure that you can do it. Hard will be felt when you have no ideas about what kind of book to read. Or sometimes, your reading material is not interesting enough.