HIST 427: History of the Information Age

In Spring 2019, Dr. Jeff McClurken will offer the class HIST 427: History of the Information age. It’s a History class, obviously, but because of its emphasis on technology, it can serve as an elective for CDS majors or Digital Studies minors. There are some prerequisites, but Dr. McClurken routinely waives these for non-History majors. Please contact Dr. McClurken with any questions. Course description follows:

This seminar will explore the history of communication, media, new media, and the digital age. We will begin with an investigation of the various definitions of the Information Age, then move into a discussion of the historical & technological foundations of information production, computing devices, and communication and networking tools. We will explore the social and cultural history of information creation and consumption from cave paintings to the Internet, from analog computational machines to wearable devices. The course will generally be based in the history of the US, but, given the transfer of technology and the increasing ability of these technologies to transcend geographic regions, it will logically range more widely as appropriate. The class, working with Dr. McClurken, will craft the syllabus, including assignments, readings, and additional topics. The course that emerges is likely to be a blend of reading seminar and collaborative digitally enhanced workshop (one that will take full advantage of its location in the Convergence Center and digital platforms). For more information, a previous iteration of the class can be found at infoage2014.umwblogs.org or ask questions at jmcclurk@umw.edu.

Header image from page 576 of “The Bell System technical journal” (1922). Detailed structure of the grid. The exterior electrodes are pieces ofmetal foil cemented to the outside of the tube.