In the first part of the course we are thinking about the ways in which people in the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries, and their counterparts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, have
dreamt about data, its structures, its capabilities, its potential, and ways in which we as human
beings can most effectively interact with it, whether with the aid of computers in the modern
communications age, or with the aid of thinking structures in the early modern age. The aim of
this essay is to compare and contrast 2 of our readings from this part of the semester to articulate
the particular problems and questions that they are raising about data, and how and why those ideas
relate to our present-day ideas about networked information and data analysis.
You have a lot of freedom in terms of the angle you take for this essay – – you don’t have
to, and indeed probably cannot, comprehensively cover all of each reading which you engage with.
Instead, pick a particular aspect or question within that reading and examine it very thoroughly
with detailed readings of relevant passages to explain your interpretation of what the reading is
saying, how it is saying it, why, and what that means. You will do this for each of your readings
and compare your findings about the two. How do they relate to one another? Do your writers
dream similar dreams about data, or are they in opposition? Do their ideas relate to our present-
day concerns and hopes about data and networked information? If so, how? You can write a
traditional analytical paper, or, if you like, you can take a creative approach and write your paper
as a dialogue between your two authors. You can and should bring in your own opinions and ideas,
linking these closely and clearly to your readings. You do not have to agree with either of your
authors (though you are free to do so).
Our end result should be a paper which clearly articulates the ideas of reading 1, reading
2, compares these, and provides your own interpretation and thoughts about those ideas and their
relationship to the present day. Our reason for doing this is that you are shortly going to embark
on projects combining computation and humanistic studies, so I want us to think about what
computation might mean, both the good and the bad, so that we do this work with intention and
thought.
twenty-first centuries, and their counterparts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, have
dreamt about data, its structures, its capabilities, its potential, and ways in which we as human
beings can most effectively interact with it, whether with the aid of computers in the modern
communications age, or with the aid of thinking structures in the early modern age. The aim of
this essay is to compare and contrast 2 of our readings from this part of the semester to articulate
the particular problems and questions that they are raising about data, and how and why those ideas
relate to our present-day ideas about networked information and data analysis.
You have a lot of freedom in terms of the angle you take for this essay – – you don’t have
to, and indeed probably cannot, comprehensively cover all of each reading which you engage with.
Instead, pick a particular aspect or question within that reading and examine it very thoroughly
with detailed readings of relevant passages to explain your interpretation of what the reading is
saying, how it is saying it, why, and what that means. You will do this for each of your readings
and compare your findings about the two. How do they relate to one another? Do your writers
dream similar dreams about data, or are they in opposition? Do their ideas relate to our present-
day concerns and hopes about data and networked information? If so, how? You can write a
traditional analytical paper, or, if you like, you can take a creative approach and write your paper
as a dialogue between your two authors. You can and should bring in your own opinions and ideas,
linking these closely and clearly to your readings. You do not have to agree with either of your
authors (though you are free to do so).
Our end result should be a paper which clearly articulates the ideas of reading 1, reading
2, compares these, and provides your own interpretation and thoughts about those ideas and their
relationship to the present day. Our reason for doing this is that you are shortly going to embark
on projects combining computation and humanistic studies, so I want us to think about what
computation might mean, both the good and the bad, so that we do this work with intention and
thought.
Instructions
1. Choose 2 of our readings, one from the twentieth- or twenty-first centuries, and one either
from or about the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries [so, Sawday’s article would count
here] (I am negotiable on this point, but check in with me)
2. Identify a clear idea or set of ideas about data/information, data/information analysis, or
networked information within each reading, and articulate that analytically by including
short quotations from the text in question and explaining what these quotations mean.
3. Compare your findings about the 2 readings.
4. Include your own argumentative position about each reading, and also about how these do
or do not relate to modern ideas, questions, concerns, and/or fears about information,
networked information, and/or data analysis.
5. Sample topics might include but are not limited to: the relationship between humans and
computers or methods of data analysis; what is knowledge and how and why do we
produce/access/seek it/store it; access to information; equity in information access and/or
data analysis.
1. Choose 2 of our readings, one from the twentieth- or twenty-first centuries, and one either
from or about the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries [so, Sawday’s article would count
here] (I am negotiable on this point, but check in with me)
2. Identify a clear idea or set of ideas about data/information, data/information analysis, or
networked information within each reading, and articulate that analytically by including
short quotations from the text in question and explaining what these quotations mean.
3. Compare your findings about the 2 readings.
4. Include your own argumentative position about each reading, and also about how these do
or do not relate to modern ideas, questions, concerns, and/or fears about information,
networked information, and/or data analysis.
5. Sample topics might include but are not limited to: the relationship between humans and
computers or methods of data analysis; what is knowledge and how and why do we
produce/access/seek it/store it; access to information; equity in information access and/or
data analysis.
YOU CAN WRITE IN FIRST PERSON
Here are the sources you will write on and cite:
Jonathan Sawday, ‘Towards the Renaissance Computer’ in The Renaissance Computer: Knowledge and Technology in the First Age of Print ed. by Jonathan Sawday and Neil Rhodes (London: Routledge, 2000), pp.29-44
Extracts from Vannevar Bush, ‘As We May Think’, The Atlantic (July, 1945) – – read ‘Introduction’, and Sections 1, 3, 6, 7, and 8