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  • Time machines.

Boyd Davis, Stephen, 2010, Conference or Workshop, Time machines. at Technology and ‘the death of Art History’: Computers and the History of Art annual conference, The British Computer Society, London, 10-11 November 2010.

Abstract or Description:

The chapter is concerned with the use of computers to represent historical time visually, typically as ‘timelines’. Research into the sophisticated practice and theory of early modern paper timelines in the eighteenth century reveals the weakness of current practice, especially on the Web. Behind the work of the early pioneers lay a vision of mechanising knowledge. At that time, this proved a productive metaphor, but in our own time the mechanistic properties of computers have tended to encourage an approach to visualising history that excludes all but the crudest aspects. Solutions are needed which use computing in ways that do justice to the demands of historiography.

Official URL: http://www.chart.ac.uk/chart2010//papers/boyd-davi...
Subjects: Other > Historical and Philosophical studies > V100 History by period > V140 Modern History > V143 Modern History 1700-1799
Other > Historical and Philosophical studies > V300 History by topic > V370 History of Design
Other > Historical and Philosophical studies > V300 History by topic > V380 History of Science
Creative Arts and Design > W200 Design studies > W210 Graphic Design > W213 Visual Communication
School or Centre: School of Design
Uncontrolled Keywords: chronology, chronographics, history, visualisation, machine, metaphor, 18th century, Priestley, Barbeu-Dubourg
Date Deposited: 23 Nov 2010 10:00
Last Modified: 09 Nov 2018 14:25
URI: https://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/id/eprint/896
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