Franklin Ford Collection ed. by Dominique Trudel and Juliette De Maeyer (review)

IF 0.8 3区 哲学 Q2 HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
Will Mari
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Namely, they have curated and placed into critical context, via an open-access publisher, Ford’s most important, surviving work on communication technology, as expressed via journalism, markets, transportation, and government. Furthermore, this work is from a formative moment in the creation of the modern field of sociology—specifically, media sociology—and the broader study of technology itself.</p> <p>Ford was a brilliant, if eccentric and mysterious, figure—with part of the mystery enhanced by the loss of many of his personal papers and <strong>[End Page 1024]</strong> correspondence in a fire at Columbia University in October 1914 (pp. viii, xxviii). Best known for his ill-fated <em>Thought News</em> project with John Dewey at the University of Michigan in the early 1890s, Ford’s contributions to the development of pragmatist philosophy and, perhaps more indirectly, the Chicago School tradition (associated with one of his friends, Robert Park) are less well known. Scholars as varied as Daniel J. Czitrom, James Carey, and Norman Sims, along with Andrej Pinter, John Durham Peters, Jeff Pooley, and Zena Beth McGlashan, have worked to reconnect Ford to his contemporaries.</p> <p>While Ford had a falling out with Dewey, the former influenced the latter’s ideas, especially the central concept of scientific inquiry. Trudel and De Maeyer review the relevant historiography surrounding Ford, and introduce the primary texts themselves, in an introduction that builds on their previous research into this enigmatic figure. They then discuss the three main themes of Ford’s often intellectually itinerant life (ranging from Detroit to New York City and everywhere in between), including “the specific problems of the press and the many remedies he envisioned . . . the interconnected flows of money, transportation, and communication central to modern industrial societies . . . and the political and social theory that lay behind Ford’s projects” (p. ix). Ford was interested in ideas that still impact our information economy, including how to sustain journalism and how technology could help markets govern themselves.</p> <p>Of interest to historians of technology is how Ford conceived of “electric communication” in the form of early telephone and telegraph networks, as well as transportation systems (pp. 195, 236). Ford was fascinated with such tools and how they promised to reinvigorate government, journalism, and industry by encouraging two-way data flows in ways that evoke the internet itself, as well as a holistic, more information-driven approach to societal ills. The physical exchange of currency and mail and the ways that “information” (i.e., data) could send that same kind of value—foreshadowing the internet—will also be of interest to science and technology studies (STS) scholars (pp. 151–53).</p> <p>After their succinct, smart introduction, Trudel and De Maeyer’s selections (nineteen essays or pamphlets, ranging from “Draft of Action” to “Better Credit Reporting”—Ford’s journalistic background was in financial journalism—to “News is the Master Element of Social Control”) include explanatory notes that help contextualize a diverse collection. A particularly special part of this project is the availability of the book for free online on the publisher’s website.</p> <p>Many of the texts in the collection have yet to be digitized or preserved and have lain undiscovered in archives across the United States. The editors have brought them together and out of obscurity. They believe that doing so—and presenting Ford’s work in this format, as part of a “coherent deep dive” (p. xlvii)—can encourage more scholarship on Ford and his circle and their collective influence and contributions to the birth of sociology and <strong>[End Page 1025]</strong> STS. It also honors Ford’s belief in the interconnectedness of ideas and the importance of omnivorous interest in data infrastructures, long before that concept came into vogue.</p> <p>To that end, Trudel and De Maeyer’s carefully presented collection of Ford’s thought will be of...</p> </p>","PeriodicalId":49446,"journal":{"name":"Technology and Culture","volume":"9 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Technology and Culture","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1353/tech.2024.a933119","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0

Abstract

Reviewed by:

  • Franklin Ford Collection ed. by Dominique Trudel and Juliette De Maeyer
  • Will Mari (bio)
Franklin Ford Collection
Edited by Dominique Trudel and Juliette De Maeyer. Bethlehem: Mediastudies.press, 2023. Pp. 297.

