Description
Book SynopsisThis book narrates the development of science, sci/tech, and intelligence information systems and technologies in the United States from the beginning of World War II to the second decade of our century. The story ranges from a description of the information systems and machines of the 1940s created at Wild Bill Donovan’s predecessors of the Central Intelligence Agency, to the rise of a huge international science information industry, and to the 1990’s Open Access-Open Culture reformers’ reactions to the commercialization of science information. Necessarily, there is much about the people, cultures, and politics that shaped the methods, systems, machines and protests. The reason for that is simple: The histories of technologies and methods are human histories. Science information’s many lives were shaped by idiosyncrasies and chance, as well as by social, economic, political and technical ‘forces’. The varied motives, personalities and beliefs of unique and extraordinary people fashioned science information’s past. The important players ranged from a gentleman scholar who led the Office of Strategic Services’ information work, to an ill-fated Hollywood movie director, to life-mavericks like the science information legend Eugene Garfield, to international financial wheeler-dealers such as Robert Maxwell, and to youthful ultra-liberal ideologically-driven Silicon Valley internet millionaires. However, although there are no determining laws of information history, social, political, legal and economic factors were important. After 1940, science information’s tools and policies, as well as America’s universities, were being molded by the nation’s wealth, its role in international affairs, the stand-off between left and right politics, and by the intensifying conflict between Soviet and Western interests.
Trade ReviewA story untold until now. Before the age of Google and Wikipedia, finding the right piece of information was no simple matter. The process was especially crucial for the Allies during the Second World War. This thoroughly researched book traces the fascinating but tortuous process of gathering and indexing information, from its World War II roots to civilian applications, up to the computer age. -- Paul E. Ceruzzi, curator, Aerospace Computing and Electronics, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
At last, a well-researched account of key information retrieval developments following World War II. In America’s Information Wars, names mentioned in the technical literature become human beings, innovations are set in social contexts, some exaggerated claims exposed, and a framework provided for us to build on. -- Michael Buckland, emeritus professor, School of Information, University of California, Berkeley
There is no one better positioned to untangle the labyrinth of the early intersection of science and intelligence information than Colin Burke. His fascinating account reveals so many of the characters that participated in this arcane discipline. He pulls at the threads of the tangled web to tease out the characters and their participation in bringing together science, information, and intelligence. -- Thomas R. Johnson, author of American Cryptology During the Cold War,1945–1989
The role of library and information science in the creation of modern computing is not a well-known story. The role of the intelligence community in creating technologies and information services that stood at the forefront of information science is even less well known. This book, based in solid archival research, remedies these gaps in our understanding. People interested in modern computer and information science will find this an engaging story that broadens their understanding of how these important fields in the modern world came about. -- William Aspray, professor, Information Science, University of Colorado Boulder
Too often, looking back, we see the ‘tip of the iceberg’ of historical achievement. Colin Burke’s unique contribution to our understanding of information science and computer science provides details that enable us to see dead ends as well as successes. -- Jonathan Grudin, principal researcher, Microsoft and affiliate professor, University of Washington
Table of ContentsPart One: Information at War with Hitler and Tojo, Then with Stalin Chapter 1 The OSS’ Unusual Librarians Chapter 2 Forging an Intelligence System Chapter 3 A New Information Culture Chapter 4 Microfilm at the OSS, for War and Profit Chapter 5 One System for All Intelligence Chapter 6 CIA’s Classification and Automation Battles Part Two: Cold War Information Politics and Lives Chapter 7 Ideology and Science Information Policy Chapter 8 The CIA’s Librarians Under Fire Chapter 9 Library and Classification Revolutions? SAL, Semantic Factors, the Luhn Scanner Chapter 10 Automation Dreams, Minicard Chapter 11 The CIA vs. the Librarians Chapter 12 From Microfilm to Computers Chapter 13 Automatic Translation’s Woes Chapter 14 A Cold War Information Career Part Three: Information’s Troubled Golden Age to the Era of Open Access Chapter 15 Sputnik’s New Politics of Information Chapter 16 An American Information Century? Chapter 17 The Plural Information System Survives, With Difficulty Chapter 18 A New Information Era: The American Information Century’s Challengers Chapter 19 Another Serials Crisis, Open Access, the Return of Ideology
