A Nation Transformed by Information: How Information Has Shaped the United States from Colonial Times to the Present (review)
A Nation Transformed by Information: How Information Has Shaped the United States from Colonial Times to the Present (review)
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一个被信息改变的国家：从殖民时代到现在信息如何塑造了美国（评论）
DOI：
10.1353/tech.2001.0161
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发表时间：
2001
影响因子：
0.7
通讯作者：
D. Headrick
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
D. Headrick
classification, transformation, display, storage, and communication does not translate readily into the contemporary taxonomy of information systems. Today, an information system is understood to embody four of Headrick’s themes—transformation, storage, display, and communications—and to speak of these as separate entities seems awkward. Again, the theme of knowledge classification is not on the same level as the other four, and really has no corresponding subsystem within a modern information system. However, these are quite minor criticisms of a very fine book and perhaps illustrate why writing a synthetic history is so difficult: what is a logical categorization to one person can seem a distortion to another. There is not very much that is “new” in this book; its originality lies in its point of view and the integration of a large body of secondary material. As a practitioner of information-technology history, I did find some information that was new to me, some ideas of which I was only dimly aware that were traced to their sources, while even very familiar material benefited by the juxtaposition to like technologies and by being embedded in Headrick’s framework. I should also say that this is an unusually readable book—I consumed it with real absorption over one holiday weekend. As a readable and accessible account of the very early development of information technologies, When Information Came of Age can be strongly recommended as suitable for undergraduate studies of information-technology history and as an essential library acquisition.
