Some bits and pieces

From the Book:

Briggs A. and Burke P.(2005). A social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet. Cambridge: Polity Press

A paragraph referred to the Encyclopedia. 

Page 80

Above all, the famous Encyclopedie, published between 1751 and 1756, was an important vehicle for politics. Originally planned as a 3 volume translation from the English of Chambers’ Cyclopaedia, the Encyclopedia turned into an independent work in thirty-five volumes.  D’Alembert, Diderot, Voltaire and Rousseau were  among many contributors to volumes which were intended as means to awaken political consciousness as well to acquire information. The publication of the encyclopedie was a major event in the History of Communication. Only the wealthy could afford to buy it, but cheaper editions followed and many more people could consult the work in public libraries.

A paragraph related to the Enlightment movement which somehow had a huge impact on the Enncyclopedia.

Page 81

As for the French Revolution, its relation to the Enlightment which proceeded it had often been debated.  By the late 18^th century , the French government recognised public opinion as an entity which needed to be addressed, and is so doing helped the opposition to overthrow the old regime; in this way the Revolution might be described as a continuation of the Enlightment by other means. The appeal to reason, personified as a goddess, and ‘to the rights of man’, treated as universal, followed Enlightment traditions. The philosophes were  venerated, and the body of Voltaire was taken in solemn procession to be interred in the Pantheon in 1791. Nevertheless, the Revolutionary programme was more radical. It was to change the system, not to reform it. The re-organisation of the calendar, making 1792 into ‘year 1’,was an important symbolic act, a declaration from independence from the past.

I also found this very interesting article on how Wikipedia has changed the way we think about knowledge in this website :  Warman, Matt.(2008) At: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/3356609/Wikipedia-A-very-modern-encyclopedia.html

A sort of a modern Encyclopedia was created by an American former currency speculator called Jimmy Wales. It was named  Wikipedia, and invited anyone who was interested to "imagine a world where everyone has access to the sum of human knowledge".  This website allows anyone who logs on to create, write and edit entries on any subject that struck them as worthy. It's beyond doubt that the not-for-profit Wikipedia has changed the way in which much of the world gets its information, and it is remarkably reliable. Offering free access to nine million articles in 253 languages, it is an encyclopedia like no other, used by almost every schoolchild in this world. Yet, many commentators have suggested that the site could be vulnerable to misuse by people with vested interests. As broadband spreads and consumers become more internet-savvy, so it will get harder and harder for Wikipedia's writers to retain any sort of authority. Entries are made, edited and altered as things happen, sometimes even before. The site can't always reflect what people know any more; it reflects what people think.

In a way, the fact that Britannica was always a little bit out of date was its main strength, because time gave its writers and readers enough space to consider their ideas and acquire a little perspective.

Note: This is the basic stuff I've picked out. Hopefully, we'll be able to write this again in our own words.

a bit more on diderot

When I was looking in the encyclopedie, I found several quotes from Diderot which tell us a lot about his character, there is one in the 'Art' Article which says, "It is for the liberal arts to lift the mechanical arts from the contempt in which prejudice has for so long held them, and it is for the patronage of kings to draw them from the poverty in which they still languish" i think he thought of himself as one of these 'kings' or leaders i suppose to get people to recognise the talent of the artists in his Art articles.
Another one whch also reflects this is "Artisans have believed themselves contemptible because people have looked down on them; let us teach them to have a better opinion of themselves; that is the only way to obtain more nearly perfect results from them" This ties in very closely with the enlightenment movement; ie. the more we learn about something the better we are. The creation of this encyclopaedia was seen as a very positive thing for everybody involved.
He wanted to spread knowledge and experience of great, inspiring art (in the art volume) which again reflects the enlightenment movement, and the idea of bettering yourself with knowledge; "[we need a man to go gather information from academies and workshops]...and to set it out in a book which will persuade artisans to read, philosophers to think on useful lines, and the great to make at least some worthwhile use of their authority and wealth"

Time Machine 9

Hey everyone,

following on from our chat in the canteen today, I have just seen a reminder on the 'Time Machine 9 rules' we must follow. It ties in nicely with the structure of our presentation which we were discussing, here it is....

