CUNEIFORM TO CODING: A HISTORY OF INFORMATION

Credit Hours: 3 · Undergraduate Lower-Level

Information is everywhere—and a lot of it. But what is “information”? How is it different from “data” and “knowledge”? How have humans tried (successfully and unsuccessfully) to manage it? These are not modern problems; in fact, humans have been anxious about “information overload” for centuries now. This course offers a global survey that takes us back to the earliest systems of information management, storage, and retrieval (like early writing systems, i.e., cuneiform) to “solutions” to the “problem” of information that defy our expectations (like Andean textile record-keeping with Quipus) to the essentials of modern life (like computers and chip architecture). (D1; STS minor credit)