Thomas S. Mullaney - Böcker

Plenty of books tell you how to do research. This book helps you figure out WHAT to research in the first place, and why it matters.The hardest part of research isn't answering a question. It's knowing what to do before you know what your question is. Where Research Begins tackles the two challenges every researcher faces with every new project: How do I find a compelling problem to investigate-one that truly matters to me, deeply and personally? How do I then design my research project so that the results will matter to anyone else?This book will help you start your new research project the right way for you with a series of simple yet ingenious exercises. Written in a conversational style and packed with real-world examples, this easy-to-follow workbook offers an engaging guide to finding research inspiration within yourself, and in the broader world of ideas.Read this book if you (or your students): have difficulty choosing a research topicknow your topic, but are unsure how to turn it into a research projectfeel intimidated by or unqualified to do researchworry that you're asking the wrong questions about your research topichave plenty of good ideas, but aren't sure which one to commit tofeel like your research topic was imposed by someone elsewant to learn new ways to think about how to do research.Under the expert guidance of award-winning researchers Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea, you will find yourself on the path to a compelling and meaningful research project, one that matters to you-and the world.

Plenty of books tell you how to do research. This book helps you figure out WHAT to research in the first place, and why it matters.The hardest part of research isn't answering a question. It's knowing what to do before you know what your question is. Where Research Begins tackles the two challenges every researcher faces with every new project: How do I find a compelling problem to investigate-one that truly matters to me, deeply and personally? How do I then design my research project so that the results will matter to anyone else?This book will help you start your new research project the right way for you with a series of simple yet ingenious exercises. Written in a conversational style and packed with real-world examples, this easy-to-follow workbook offers an engaging guide to finding research inspiration within yourself, and in the broader world of ideas.Read this book if you (or your students): have difficulty choosing a research topicknow your topic, but are unsure how to turn it into a research projectfeel intimidated by or unqualified to do researchworry that you're asking the wrong questions about your research topichave plenty of good ideas, but aren't sure which one to commit tofeel like your research topic was imposed by someone elsewant to learn new ways to think about how to do research.Under the expert guidance of award-winning researchers Thomas S. Mullaney and Christopher Rea, you will find yourself on the path to a compelling and meaningful research project, one that matters to you-and the world.

The fascinating, untold story of how the Chinese language overcame unparalleled challenges and revolutionized the world of computing.A standard QWERTY keyboard has a few dozen keys. How can Chinese—a language with tens of thousands of characters and no alphabet—be input on such a device? In The Chinese Computer, Thomas S. Mullaney sets out to resolve this paradox, and in doing so, discovers that the key to this seemingly impossible riddle has given rise to a new epoch in the history of writing—a form of writing he calls “hypography.” Based on fifteen years of research, this pathbreaking history of the Chinese language charts the beginnings of electronic Chinese technology in the wake of World War II up through to its many iterations in the present day.Mullaney takes the reader back through the history and evolution of Chinese language computing technology, showing the development of electronic Chinese input methods—software programs that enable Chinese characters to be produced using alphanumeric symbols—and the profound impact they have had on the way Chinese is written. Along the way, Mullaney introduces a cast of brilliant and eccentric personalities drawn from the ranks of IBM, MIT, the CIA, the Pentagon, the Taiwanese military, and the highest rungs of mainland Chinese establishment, to name a few, and the unexpected roles they played in developing Chinese language computing. Finally, he shows how China and the non-Western world—because of the hypographic technologies they had to invent in order to join the personal computing revolution—“saved” the Western computer from its deep biases, enabling it to achieve a meaningful presence in markets outside of the Americas and Europe.An eminently engaging and artfully told history, The Chinese Computer is a must-read for anyone interested in how culture informs computing and how computing, in turn, shapes culture.