Article ID: CBB931072335

Machineries of Data Power: Manual versus Mechanical Census Compilation in Nineteenth-Century Europe (2017)

unapi

The advent both of punch cards and of the electric tabulating machine, which was invented in 1889, are typically described as key milestones in the development of modern data processing, bringing about a fundamental and inexorable transformation of information technology. This essay aims to decenter the American Hollerith revolution by assessing precisely how punch cards and machine processing transformed established manual techniques and practices of census compilation. By focusing on the Prussian census bureau and its long-standing reluctance to mechanize, this essay reveals an unremarked European revolution in data processing during the 1860s, when a new notion of “data,” novel paper tools, and a carefully nurtured workforce, including many women working from home, yielded unprecedentedly refined census statistics. The essay argues that manual concepts, technologies, and practices of data power—rather than punch cards and Hollerith machines—heralded the modern information age.

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Article Bruno J. Strasser; Paul N. Edwards (2017) Big Data Is the Answer … But What Is the Question?. Osiris: A Research Journal Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 328-345). unapi

Article Elena Aronova; Christine von Oertzen; David Sepkoski (2017) Introduction: Historicizing Big Data. Osiris: A Research Journal Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 1-17). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB931072335/

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Authors & Contributors
Oertzen, Christine von
Siibak, Andra
Włodzimierz Gogołek
Jessica Pykett
Shi, Yong
Gregory Rodriguez
Concepts
Data collection; methods
Technology and society
Data analysis
Information technology
Big data
Census tabulation
Time Periods
19th century
21st century
20th century
Modern
20th century, late
20th century, early
Places
United States
Prussia (Germany)
Toronto (Ontario)
France
Europe
Ireland
Institutions
United States. Census Bureau
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