The Renaissance Computer

by Jonathan Sawday (Editor), Jonathan Sawday (Editor)

In the fifteenth century the printing press was the 'new technology'. The first ever information revolution began with the advent of the printed book, enabling Renaissance scholars to formulate new ways of organising and disseminating knowledge.
As early as 1500 there were already 20 million books in circulation in Europe. How did this rapid explosion of ideas impact upon the evolution of new disciplines?
The Renaissance Computer looks at the fascinating development of new methods of information storage and retrieval which took place at the very beginning of print culture. And it asks some crucial questions about the intellectual conditions of our own digital age. A dazzling array of leading experts in Renaissance culture explore topics of urgent significance today,
* the contribution of knowledge technologies to state formulation and national identity
*the effect of multimedia, orality and memory on education
*the importance of the visual display of information and how search engines reflect and direct ways of thinking.

226 pages, Paperback

First published August 24, 2000

Reviews

[Ang]

Summary: In the fifteenth century the printing press was the 'new technology'. The first ever information revolution began with the advent of the printed book, enabling Renaissance scholars to formulate new ways of organizing and disseminating knowledge. As early as 1500 there were already twenty million books in circulation in Europe. How did this enormous explosion in the circulation of texts and images impact upon our ways of understanding the world? The Renaissance Computer looks at the fascinating development of new methods of information storage and retrieval which took place with the arrival of the printed page. As we embark upon the second information revolution, a dazzling array of leading experts in Renaissance culture explore topics of urgent significance today, including:
-the contribution of knowledge technologies to state formation and national identity;
-the effect of multimedia, orality and memory on education;
-the importance of the visual display of information and how search engines reflect and direct ways of thinking.

[Diane]

Although this collection was compiled in 2000, and therefore shows its age a bit in terms of identifying "current" computer trends (remember the good old days when we used 3 1/2" disks and internet access was an **option** on computers?) it demonstrates a heightened perception about the ongoing human need to catalog, access, archive, and otherwise organize and retrieve data.

A very good read.

[Eben]

Not all the title claims. It is a collection of individual essays based around the metaphor of the book as an information system. Although several are of interest, the collection lacks cohesion.

[Antonio Gallo]

Read and re-read still reading ...