Misunderstanding media / Brian Winston.

By:

Winston, Brian

Material type: Text

TextLanguage: English Publication details: Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1986.Description: xi, 419 p. : ill. ; 24 cmISBN:

0674576632

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

001.510 19 WIN

Contents:

1. Breakages Limited 2. Fugitive Pictures 3. ‘Inventions for Casting Up Sums, Very Pretty’ 4. Digression – ‘The Most Remarkable Technology’ 5. Little Bird of Union and Understanding 6. Communicate by Word of Mouth

Summary: The 1980s saw constant reports of an information revolution. This book, first published in 1986, challenges this view. It argues that the information revolution is an illusion, a rhetorical gambit, an expression of profound historical ignorance, and a movement dedicated to purveying misunderstanding and disseminating disinformation. In this historically based attack on the information revolution, Professor Winston takes a had look at the four central information technologies – telephones, television, computers and satellites. He describes how these technologies were created and diffused, showing that instead of revolution we just have ‘business as usual’. He formulates a ‘law’ of the suppression of radical potential – a law which states that new telecommunication technologies are introduced into society only insofar as their disruptive potential is contained. Despite the so-called information revolution, the major institutions of society remain unchanged, and most of us remain in total ignorance of the history of technology.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
General Books	CUTN Central Library Generalia	Non-fiction	001.510 WIN (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		49464

Includes index.

Bibliography: p. 383-406.

The 1980s saw constant reports of an information revolution. This book, first published in 1986, challenges this view. It argues that the information revolution is an illusion, a rhetorical gambit, an expression of profound historical ignorance, and a movement dedicated to purveying misunderstanding and disseminating disinformation. In this historically based attack on the information revolution, Professor Winston takes a had look at the four central information technologies – telephones, television, computers and satellites. He describes how these technologies were created and diffused, showing that instead of revolution we just have ‘business as usual’. He formulates a ‘law’ of the suppression of radical potential – a law which states that new telecommunication technologies are introduced into society only insofar as their disruptive potential is contained. Despite the so-called information revolution, the major institutions of society remain unchanged, and most of us remain in total ignorance of the history of technology.

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