[1] From: Willard McCarty <Willard.McCarty@kcl.ac.uk> (17)
Subject: bibliographic efforts?
[2] From: Dan Price <dprice@union1.tui.edu> (25)
Subject: Did Print Confirm Traditional Views?
--[1]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 15:41:08 +0100 (BST)
From: Willard McCarty <Willard.McCarty@kcl.ac.uk>
Subject: bibliographic efforts?
Colleagues here at King's would very much like to know if there are any
ongoing efforts or any planned to collect bibliographic references to work
in academic journals across the disciplines touching on (a)
computer-assisted learning, or more generally (b) computing in the
humanities. The question has been raised how we are to inform our colleagues
about the work going on, wherever it is published. Experience suggests this
is a massive project, exceedingly difficult to manage well, but perhaps bits
of the academic cottage industry can variously provide the information.
Thanks.
WM
----------
Dr. Willard McCarty
Senior Lecturer, Centre for Computing in the Humanities
King's College London
Strand
London WC2R 2LS
+44 (0)171 873 2784 voice; 873 5081 fax
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/kis/schools/hums/ruhc/wlm/
--[2]------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 10:22:22 -0400
From: Dan Price <dprice@union1.tui.edu>
Subject: Did Print Confirm Traditional Views?
Very often we tend to think of the introduction of print as the agent of
social change and such is the title of Elizabeth Eisenstein's work so
frequently cited today by those heralding the revolution of the computer.
Recently however I came across this from Febrve and Martin which gave me
pause to wonder.
Although printing certainly helped scholars in some fields, on the whole it
could not be said to have hastened the acceptance of new ideas or knowledge.
In fact by popularizing long cherished beliefs, strengthening traditional
prejudices and giving authority to seductive fallacies, it could even be
said to have represented an obstacle to the acceptance of many new views.
Even after new discoveries were made, they tended to be ignored and
reliance continued to be placed in conventional authorities. ( he then
goes on to demonstrate this in regard to the discoveries of the New World.)
(Febvre and Martin, 278)
Was this true with print? What is some of the current scholarly thinking on
this apparent contradiction?
Of course the response will also affect how we look at the Web.
Sincerely,
Dan Price, Ph.D.
Professor, The Center for Distant Learning
The Union Institute
440 E. McMillan
Cincinnati OH 45206
(800) 486 3116 OR (513) 861 6400