Description |
1 online resource (384 pages) |
Physical Medium |
polychrome |
Description |
text file |
Summary |
Just a few years before the dawn of the digital age, Harvard psychologist Bert Kaplan set out to build the largest database of sociological information ever assembled. It was the mid-1950s, and social scientists were entranced by the human insights promised by Rorschach tests and other innovative scientific protocols. Kaplan, along with anthropologist A.I. Hallowell and a team of researchers, sought out a varied range of non-European subjects-among remote and non-literate peoples around the globe and elsewhere. Recording their dreams, stories, and innermost thoughts in a vast database, Kaplan envisioned future researchers accessing the data through the cutting-edge Readex machine. Almost immediately, however, technological developments and the obsolescence of the theoretical framework rendered the project irrelevant, and eventually it was forgotten. In a scrupulously researched and captivating new book, Rebecca Lemov recounts the story of Kaplan's quest and brings to light an informative and disturbing chapter in the prehistory of Big Data. |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Contents |
Introduction -- Paperwork of the Inner Self -- The Varieties of Not Belonging -- The Storage of the Very, Very Small -- Data Mining in Zuni -- Possible Future Worlds -- The Double Experiment -- "I Do Not Want Secrets. ... I Only Want Your Dreams" -- Not Fade Away (A History of the Life History) -- New Encyclopedias Will Arise -- Brief Golden Age -- Conclusion. |
Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
Subject |
Kaplan, Bert, 1919-2006.
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Psychology -- Data processing -- History -- 20th century.
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Psychology -- Data processing. |
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History. |
Chronological Term |
20th century |
Subject |
Psychology -- Research -- History -- 20th century.
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Psychology -- Research. |
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Dreams -- Data processing -- History -- 20th century.
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Dreams. |
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Sociology -- Data processing -- History -- 20th century.
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Sociology -- Data processing. |
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Sociology. |
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Sociology -- Research -- History -- 20th century.
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Sociology -- Research. |
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Big data -- History -- 20th century.
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Big data. |
Chronological Term |
1900-1999 |
Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
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History.
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Other Form: |
Print version: Lemov, Rebecca. Database of dreams. The lost quest to catalog humanity 9780300209525 (OCoLC)910504195 |
ISBN |
9780300216646 (electronic book) |
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0300216645 (electronic book) |
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9780300209525 |
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0300209525 |
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