03517nam 2200517z- 450 991068842020332120231214133035.0(CKB)5400000000040307(oapen)https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/33882(EXLCZ)99540000000004030720202102d2020 |y 0engurmn|---annantxtrdacontentcrdamediacrrdacarrierB C, Before ComputersOn Information Technology from Writing to the Age of Digital DataOpen Book Publishers20201 electronic resource (170 p.)1-80064-106-0 "The idea that the digital age has revolutionized our day-to-day experience of the world is nothing new, and has been amply recognized by cultural historians. In contrast, Stephen Robertson’s BC: Before Computers is a work which questions the idea that the mid-twentieth century saw a single moment of rupture. It is about all the things that we had to learn, invent, and understand – all the ways we had to evolve our thinking – before we could enter the information technology revolution of the second half of the twentieth century. Its focus ranges from the beginnings of data processing, right back to such originary forms of human technology as the development of writing systems, gathering a whole history of revolutionary moments in the development of information technologies into a single, although not linear narrative. Treading the line between philosophy and technical history, Robertson draws on his extensive technical knowledge to produce a text which is both thought-provoking and accessible to a wide range of readers. The book is wide in scope, exploring the development of technologies in such diverse areas as cryptography, visual art and music, and the postal system. Through all this, it does not simply aim to tell the story of computer developments but to show that those developments rely on a long history of humans creating technologies for increasingly sophisticated methods of manipulating information. Through a clear structure and engaging style, it brings together a wealth of informative and conceptual explorations into the history of human technologies, and avoids assumptions about any prior knowledge on the part of the reader. As such, it has the potential to be of interest to the expert and the general reader alike."B C, Before Computers Computing & information technologybicsscInformation theorybicsscEducational equipment & technology, computer-aided learning (CAL)bicsscBiography & True StoriesbicsscInformation technology: general issuesbicsschistory of computer developmentsdigital agecomputerinformation technology revolutiondata processingcryptographyvisual artmusicpostal systemComputing & information technologyInformation theoryEducational equipment & technology, computer-aided learning (CAL)Biography & True StoriesInformation technology: general issuesRobertson Stephenauth994149BOOK9910688420203321B C, before computers2276834UNINA