1) A clear introduction to your presentation, which should also mention the different published sources you have used and your reasons for choice. You should use no less than 5 published sources to inform your presentation.

2) A clear definition of key ideas relating to your given topic, with supporting evidence in the form of, no less than, 3 quotations from 3 different published sources. Quotations must be interpreted and their importance discussed, they should also be referenced correctly using the Harvard method.

3) The cultural context (political and social) in which the topic came out of/was in reaction to.

4) An illustrated ‘who’s who’ of key individuals associated with given topic, with a clear explanation of what you think their significance is and why.

5) Historical examples of key words/images/artefacts associated with given topic and an assessment of their importance.

6) Contemporary examples of key words/images/artefacts associated with given topic and a comparison to the historical examples.

7) A ‘bullet point’ conclusion.

8) A bibliography and illustration list correctly set out using the Harvard method.

9) A PDF version of presentation for uploading to myUCA.

With this in mind I have adapted what we talked about earlier:

1) 2.5 minutes comprising of:

• Clear introduction, Encyclopedie (ou Dictionnaire des Science, des arts...) etc etc.
• Our 5 published sources ( Habermas and Modernity, Encyclopedia plates extract Diderot, Adriana's book. We need two more MINIMUM for killer quotes / images etc)
• Dictionary definition of Encyclopedia etc.

2) 2.5 minutes comprising of:

• History and evolution of Encyclopedia
• Early Chinese versions
• Guttenberg and first printed book - the bible
• Diderot' and d'Alembert's Encyclopedie 1751
• Modern day encyclopedia's
• Wikipedia and Brittanica
• Example images e.g written descriptions, introduction of illustrations through to videos on internet -

3) 2.5 minutes comprising of:

• Diderot, who was he? general background etc.
• Key events in 1700
• The enlightenment movement and it's links to the encyclopedie

4) 2.5 minutes comprising of:

• Pro's and con's, encyclopedia's vs Wikipedia internet etc
• What will be the next step for Encyclopedia's? Future ramifications?
• Bullet point conclusion
• Bibliography and Illustration list.

I'm confident we have well over ten minutes worth of content here.

As discussed, let's meet in the Library at 2:15 tomorrow and start getting basic scripts down along with quotes and images. Then we can compile our power point presentation / pdf next week and do some rehearsals!

See you tomorrow!

Research.........

Here is some Interesting information I got hold of about the the Encyclopaedia and Google in the book  A Social History of The Media. There is so much to talk about in terms of modern and old media but I've been trying to stick to the subject and not get carried away. I am sorry for the blurry photos. I couldn't find the pages I wanted to post online.

Bits and Pieces

So I've now done a bit of research around my chosen topic of 'whatever is left that I can find and seems relevant'.

Firstly the very basic:

the definition of an encyclopaedia

- from dictionary.reference.com

1. "A book or set of books containing articles on various topics, usually in alphabetical arrangement, covering all branches of knowledge or, less commonly, all aspects of one subject
2. the french work edited by Diderot and D'alembert, published in the 18th century, distinguished by its representation of the views of the Enligtenment

-from the Encyclopaedia Brittanica

1. reference work that contains information on all branches of knowledge or that treats a particular branch of knowledge in a comprehensive manner

My other info is all from the Encyclopaedia Brittanica website (www.brittanica.com) and there is ALOT of it...I've printed most of the relevant stuff off so if we meet up we can go through it, put I'll put the basics up here so we know what we've got.

