Rumor has it that the library in Alexandria was contained so many scrolls was due to the a rule that all docking boats had to have their scrolls copied and added to the library. Imagine the bandwidth of a watercraft loaded with scrolls.
I have always viewed libraries as form of distributed knowledge and research using the current forms of technology. The 1970s is about when electronic data became practical. The issue with information is knowing where and how to find it when needed. The internet only represents the where to find it.
The best views on media and human development I have seen was a book called tube of plenty. This is a condensed version of a a three book series. I enjoyed the condensed book so much I read the 3 expanded versions.
>> Their hands trembled as they touched the keyboard; several later reported that they had been afraid of breaking the entire system as they typed.
This brought back memories. I was introduced to computers back in the 80's, as a child. Naturally, once familiar, I would look to share that experience with other children, and adults.
I learned early that re-enforcing the fact that you "can do no harm" [1] was key to getting people to relax, which improved both their enthusiasm and enjoyment. [2]
I guess for adults it was something like learning to drive , and so there was a fear if "breaking it". Computers were expensive, and rare enough, that people approached them with done trepidation.
Now if you drop it in the toilet you just get another one.
[1] the machines of that era only had floppy disks, so any damage at all would be limited to the disk. And copying/ formatting disks was, dare I say it, childs play.
[2] some of the early computers -could- be physically damaged with specific instructions, but it wasn't possible (probable) that you could do that accidentally as a new user.
I read a book written in the 1960s about a kid who, as a subplot, received a computer that had a screen it could write on. It would answer questions typed in. The kid typed in "what is the main export of Bolivia?" and the computer responded with "tin".
I cannot recall the rest of the book or its title.
I was amused when a few years ago I asked google that question, and got back "tin" as the answer.
> Then WalterBright became uncharacteristically quiet and pensive, and slowly transformed into pure energy and slithereD away, escaping into the crevasses of the wood moulding around the perimeter of the room which you both previously occupied.
> You now find yourself all alone.
<3 you WB, you are a big brain (sincerely). Please drop a shout out to C++huck Allison in your next book, if possible! ;D
I read a book in the early 90s (https://www.librarything.com/work/184088/reviews/17020402) that suggested that the authority of a given article, book, etc should be based on the number of times it was cited in other articles, books etc, weighted by the authority of the items that did the citing.
Reading about this re-enforces the idea to me that our technical desires transcends time. There are also universal forms and structure that act as solutions to problems that transcends the technical implementation.
The description of the rooms in the library as well as the uniform approach to typesetting is very modernist idea.
Found this website in the wikipedia page. Someone recreated the physically described structure as a website.
Kurd Lasswitz wrote "The Universal Library" in 1901; its 'all possible sequences of letters' was the same as Borges' library of babel. There was an ancient greek thought experiment where alphabet tiles shuffled repeatedly would eventually display all possible sentances.
A number of authors have run with the idea but Asimov was probably the first. [1]
One interesting aspect to this sort of thing historically is that it's (almost?) always portrayed as an authoritative work created by experts because that's pretty much what encyclopedias were. I'm not sure there are any examples that look like Wikipedia in fiction.
That’s a bit of a cheat; I think it showed up first in Guards! Guards!. That was written in 1989, at which point in _reasonably_ sure Pratchett was already using usenet.
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I have always viewed libraries as form of distributed knowledge and research using the current forms of technology. The 1970s is about when electronic data became practical. The issue with information is knowing where and how to find it when needed. The internet only represents the where to find it.
The best views on media and human development I have seen was a book called tube of plenty. This is a condensed version of a a three book series. I enjoyed the condensed book so much I read the 3 expanded versions.
https://www.worldcat.org/title/1036961770