New technologies pose new challenges for archivists not only because they change the material nat... more New technologies pose new challenges for archivists not only because they change the material nature of archives, but also because they change ideas about information and its place in our culture. This article uses contemporary cultural theory to consider the intersections of information, culture, and technology in archives. It argues that context is essential to understanding archives and that archives are creators and reinforcers of power and authority. Finally, it considers two archetypal archives, assemblages of clay tokens in ...
William Aspray and Barbara M. Hayes, editors, Everyday Information: The Evolution of Information ... more William Aspray and Barbara M. Hayes, editors, Everyday Information: The Evolution of Information Seeking in America, MIT Press, 2011, 368 pp. In Everyday Information, edited by William Aspray and Barbara M. Hayes, the question ''What did they know and when did they know it?''gains a more general meaning and a new clause:''How did they know it?''This book offers nine case studies that look at the ways that Americans acquired information over the past century. The book attempts to move the history of information beyond describing what ...
In the past few years the staff of the Historic American Building Survey/Historic American Engine... more In the past few years the staff of the Historic American Building Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (hereafter HABS/HAER) has produced an impressive body of work. In part because of new leadership, in part in response to changing trends in historiography, but perhaps most importantly because of a new kind of pork-barrel politics, HABS/HAER has struck out in some significant new directions. This review considers a number of publications that have been produced in the last few years by the staff of HABS/HAER, a part of the ...
Navy sailed to Japan to open that country to American trade. tIis mission was a success. In 1854,... more Navy sailed to Japan to open that country to American trade. tIis mission was a success. In 1854, after extensive negotiations? hesigned a treaty with the Shogun VOWi1lg perpetual friendship between the two countries. In 1992, 140 years later, the Smithsonian Institution began work on an exhibit of American histoxy and culture and a music program to be held in Japan. This effiibition, which came to be called T7le Smit1xsonian's America, was part of the American Festival Japa1l'94 that opened near Tokyo in July, 1994, to celebrate the 140th ...
IN 1925, WHEN CHARLES RICHARDS, president of the American Association of Museums, published The I... more IN 1925, WHEN CHARLES RICHARDS, president of the American Association of Museums, published The Industrial Museum, the place of industry-its economic, social, and cultural importance-was not the subject of debate. Industrial museums, industrial history, and industrial histoIy museums had a clear raison d'etre. Richards put it simply:
It might seem that invention should be the focal point of the study of the history of technology.... more It might seem that invention should be the focal point of the study of the history of technology. After all, invention appears to be the ineffable, irreducible essence of technology, the moment of creation. It also seems to be the most personal story in an otherwise inhuman, machine-driven, hard-tounderstand field. James Burnley's 1886 The Romance of Invention, one of thousands of popular books on inventors and invention, indicates the appeal:
Inventors, the purchasers of patent rights, and the users of patented goods all have economic int... more Inventors, the purchasers of patent rights, and the users of patented goods all have economic interests in the framing and interpretation of patent law. These interests often conflict, for all participants in the complex economic, legal, and political game of the patent system seek to maximize the return from their investment of creativity and capital. Winners and losers are determined by their changing economic and political power and by changing ideologies of technology and economic growth. The patent law we know today is the result ...
New technologies pose new challenges for archivists not only because they change the material nat... more New technologies pose new challenges for archivists not only because they change the material nature of archives, but also because they change ideas about information and its place in our culture. This article uses contemporary cultural theory to consider the intersections of information, culture, and technology in archives. It argues that context is essential to understanding archives and that archives are creators and reinforcers of power and authority. Finally, it considers two archetypal archives, assemblages of clay tokens in ...
William Aspray and Barbara M. Hayes, editors, Everyday Information: The Evolution of Information ... more William Aspray and Barbara M. Hayes, editors, Everyday Information: The Evolution of Information Seeking in America, MIT Press, 2011, 368 pp. In Everyday Information, edited by William Aspray and Barbara M. Hayes, the question ''What did they know and when did they know it?''gains a more general meaning and a new clause:''How did they know it?''This book offers nine case studies that look at the ways that Americans acquired information over the past century. The book attempts to move the history of information beyond describing what ...
In the past few years the staff of the Historic American Building Survey/Historic American Engine... more In the past few years the staff of the Historic American Building Survey/Historic American Engineering Record (hereafter HABS/HAER) has produced an impressive body of work. In part because of new leadership, in part in response to changing trends in historiography, but perhaps most importantly because of a new kind of pork-barrel politics, HABS/HAER has struck out in some significant new directions. This review considers a number of publications that have been produced in the last few years by the staff of HABS/HAER, a part of the ...
Navy sailed to Japan to open that country to American trade. tIis mission was a success. In 1854,... more Navy sailed to Japan to open that country to American trade. tIis mission was a success. In 1854, after extensive negotiations? hesigned a treaty with the Shogun VOWi1lg perpetual friendship between the two countries. In 1992, 140 years later, the Smithsonian Institution began work on an exhibit of American histoxy and culture and a music program to be held in Japan. This effiibition, which came to be called T7le Smit1xsonian's America, was part of the American Festival Japa1l'94 that opened near Tokyo in July, 1994, to celebrate the 140th ...
IN 1925, WHEN CHARLES RICHARDS, president of the American Association of Museums, published The I... more IN 1925, WHEN CHARLES RICHARDS, president of the American Association of Museums, published The Industrial Museum, the place of industry-its economic, social, and cultural importance-was not the subject of debate. Industrial museums, industrial history, and industrial histoIy museums had a clear raison d'etre. Richards put it simply:
It might seem that invention should be the focal point of the study of the history of technology.... more It might seem that invention should be the focal point of the study of the history of technology. After all, invention appears to be the ineffable, irreducible essence of technology, the moment of creation. It also seems to be the most personal story in an otherwise inhuman, machine-driven, hard-tounderstand field. James Burnley's 1886 The Romance of Invention, one of thousands of popular books on inventors and invention, indicates the appeal:
Inventors, the purchasers of patent rights, and the users of patented goods all have economic int... more Inventors, the purchasers of patent rights, and the users of patented goods all have economic interests in the framing and interpretation of patent law. These interests often conflict, for all participants in the complex economic, legal, and political game of the patent system seek to maximize the return from their investment of creativity and capital. Winners and losers are determined by their changing economic and political power and by changing ideologies of technology and economic growth. The patent law we know today is the result ...
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