Re: [Air-l] timeline
Hi All, I haven't been following the timeline conversation so I don't know the particular motivations behind it, but it seems rather short scale to my mind. For instance, if one wants to understand the history of digital audio, you've got to at least go back to Fourier, who was interested in heat but whose waveform analysis made digital audio possible. And if you want to talk about the relationship between music and number, well now we're back to Aristotle and Aristoxenus. If we're interested in keyboard instruments, the history of typewriters seems important, and if we're interested in the history of databases the census, the postal system and the invention of tabulation machines seems important. Also the 20th century dates seem off to me. 1950s is an important period for the diffusion of television in the US but much of the key policy and technological development happened between the 20s and 40s. One might also look internationally to German deployments of television and so forth. Again, I don't know the motivation behind such a timeline but if it is meant as a guide to media history relevant to people who are interested in digital media today, I would recommend more attention the extant media historical scholarship. Best, --J
Jonathan: I am trying to find some books that are stating what you just said about things going all the way back to Aristotle and Aristoxenus since my professors will not accept wikis and discourage too many online citations. Do you have a few books or papers that I can find at a reasonable price that chronicle the use of technology from the Greek period (or before if you have some Egyptian data) to the present in education and media. Also, can you explain the relationship between music and number in easy to explain way to me because people think I sound too technical. I guess history of technology books may be my answer but you seemed to know exactly where I want to go. I am writing journal articles as part of my final class. Chris -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Jonathan Sterne Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2006 5:41 PM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] timeline Hi All, I haven't been following the timeline conversation so I don't know the particular motivations behind it, but it seems rather short scale to my mind. For instance, if one wants to understand the history of digital audio, you've got to at least go back to Fourier, who was interested in heat but whose waveform analysis made digital audio possible. And if you want to talk about the relationship between music and number, well now we're back to Aristotle and Aristoxenus. If we're interested in keyboard instruments, the history of typewriters seems important, and if we're interested in the history of databases the census, the postal system and the invention of tabulation machines seems important. Also the 20th century dates seem off to me. 1950s is an important period for the diffusion of television in the US but much of the key policy and technological development happened between the 20s and 40s. One might also look internationally to German deployments of television and so forth. Again, I don't know the motivation behind such a timeline but if it is meant as a guide to media history relevant to people who are interested in digital media today, I would recommend more attention the extant media historical scholarship. Best, --J _______________________________________________ The air-l@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
participants (2)
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Heidelberg, Chris -
Jonathan Sterne