In this unique assembly of the key writings of American poly-math and philosopher Franklin Ford (1849–1918), Dominique Trudel (Audencia Business School) and Juliette De Maeyer (University of Montreal) have provided scholars with an invaluable resource. Namely, they have curated and placed into critical context, via an open-access publisher, Ford’s most important, surviving work on communication technology, as expressed via journalism, markets, transportation, and government. Furthermore, this work is from a formative moment in the creation of the modern field of sociology—specifically, media sociology—and the broader study of technology itself.

Ford was a brilliant, if eccentric and mysterious, figure—with part of the mystery enhanced by the loss of many of his personal papers and [End Page 1024] correspondence in a fire at Columbia University in October 1914 (pp. viii, xxviii). Best known for his ill-fated Thought News project with John Dewey at the University of Michigan in the early 1890s, Ford’s contributions to the development of pragmatist philosophy and, perhaps more indirectly, the Chicago School tradition (associated with one of his friends, Robert Park) are less well known. Scholars as varied as Daniel J. Czitrom, James Carey, and Norman Sims, along with Andrej Pinter, John Durham Peters, Jeff Pooley, and Zena Beth McGlashan, have worked to reconnect Ford to his contemporaries.

While Ford had a falling out with Dewey, the former influenced the latter’s ideas, especially the central concept of scientific inquiry. Trudel and De Maeyer review the relevant historiography surrounding Ford, and introduce the primary texts themselves, in an introduction that builds on their previous research into this enigmatic figure. They then discuss the three main themes of Ford’s often intellectually itinerant life (ranging from Detroit to New York City and everywhere in between), including “the specific problems of the press and the many remedies he envisioned . . . the interconnected flows of money, transportation, and communication central to modern industrial societies . . . and the political and social theory that lay behind Ford’s projects” (p. ix). Ford was interested in ideas that still impact our information economy, including how to sustain journalism and how technology could help markets govern themselves.

Of interest to historians of technology is how Ford conceived of “electric communication” in the form of early telephone and telegraph networks, as well as transportation systems (pp. 195, 236). Ford was fascinated with such tools and how they promised to reinvigorate government, journalism, and industry by encouraging two-way data flows in ways that evoke the internet itself, as well as a holistic, more information-driven approach to societal ills. The physical exchange of currency and mail and the ways that “information” (i.e., data) could send that same kind of value—foreshadowing the internet—will also be of interest to science and technology studies (STS) scholars (pp. 151–53).

After their succinct, smart introduction, Trudel and De Maeyer’s selections (nineteen essays or pamphlets, ranging from “Draft of Action” to “Better Credit Reporting”—Ford’s journalistic background was in financial journalism—to “News is the Master Element of Social Control”) include explanatory notes that help contextualize a diverse collection. A particularly special part of this project is the availability of the book for free online on the publisher’s website.

Many of the texts in the collection have yet to be digitized or preserved and have lain undiscovered in archives across the United States. The editors have brought them together and out of obscurity. They believe that doing so—and presenting Ford’s work in this format, as part of a “coherent deep dive” (p. xlvii)—can encourage more scholarship on Ford and his circle and their collective influence and contributions to the birth of sociology and [End Page 1025] STS. It also honors Ford’s belief in the interconnectedness of ideas and the importance of omnivorous interest in data infrastructures, long before that concept came into vogue.

To that end, Trudel and De Maeyer’s carefully presented collection of Ford’s thought will be of...

