Table Of ContentINFORMATION
INFORMATION
A Reader
EDITED BY
ERIC HAYOT,
ANATOLY DETWYLER,
LEA PAO
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu
Copyright © 2022 Columbia University Press
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hayot, Eric, 1972– editor. | Detwyler, Anatoly, editor. | Pao, Lea, editor.
Title: Information : a reader / edited by Eric Hayot, Anatoly Detwyler, Lea Pao.
Other titles: Information (Hayot, Detwyler, Pao)
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2021] | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020030682 (print) | LCCN 2020030683 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780231186209 (hardcover; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780231186216
(trade paperback; acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780231546546 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Information science—Philosophy. | Information science—
Social aspects.
Classification: LCC Z665 .I582 2021 (print) | LCC Z665 (ebook) |
DDC 020—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020030682
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020030683
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent
and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design: Milenda Nan Ok Lee
Cover art: sylverarts Vectors © Shutterstock
CONTENTS
An Introduction 1
THE SHANNON KNOT 15
1 Claude Shannon, from A Mathematical Theory
of Communication (1948) 20
2 Norbert Wiener, from Cybernetics; or, Control
and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (1948) 29
3 Harold Garfinkel, from Toward a Sociological Theory
of Information (1952) 37
4 Donald MacKay, from “The Place of ‘Meaning’ in the
Theory of Information” (1955) 41
5 Claude Shannon, “The Bandwagon” (1956) 51
6 Gregory Bateson, from “The Cybernetics of ‘Self’:
A Theory of Alcoholism” (1972) 53
7 John Durham Peters, from “Information: Notes Toward
a Critical History” (1988) 60
8 N. Katherine Hayles, from “Contesting for the Body
of Information: The Macy Conferences on Cybernetics” (1999) 69
vi Contents
9 Peter Janich, from What Is Information? (2006) 76
10 Matthieu Triclot, from The Cybernetic Moment (2008) 82
ORDER, NUMBER 89
1 Michel Foucault, from The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the
Human Sciences (1966) 93
2 Mary Poovey, from A History of the Modern Fact: Problems
of Knowledge in the Sciences of Wealth and Society (1998) 105
3 Ian Hacking, from The Taming of Chance (1990) 113
4 Thomas Richards, from The Imperial Archive: Knowledge
and the Fantasy of Empire (1994) 121
5 Friedrich Hayek, from “The Use of Knowledge in Society” (1945) 127
6 Claude Lévi-Strauss, from “The Mathematics of Man” (1954) 133
7 Lily Kay, from Who Wrote the Book of Life? A History of the
Genetic Code (2000) 146
THE WORK OF ART 159
1 Martin Heidegger, from “The Origin of the Work of Art” (1950) 163
2 Walter Benjamin, from “The Storyteller: Reflections on the
Works of Nikolai Leskov” (1936) 170
3 Yuri M. Lotman, “The Future for Structural Poetics” (1979) 177
4 Abraham Moles, from Information Theory
and Esthetic Perception (1958) 185
5 Haroldo De Campos, from “The Informational Temperature
of the Text” (1960) 194
6 Umberto Eco, from The Open Work (1962) 201
7 William R. Paulson, from The Noise of Culture: Literary Texts
in a World of Information (1988) 209
MEDIA ECOLOGIES 215
1 Frances Yates, from The Art of Memory (1966) 219
2 Mary J. Carruthers, from “Ars oblivionalis, ars inveniendi:
The Cherub Figure and the Arts of Memory” (2009) 226
Contents vii
3 Michael E. Hobart and Zachary S. Schiffman, from Information Ages:
Literacy, Numeracy, and the Computer Revolution (1998) 235
4 Walter Ong, from Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing
of the Word (1982) 242
5 Sigmund Freud, from “A Note Upon the
‘Mystic Writing-Pad’ ” (1925) 248
6 Vannevar Bush, from “As We May Think” (1945) 253
7 Marshall McLuhan, from Understanding Media:
The Extensions of Man (1964) 260
8 Friedrich Kittler, from “There Is No Software” (1993) 265
9 Vilém Flusser, from Form and Material (1993)
and Recoding (1987) 271
10 Lisa Gitelman, from Paper Knowledge: Toward a Media History
of Documents (2014) 279
INFORMED SOCIETY 285
1 James Beniger, from The Control Revolution: Technological and Economic
Origins of the Information Society (1986) 289
2 Yoneji Masuda, from The Information Society as
Post-Industrial Society (1981) 300
3 Paul Virilio, from The Information Bomb (1999) 313
4 C. A. Bayly, from Empire and Information: Intelligence Gathering and
Social Communication in India, 1780–1870 (1996) 318
5 Mary Elizabeth Berry, from Japan in Print: Information
and Nation in the Early Modern Period (2006) 327
6 Ann Blair, from Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information
Before the Modern Age (2010) 341
7 Elias Muhanna, from “Why Was the Fourteenth Century
a Century of Arabic Encyclopaedism?” (2013) 352
8 Steven Marks, from The Information Nexus: Global Capitalism
from the Renaissance to the Present (2016) 361
Acknowledgments 373
Index 379
INFORMATION
