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CS92PROD
From Clay Tablet to the iPad: History of the Book in Intercultural Perspective

HIST 157
Fall 2011
Section: 01  
Certificates: Jewish and Israel Studies

We are living through what some have dubbed "an information revolution"; technological advances have provided new ways in which we can communicate. However, the information revolution through electronic media has been seen as a threat to the book and newspaper/journal industry. As this course will show, the book as we know it is a historical artifact that changed over long centuries in format and content. Technological advancements and local contexts have influenced the way information was preserved and accessed, from stone to clay tablets, to papyrus, to parchment, to paper, to print, and, now, to ebook. This course will look at the historical changes in the way knowledge was transmitted and ask questions about how culture and technology influence each other. We will look at the book as an object and examine the influence of the material aspect of the book for the transmission and access to information. We will look at the historical process of invention of the author and examine the question of audiences and readers in a cross-cultural perspective by focusing on Christian and Jewish books and their readers.

Essential Capabilities: Information Literacy, Writing
Writing as a process will be stressed, for papers there will be a draft stage and the final version. Each stage will be reviewed & feedback will be given. Library resources, electronic research methods, and the Endnote Program will be introduced and applied in this class.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available

Last Updated on MAR-29-2024
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