• Encyclopaedias have existed, in one form or another for over 2000 years
• the word encyclopaedia comes from the greek enkyklios paideia meaning "general education"
• A German writer Paul Scalic was the first to use the word to describe his book in its title 'Encyclopaedia; seu Orbis disciplinarum, tam sacrarum quam propanum epistemon'. Before this similar books existed, but none used the name encyclopaedia. However the name was not commonly accepted until its use in Didrot's Encyclopdie, when it became fashionable.
• Encyclopaedias are often subject to bias. This may be from the writers of the articles because of their opinions on their subjects. however sometimes "A great encyclopaedia is inevitably a sign of national maturity and, as such, it will often pay tribute to the ideals of its country".
• When publishing, Diderot faced opposition from the church and the state, and this caused some copies to be printed in secret, and the last 10 "were issued with a false imprint".
• Most encyclopaedias were written in Latin for a long time, as this was the most internationally known language. However this greatly restricted the number of people who could use the books.
• The number of readers was also restricted before printing was introduced, as few copies of each book were available. However once printing was introduced in Europe, productions costs dropped, more books were produced and more people could read them.
• The encyclopaedia originated from the dictionary, and encyclopaedic dictionaries were popular for a time. However their short, fragmented entries meant that readers did not always gain full knowledge of the subject they were interested in.
• The oldest surviving fragments of an encyclopaedia were written by Speusippus, Plato's nephew, who died in 339/338 BC.
• The history of encyclopaedias in China goes back further than that of the West. They have produced them for roughly 2000 years. They differ from our view of encyclopaedias though, as they tend to be anthologies significant literature but with some elements of the dictionary included. Their primary use was often to "aid candidates for civil service".

That's basically a summary of what I found...I know not all of it is entirely relevant :S

If someone could give me some feedback on what else they think we need to find out about that would be great :)

also, when should we have our next meeting??

A social History of The Media: From Gutenber to the Internet

Today I came across this very interesting book in the library. It's basically a very informative study to the media developments starting from the first ever printed book and leading to today's Internet. There are tones of information in here. I've scanned through it but I'll hopefully have a better look tomorrow and post some descent rich research.

Library research

From my research in the library today, I have discovered that the ' Encyclopedie ou Dictionnaire Raisonne des Sciences, des Arts et des Metiers' can be closely linked with Enlightenment movement. This led me on to the book Habermas and Modernity, the book is comprised of essays about the concept of modernity based on the philosophy's of Jurgen Habermas.

In one of the essays, Albrecht Wellmer discusses Max Weber, a social Scientist who tried to breakdown the process of modernization.

"Max Weber has tried to interpret the world-historical process of modernization as a process of progressive "rationalization". He goes on to say: " One could distinguish three different aspects in Weber's conception of rationality: purposive, formal, and discursive rationality. In its narrowest sense, rationality for Weber means Zweckrationalitat, purposive rationality, i.e., the type of rationality exhibited in the choice of the most efficient means for realizing predefined goals; 'rationalization' in this sense is therefore tied up with the increase of economic or administrative efficiency." (Wellmer, 1985).


The enlightenment movement was about society and human beings using science and reason to rationally understand and explain the world. Translated into English, the Encycolpedie was called the 'Analytical Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Trades'. It's chief editor was Denis Diderot, who was amongst the first to organize knowledge along the alphabet which would evolve into Encyclopedia we recognize today. Diderot recognized that by cataloging information and communicating it with people, society and their descendants would be 'better instructed' and as a consequence be more virtuous and happy. Diderot's rationalization of the sciences, arts and trades is a physical representation of the Enlightenment movement.

From my initial research, I have discovered that Diderot was a philosopher and actually organised the basics of the encyclopedia whilst in prison. "The first volume came off the press in 1751. Two years earlier Diderot had had to pass an uncomfortable and alarming 100 days as a crown prisoner in the fortress of Vincennes." (Gillispie, 1959). He was incarcerated because his publications confronted the 'general way of thinking', challenging religious beliefs and their hierarchy such as priests.

