Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Aspray, William, author

Title Understanding information history : the case of America in 1920 / William Aspray
Published Cham : Springer, [2024]
©2024

Copies

Description 1 online resource (x, 98 pages) : illustrations (some color)
Series SpringerBriefs in history of computing, 2662-3013
SpringerBriefs in history of computing. 2662-3013
Contents 1. America in 1920: The Traditional Account -- 2. Altering the Traditional Account to Give Greater Attention to Information History -- 3. Consumer Technologies, Modernity, and Information Issues -- Information Institutions and Industries -- 4. What is Information History and How Do We Study It?
Summary Microhistory is a technique that has been used effectively by writers of both fiction and nonfiction. It enables the author to cut through the complexities of large swaths of history by focusing on a particular time and place. Microhistories are particularly useful in historical study when a subfield has recently arisen and there are not yet enough monographic studies from which to draw general patterns. This microhistory focuses on a single year (1920) across the United States, with the goal of understanding the various roles of information in this society. It gives greater emphasis to the informational aspects of traditional historical topics such as farming, government bureaucracy, the Spanish flu pandemic, and Prohibition; and it gives greater attention to information-rich topics such as libraries and museums, schools and colleges, the financial services and office machinery industries, scientific research institutions, and management consultancies.
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references
Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed December 11, 2023)
Subject Information resources -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Information science -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Information science -- Sociological aspects.
Nineteen twenties.
Civilization
Information resources
Information science
Information science -- Sociological aspects
Nineteen twenties
SUBJECT United States -- Civilization -- 20th century. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85139942
Subject United States
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9783031441349
3031441346