Courses

Humans rely on “information technology” to make, preserve, and transmit knowledge and meaning—but what, exactly, is it? While conventional wisdom might bring to mind bits, bytes, and pixels, the definition of information technology can be far more specific and expansive, from magnetic tape and Morse code to formaldehyde and footnotes, papyrus plants and page numbers, semiotics and storytelling. This course will chart the history of information technology from 1400 to the present. We will look at both classic forms (movable type, telegraphy, typewriting, personal computing) and others that tend to be omitted from conventional histories (music notation systems, phone books, weaving). Students will leave the course with an enhanced perspective on information and how it shapes—and is shaped by—culture, nationality, gender, ethnicity, economy, and environment.