Bibliography

Gillispie, Charles Coulston (1959). A Diderot Encyclopedia of Trades and Industry manufacturing and the technical Arts. New York. Dover Publications Inc.

Wellmer, Albrecht. Edited by Bernstein, Richard (1985). Habermas and Modernity. Cambridge, UK. Polity Press.

Diderotttttt

This is one of the first things I found on Diderot, apparently he wasnt really an official learned philosopher person, he was a really accomplished writer and was one of the editors Dictionnaire de medecine (6 vols., Paris, 1746) he had lots of encyclopaedia-y knowledge and experience. I thought this was interesting and he probs links in with the enlightenment theory aswell as he is just taking it upon himself to be massively educated and sciencey....
"Denis Diderot was the most prominent of the French Encyclopedists. He was educated by the Jesuits, and, refusing to enter one of the learned professions, was turned adrift by his father and came to Paris, where he lived from hand to mouth for a time..." -
theres a tonne of other info on him on this websiiiiite....

Research / Presentation structure

Hey everyone,

So time is pushing on, we have two weeks from today to get our research and presentation sorted. :-/ Great initial research Jenny and Andriana...

As Phil would say I've been 'unpacking' what research we have so far and tried to put it into some form of structure as below...

• General intro - subject matter, general overview and our research sources
• What is an encyclopedia - definition, uses and how it evolved (i.e from primitive dictionary's circa 17th Century, and as Andrianna suggested into Wikipedia, the pro's and con's etc.)
• A look at what was happening in 1700's in general.
• The cultural impacts of encyclopedias (I'm sure we can link it to Phil's lecture today. I.e Neoclassicism and particularly the birth of the Enlightenment movement.)
• In depth look at the influences of Diderot and d'Alembert. Who were they? What did they do? etc (I think they were amongst the first to organize their particular fields systematically into what we would recognize today as an encyclopedia, not necessarily the creators of the first encyclopedia )
• Future implications etc

It makes sense to me to divide the presentation into quarters of 2 and a half minutes each. I think we should all meet in the library at some point and dedicate a good chunk of our time researching some of this further... I'm confident we can absolutely plaster this blog with research and easily come up with a script for our presentation.

When is good for everyone to meet? 

Any problems call or drop me a text!

Paul

The Evolution of the Encyclopaedia?

I've been thinking that apart from the encyclopaedia itself it would be interesting to research its evolution from a a printed book of the 18th century to the modern search engines like Google or Wikipedia. It's amazing how people nowadays rely on the web for any kind of queries and totally ignore the benefit of a real encyclopaedia.

First research post!

Just thought I'd get the ball rolling with the VERY brief bit of research I've done. Don't get too excited, you probably all found it too. It's just the stuff I found in a quick google search, but I figured it was a start.

So the first encyclopaedia...I'm assuming from what I found, that what we're looking at is the 'Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers' ? If thats not right then you can completely ignore this post :P

I found two online copies of the encyclopaedia, one in french here which google chrome rather handily translated for me...it's pretty difficult to read, and unless you want to go through the entire thing finding out what they included, probably not the most helpful... but it's a start!!

Then there is another copy of it with an english interface here. The actual articles are again in French and are, surprisingly enough, still not necessarily all that helpful. However on the first page of the site it does give you a little bit of background info, which I have summarised:

• it was published under the supervision of Diderot d'Alembert between 1751 and 1772
• it contains 17 volumes of text, 11 volumes of plates and 72,000 articles
• it had over 140 contributors
• it is considered to have had a huge impact, and gave wider access to knowledge which would normally have been exclusive to those involved in their specific fields.

The site also includes a few other bits and pieces, like an editors note and pictures of the front cover of the encyclopaedia.

Like I said, just a little bit to get everything started...no epiphanies here I'm afraid!!

meet up?

So guys are you free tommorow? Would u like to meet up at some point? It's  weird I haven't even talked to 2 of you guys! ^^