ATEC 4326 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Laurie Spiegel, Daphne Oram, Uptodate
3 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Introduction: History
Etymology of “history”: from the Greek histor, meaning “learned, wise man”; then Greek historia, meaning
“finding out, narrative”
o
A learned wise man who finds out the story of the past?
o
“History is written by the winners”?
o
What is history?
❖
https://boingboing.net/2012/06/03/nyt-men-invented-the-inter.html
o
Surveillance technologies
o
What is the history of media tech?
❖
Daphne Oram, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTHXwgTpy90
o
Laurie Spiegel, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qhlvRm4iG4
o
Why study history?
❖
Media are cultural practices of representation and communication.
o
Culture: loosely agreed-upon set of meanings and values
o
Representation: symbols, language, narrative structures, genres, etc.
Marie Van Brittan Brown, patent filed 1966
Midterm Review
Saturday, April 21, 2018
10:39 PM
New Section 1 Page 1
Representation: symbols, language, narrative structures, genres, etc.
o
Symbols: signs that have gained meaning in a culture
o
Signs can’t be understood without understanding history.
o
Signs
❖
Returning to the question… Why study history?
❖
Historians try to understand the past within the context of its time
o
They try to tell accurate stories of the past
o
Using primary sources to draw conclusions
o
Sometimes in order to draw comparisons to or understand the present better
o
Original materials created in the past
▪
Without any filtering interpretation overlaid on them
▪
Primary sources
o
Accounts written at a later date
▪
Interpretations and evaluations of primary sources
▪
They are not evidence; they are interpretations of the evidence
▪
https://timeline.com/marie-van-brittan-brown-b63b72c415f0
▪
Secondary sources
o
How do we study history?
❖
Printing Press
Technological determinism: technology shapes society/culture
Models of culture/technology relationship
❖
New Section 1 Page 2
Technological determinism: technology shapes society/culture
o
Cultural determinism: society and culture shape technology
o
Technoculture: A mixture of the above
o
The myth that only this certain man did this certain invention. Giving credit to one person, generally a man.
▪
The Great Man Myth
o
The west is responsible for all things. People forget that other places led to inventions.
▪
The myth of the West’s primacy
o
Chinese book Diamond Sutra is our earliest (868) example of a printed book; it uses woodblock printing.
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-diamond-sutra
○
Bi Sheng invented movable type in the 1000s; we have a verbal description of it
○
Myths of technology and invention
❖
Koren book of Buddhist sayings is the first metal-type printed book –1377 (78 years before the Gutenberg Bible)
❖
Technological determinism: technology shapes society/culture
○
Cultural determinism: society and culture shape technology
○
In making the story of the printing press a story of Gutenberg’s invention, the story of influence between the East
and the West gets left out. This makes it seem as though the West “does” technology, whereas the history is far
more complicated.
○
To be clear, Gutenberg added an important element: the screw-type press, which mechanized the system
somewhat and could be put together and sold to other people.
○
So . . . What did the printing press usher in/enable/grow from?
○
What does our video emphasize?
○
Models of culture/technology relationship
❖
First printing press in England in 1476
So . . . What did the printing press usher in/enable grow from?
❖
New Section 1 Page 3
Document Summary
Et(cid:455)(cid:373)olog(cid:455) of (cid:862)histo(cid:396)(cid:455)(cid:863): f(cid:396)o(cid:373) the g(cid:396)eek histor, (cid:373)ea(cid:374)i(cid:374)g (cid:862)lea(cid:396)(cid:374)ed, (cid:449)ise (cid:373)a(cid:374)(cid:863); the(cid:374) g(cid:396)eek historia, meaning (cid:862)fi(cid:374)di(cid:374)g out, (cid:374)a(cid:396)(cid:396)ati(cid:448)e(cid:863) What is the history of media tech? o o https://boingboing. net/2012/06/03/nyt-men-invented-the-inter. html. Marie van brittan brown, patent filed 1966 o o. Culture: loosely agreed-upon set of meanings and values. Symbols: signs that have gained meaning in a culture. Retu(cid:396)(cid:374)i(cid:374)g to the (cid:395)uestio(cid:374) wh(cid:455) stud(cid:455) histo(cid:396)(cid:455)? o. Historians try to understand the past within the context of its time o. They try to tell accurate stories of the past o. Sometimes in order to draw comparisons to or understand the present better. Without any filtering interpretation overlaid on them o. They are not evidence; they are interpretations of the evidence https://timeline. com/marie-van-brittan-brown-b63b72c415f0. New section 1 page 2 o o o. The myth that only this certain man did this certain invention. Giving credit to one person, generally a man. People forget that other places led to inventions.