由 Dominique Trudel 和 Juliette De Maeyer 编辑的《富兰克林-福特文集》(评论)
评论者 富兰克林-福特文集》由 Dominique Trudel 和 Juliette De Maeyer 编辑 Will Mari (bio) 《富兰克林-福特文集》由 Dominique Trudel 和 Juliette De Maeyer 编辑。伯利恒:媒体研究出版社,2023 年。第 297 页。多米尼克-特鲁德尔(Audencia 商学院)和朱丽叶-德-梅耶尔(蒙特利尔大学)在这本独特的美国多数学和哲学家富兰克林-福特(1849-1918 年)主要著作集中,为学者们提供了宝贵的资源。也就是说,他们通过一家开放式出版社,对福特现存的最重要的通信技术著作进行了整理,并将其置于批判性的语境中,这些著作通过新闻、市场、交通和政府等领域表现出来。此外,这部著作还是现代社会学领域(特别是媒体社会学)以及更广泛的技术研究本身的奠基之作。福特是一个才华横溢的人物,尽管他性格古怪、神秘莫测--1914 年 10 月哥伦比亚大学的一场大火烧毁了他的许多私人文件和 [尾页 1024] 通信(第 viii 页和 xxviii 页),这更增添了他的神秘色彩。福特因其 19 世纪 90 年代初在密歇根大学与约翰-杜威(John Dewey)合作的 "思想新闻"(Thought News)项目而闻名于世,但他对实用主义哲学发展的贡献,以及对芝加哥学派传统(与他的一位朋友罗伯特-帕克(Robert Park)有关)的间接贡献却鲜为人知。Daniel J. Czitrom、James Carey 和 Norman Sims 等学者,以及 Andrej Pinter、John Durham Peters、Jeff Pooley 和 Zena Beth McGlashan 等学者,都致力于将福特与他同时代的人重新联系起来。虽然福特与杜威不和,但前者影响了后者的思想,尤其是科学探究的核心理念。Trudel 和 De Maeyer 回顾了围绕福特的相关史学研究,并在他们之前对这位神秘人物的研究基础上,介绍了主要文本本身。然后,他们讨论了福特经常在智力上四处奔波的生活(从底特律到纽约,以及中间的任何地方)的三大主题,包括 "新闻界的具体问题和他设想的许多补救措施......现代工业社会的核心是资金、交通和通信的相互联系......以及福特项目背后的政治和社会理论"(第 ix 页)。福特感兴趣的思想至今仍影响着我们的信息经济,包括如何维持新闻业以及技术如何帮助市场自我管理。技术史学家感兴趣的是福特如何构想早期电话和电报网络形式的 "电力通信 "以及运输系统(第 195 页和第 236 页)。福特对这些工具非常着迷,并对它们如何通过鼓励双向数据流的方式重振政府、新闻界和工业界充满信心,这种方式让人联想到互联网本身,以及一种全面的、更加以信息为导向的方法来解决社会弊病。货币和邮件的实物交换,以及 "信息"(即数据)传递同样价值的方式--这些都是互联网的前车之鉴--也将引起科技研究(STS)学者的兴趣(第 151-53 页)。Trudel 和 De Maeyer 的选文(19 篇文章或小册子,从 "行动草案 "到 "更好的信用报告"--Ford 的新闻背景是财经新闻--再到 "新闻是社会控制的主要元素")在简洁精炼的导言之后,还附有解释性注释,帮助读者了解这本多样化文集的来龙去脉。本项目的一个特别之处在于,本书可在出版商的网站上免费在线阅读。该文集中的许多文本尚未被数字化或保存,在美国各地的档案馆中一直未被发现。编辑们将它们汇集在一起,使它们不再默默无闻。他们相信,这样做--以这种形式展示福特的作品,作为 "连贯的深度挖掘"(第 xlvii 页)的一部分--可以鼓励更多关于福特及其圈子的学术研究,以及他们对社会学和 [End Page 1025] STS 诞生的集体影响和贡献。这也是对福特坚信思想的相互关联性以及对数据基础架构的全方位兴趣的重要性的尊重,而这一概念早在福特出现之前就已流行。为此,Trudel 和 De Maeyer 精心编撰的福特思想文集将具有重要意义。
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来源期刊
Technology and Culture
Technology and Culture 社会科学-科学史与科学哲学
CiteScore
0.60
自引率
14.30%
发文量
225
审稿时长
>12 weeks
期刊介绍: Technology and Culture, the preeminent journal of the history of technology, draws on scholarship in diverse disciplines to publish insightful pieces intended for general readers as well as specialists. Subscribers include scientists, engineers, anthropologists, sociologists, economists, museum curators, archivists, scholars, librarians, educators, historians, and many others. In addition to scholarly essays, each issue features 30-40 book reviews and reviews of new museum exhibitions. To illuminate important debates and draw attention to specific topics, the journal occasionally publishes thematic issues. Technology and Culture is the official journal of the Society for the History of Technology (SHOT).
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