Paul Duguid – författare

A landmark history that traces the creation, management, and sharing of information through six centuriesThanks to modern technological advances, we now enjoy seemingly unlimited access to information. Yet how did information become so central to our everyday lives, and how did its processing and storage make our data-driven era possible? This volume is the first to consider these questions in comprehensive detail, tracing the global emergence of information practices, technologies, and more, from the premodern era to the present. With entries spanning archivists to algorithms and scribes to surveilling, this is the ultimate reference on how information has shaped and been shaped by societies.Written by an international team of experts, the book's inspired and original long- and short-form contributions reconstruct the rise of human approaches to creating, managing, and sharing facts and knowledge. Thirteen full-length chapters discuss the role of information in pivotal epochs and regions, with chief emphasis on Europe and North America, but also substantive treatment of other parts of the world as well as current global interconnections. More than 100 alphabetical entries follow, focusing on specific tools, methods, and concepts—from ancient coins to the office memo, and censorship to plagiarism. The result is a wide-ranging, deeply immersive collection that will appeal to anyone drawn to the story behind our modern mania for an informed existence.Tells the story of information’s rise from 1450 through to todayCovers a range of eras and regions, including the medieval Islamic world, late imperial East Asia, early modern and modern Europe, and modern North AmericaIncludes 100 concise articles on wide-ranging topics:Concepts: data, intellectual property, privacyFormats and genres: books, databases, maps, newspapers, scrolls and rolls, social mediaPeople: archivists, diplomats and spies, readers, secretaries, teachersPractices: censorship, forecasting, learning, political reporting, translatingProcesses: digitization, quantification, storage and searchSystems: bureaucracy, platforms, telecommunicationsTechnologies: cameras, computers, lithographyProvides an informative glossary, suggested further reading (a short bibliography accompanies each entry), and a detailed indexWritten by an international team of notable contributors, including Jeremy Adelman, Lorraine Daston, Devin Fitzgerald, John-Paul Ghobrial, Lisa Gitelman, Earle Havens, Randolph C. Head, Niv Horesh, Sarah Igo, Richard R. John, Lauren Kassell, Pamela Long, Erin McGuirl, David McKitterick, Elias Muhanna, Thomas S. Mullaney, Carla Nappi, Craig Robertson, Daniel Rosenberg, Neil Safier, Haun Saussy, Will Slauter, Jacob Soll, Heidi Tworek, Siva Vaidhyanathan, Alexandra Walsham, and many more.

This book examines trademarks and brands, and their historical role in national competitive and comparative advantage and in overall economic growth. The contributors provide an historical account of the contribution of brands in consumer goods to economic growth; examine the development of trademark law, its influence on brand strategy, and reciprocally the influence of strategy on the law; and look at the building and repositioning of individual brands as example of the interplay of law and strategy.Brands and trademarks are usually discussed from the perspective of marketing. This book draws together scholars and practitioners not only from marketing, but also from business history, law, economics, and economic history to provide a richer understanding of trade marks and competitiveness than has hitherto been available.

This book examines trademarks and brands, and their historical role in national competitive and comparative advantage and in overall economic growth. The contributors provide an historical account of the contribution of brands in consumer goods to economic growth; examine the development of trademark law, its influence on brand strategy, and reciprocally the influence of strategy on the law; and look at the building and repositioning of individual brands as example of the interplay of law and strategy.Brands and trademarks are usually discussed from the perspective of marketing. This book draws together scholars and practitioners not only from marketing, but also from business history, law, economics, and economic history to provide a richer understanding of trade marks and competitiveness than has hitherto been available.

An essential guide to the ways information has shaped and been shaped by societiesThanks to recent advances, we now enjoy seemingly unlimited access to information. How did information become so central to our everyday lives? This book traces the global emergence of information practices and technologies across pivotal epochs and regions, providing invaluable historical perspectives on the ways information has shaped and been shaped by societies. Featuring the core articles from the ultimate reference book Information: A Historical Companion, this short history will appeal to anyone seeking to understand our modern mania for an informed existence. The book:Tells the story of information’s rise from the premodern era to today, exploring how diverse cultures have created, managed, and shared facts and knowledgeTakes readers from the medieval Islamic world to late imperial East Asia, and from early modern and modern Europe to contemporary North AmericaCovers a broad range of topics, such as networks, bureaucracy, publicity, propaganda, censorship, privacy, intellectual property, digitization, telecommunications, storage and search, and much moreIncludes a new introduction, suggested further readings, and a glossary of key termsBrings together an international team of experts, including Jeremy Adelman, Devin Fitzgerald, John-Paul Ghobrial, Lisa Gitelman, Randolph C. Head, Richard R. John, Elias Muhanna, Thomas S. Mullaney, Carla Nappi, Craig Robertson, Daniel Rosenberg, Will Slauter, and Heidi Tworek

Climate change is the greatest market failure in world history and thus the most urgent challenge in the world of business for the foreseeable future. This book brings together experts to shed light on the historical impact of business on climate change and of climate change on business.The book shows how corporate responses to climate change emerged out of earlier environmental concerns, regulatory frameworks, and in many cases already established business strategies. Contributors to the book analyse the evolution of business strategies to navigate environmental challenges even before climate crisis was widely recognised as an urgent concern.The historical insights presented by this book will be essential reading for business historians, as well as students, scholars, and reflective practitioners with an interest in the environment, political economy, business strategy, and risk management.

Climate change is the greatest market failure in world history and thus the most urgent challenge in the world of business for the foreseeable future. This book brings together experts to shed light on the historical impact of business on climate change and of climate change on business.The book shows how corporate responses to climate change emerged out of earlier environmental concerns, regulatory frameworks, and in many cases already established business strategies. Contributors to the book analyse the evolution of business strategies to navigate environmental challenges even before climate crisis was widely recognised as an urgent concern.The historical insights presented by this book will be essential reading for business historians, as well as students, scholars, and reflective practitioners with an interest in the environment, political economy, business strategy, and risk management.

To see the future we can build with information technology, we must look beyond mere information to the social context that creates and gives meaning to it. For years, pundits have predicted that information technology will obliterate the need for almost everything--from travel to supermarkets to business organizations to social life itself. Individual users, however, tend to be more sceptical. Beaten down by info-glut and exasperated by computer systems fraught with software crashes, viruses, and unintelligible error messages, they find it hard to get a fix on the true potential of the digital revolution. John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid help us to see through frenzied visions of the future to the real forces for change in society. They argue that the gap between digerati hype and end-user gloom is largely due to the 'tunnel vision' that information-driven technologies breed. We've become so focused on where we think we ought to be--a place where technology empowers individuals and obliterates social organizations--that we often fail to see where we're really going and what's helping us get there.We need, they argue, to look beyond our obsession with information and individuals to include the critical social networks of which these are always a part. Drawing from rich learning experiences at Xerox PARC, from examples such as IBM, Chiat/Day Advertising, and California's 'Virtual University', and from historical, social, and cultural research, the authors sharply challenge the futurists' sweeping predictions.They explain how many of the tools, jobs, and organizations seemingly targeted for future extinction in fact provide useful social resources that people will fight to keep. Rather than aiming technological bullets at these 'relics', we should instead look for ways that the new world of bits can learn from and complement them. Arguing elegantly for the important role that human sociability plays, even--perhaps especially--in the world of bits, The Social Life of Information gives us an optimistic look beyond the simplicities of information and individuals.It shows how a better understanding of the contribution that communities, organizations, and institutions make to learning, working and innovating can lead to the richest possible use of technology in our work and everyday lives.