Computers, Visualization, and History

by Staley, David J.

• ISBN13: 9780765610959
• ISBN10: 0765610957
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-12-01
• Publisher: M E Sharpe Inc

Summary

For hundreds of years, historians have mainly used prose and narrative to convey history. This is about to change, however, thanks to new technology, digital scholarship, and computerized "visualization." Text itself has inherent limitations: The very use of words -- their meaning and the connections between them -- shapes and restricts how historians think and communicate ideas, how they conceptualize the past, and how they present historical information. The rise of the computer is radically altering how human beings receive and process information. Digital environments and virtual reality are adding a third dimension to communication and creating a new visual language. In this visionary yet thoroughly accessible book, the author shows how images can often convey information more efficiently and accurately than words, and that with emerging digital technology, these images will become more sophisticated, providing historians with new tools and environments to construct historical narratives. Just as the transition from prehistoric cave paintings to the spread of literacy changed how people think and process information, so has -- and so will -- the computer. Moving beyond the traditional book based on linear narrative, digital scholarship based on visualization and hypertext will offer multiple perspectives, dimensions, and experiences. The author examines this revolutionary phenomenon and shows how it will transform our understanding of history. Book jacket.

Author Biography

David J. Staley is Assistant Professor of History at Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio.

Table of Contents

Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Prose and History

Visualization as an Alternative to Prose

Visual Secondary Sources

Virtual Reality

History Takes Shape

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

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