Modern Invention of Information: Discourse, History and Power

Associate Professor Ronald E Day9780809323906, 0-8093-2390-7

Illuminating the social production and history of the term information as a substantive, Day (library and information science, Wayne State U.) identifies three information ages of the 20th century: European documentation before and soon after World War II, US information theory and cybernetics soon after World War II, and the virtual age that was proclaimed shortly before the end of the century. A major concern is to resurrect some earlier notions of information that do not assume a predetermined and unavoidable future.

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Table of contents :
Contents……Page 8
Acknowledgments……Page 10
1. Introduction:Remembering “Information ”……Page 14
2. European Documentation: Paul Otlet and Suzanne Briet……Page 20
3. Information Theory,Cybernetics, and the Discourse of “Man ”……Page 51
4. Pierre Lévy and the “Virtual ”……Page 73
5. Heidegger and Benjamin: The Metaphysics and Fetish of Information……Page 104
6. Conclusion:“Information ” and the Role of Critical Theory……Page 127
Notes……Page 136
Works Cited……Page 144
Index……Page 148