Glut: The Deep History of Information Science: Mastering Information Through the Ages

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ISBN 10: 0309102383 / ISBN 13: 9780309102384

Published by -, 2007

About this Item

Glut: The Deep History of Information Science: Mastering Information Through the Ages This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping.

Seller Inventory # 7719-9780309102384

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Glut: The Deep History of Information Science: Mastering Information Through the Ages
• Publisher: -
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0309102383
• ISBN 13: 9780309102384
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

What do primordial bacteria, medieval alchemists, and the World Wide Web have to do with each other? This fascinating exploration of how information systems emerge takes readers on a provocative journey through the history of the information age.

Today's "information explosion" may seem like an acutely modern phenomenon, but we are not the first generation—nor even the first species—to wrestle with the problem of information overload. Long before the advent of computers, human beings were collecting, storing, and organizing information: from Ice Age taxonomies to Sumerian archives, Greek libraries to Dark Age monasteries.

Today, we stand at a precipice, as our old systems struggle to cope with what designer Richard Saul Wurman called a "tsunami of data." With some historical perspective, however, we can begin to understand our predicament not just as the result of technological change, but as the latest chapter in an ancient story that we are only beginning to understand.

Spanning disciplines from evolutionary theory and cultural anthropology to the history of books, libraries, and computer science, writer and information architect Alex Wright weaves an intriguing narrative that connects such seemingly far-flung topics as insect colonies, Stone Age jewelry, medieval monasteries, Renaissance encyclopedias, early computer networks, and the World Wide Web. Finally, he pulls these threads together to reach a surprising conclusion, suggesting that the future of the information age may lie deep in our cultural past.

About the Author

Alex Wright is a writer and information architect whose articles have appeared in Salon.com, Harvard Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, and other national and regional publications. He has also led information architecture initiatives for IBM, Harvard University, Yahoo!, Sun Microsystems, the Internet Archive, California Digital Library, and the Long Now Foundation, among others. Wright holds an M.S. in Library and Information Science from Simmons College, and a B.A. in English and American Literature from Brown University. He lives in San Francisco, California.