Information Technologies and Social Orders

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Information and Action: An Introduction to Carl Couch's Analysis of Information Technologies -- 1 Introduction -- Communication Processes -- Social Relationships -- Information Technologies -- Mode of Analysis -- Conclusions -- 2 Orality -- As Contrived Speech -- Contemporary Oralities -- Ancient Oralities -- Formatting -- Specialists -- Interfacing with Written Languages -- Conclusions -- 3 Decorations and Depictions -- Two-Dimensional Visuals -- Photography -- Sculpture -- Personal Adornments -- How Static Visuals Structure Experiences -- Conclusions -- 4 Extending Temporal Structures -- Basic Temporal Structures -- Simple Calendars -- Refinements -- Timekeeping Specialists -- Quantifying Durations -- Clocks -- Conclusions -- 5 Numeric and Spatial Concepts -- Early Numeric Concepts -- Computation of Quantities -- Place Value -- States and Numbers -- Spatial Concepts -- Spatial Computations -- Conclusions -- 6 Bureaucratic Structures -- Early Bureaucracies -- The Formatting of Information -- External Relationships -- Internal Relationships -- In the Service of Evil -- Bureaucracies and Social Science -- Conclusions -- 7 Written Languages -- Early Writing -- Pictographic Writing -- Phonetic Writing -- Qualities of Written Information -- Myths and Histories -- Conclusions -- 8 Printing Books -- China -- Europe -- The Press and Church -- Impact on Other Religions -- The Press and State -- Intellectual Ferment -- Ludenic Reading -- Books in the Digital Age -- Conclusions -- 9 Newspapers and State Structures -- Early Newspapers -- North American Newspapers -- Legislature-Centered States -- The Diffusion of Representative Democracy -- Mass Distribution -- News in Totalitarian States -- Newspapers in the Electronic Age -- Conclusions