Stefano Cariolato's Books

The shortest century

our culture can disappear, its preservation can save us

By: Stefano Cariolato

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The shortest century

our culture can disappear, its preservation can save us

By: Stefano Cariolato

Today the development of digital technology continues at an accelerated pace, but the problem of information retention arises, which previously was mainly entrusted to paper printing. But while a book or letter can be read immediately even centuries after their writing if they have resisted time, digital information still has a short life, even in the absence of the deterioration of the media used: this due to the same technological development, which quickly makes any recording obsolete by irreversibly changing both the hardware and the reading software. Other registrations are also volatile by their very nature, such as emails or web pages, although they may host information that may have value in the future. The problem is particularly relevant in this century precisely because we are at the initial stages of a new and important need, but we are not yet equipped to deal with it and we are not sufficiently aware of it. The past century has been baptized "the short century", but our present century risks being known by posterity as the "shortest century", precisely because they will not have much information about us. Preserving digital documents for their future use has not only a mere historiographical purpose, but also a concrete and irreplaceable value for future generations. Because if we don't keep the data, we can't reuse them. They are a kind of renewable resource, whose real value is in their reuse. So it's important to be at least aware of this problem, which the book tries to answer.

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192

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ISBN 13

9791221459630

World without history? Digital information is volatile: with it our culture can disappear but its preservation can save us

By: Stefano Cariolato

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World without history? Digital information is volatile: with it our culture can disappear but its preservation can save us

By: Stefano Cariolato

In the mid-twentieth century the digital revolution began with the introduction of the first electronic computers, which were first introduced into companies and in the state bodies then they spread strongly in the private houses as personal computers; later all these computers were connected to each other by a global telecommunication network called Internet, which had a massive development at the end of the century becoming the backbone of the worldwide information circulation. At the beginning of the 21st century the digital revolution was completed and the information of any kind (texts, images, video clips and TV broadcasts, music and songs, WEB pages) started to be recorded and disseminated in digital form rather than with a traditional media (paper, film, magnetic tape), with a displacement that engaged all human activities of any type, both collective and individual. While the development of digital technology continue at an accelerated pace the problem of information retention begin to arise, what was previously mainly entrusted to printing on paper and now is in abandonment phase: printed records are increasingly transformed into digital format and the new information is generated directly in electronic form. But while a book or a letter could be read directly even centuries after their writing, digital information has a short life because of the same technological development, that makes quickly obsolete any recording by irreversibly mutating both its hardware and reading software; other recordings arethen volatile by their very nature, such as e-mails or WEB pages, even if they could host information that could be of value in the future. Moreover digital recordings are carried out in a great variety of different formats, sometimes incompatible with each other or subject themselves to obsolescence, thus unnecessarily complicating the task of preserving their content. Most part of human culture, gradually poured into electronic form, is now jeopardized, and we risk of delivering to posterity a world without history: this book describes the current situation and what is sought to do to remedy the danger.

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439

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ISBN 10

8831627074

ISBN 13

9788831627078

The Treasures Ships. Ming China on the seas: history of the Fleet that could conquer the world and vanished into thin air

By: Stefano Cariolato

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The Treasures Ships. Ming China on the seas: history of the Fleet that could conquer the world and vanished into thin air

By: Stefano Cariolato

In 1400 an immense Chinese fleet of hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of men sailed through the seas, reaching Indonesia, India, Persia, Arabia and Africa: sent by a proud emperor to bring to the world the glory and the power of the Ming, was commanded by the most famous of the Chinese admirals, an eunuch named Zheng He. The ships carried valuable books, precious fabrics, delicate and beautiful ceramics, in addition to gold and silver destined for the princes of the visited countries, and were taking back in China exotic merchandise to show at court with the ambassadors of the Asian world who prostrated themselves in submission: for this reason they were called Treasures Ships. The history and descriptions of the peoples met are presented based on the news collected by previous and following travellers, as well as by the chroniclers who followed the fleet leaving a testimony of the voyages that had been accomplished. Despite the fact that the surviving information is very limited, this book narrates the missions of the Fleet of the Treasures between 1405 and 1433, attempting to reconstruct the routes likely to have been followed on the basis of the sea and wind conditions, phased by the monsoon cycle and detected today with precision by the satellites. After a thirty-year long endeavour the Chinese retired from the sea, cancelled the travels reports, destroyed the ships renouncing to sail and remained helpless in face of the penetration of European Navies before and of the Japanese aggression afterward. Today, China is currently rebuilding a large fleet that is already carrying its weight in home and neighbouring waters and its flag in the oceans, retracing the endeavour accomplished 600 years ago.

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626

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ISBN 10

882780238X

ISBN 13

9788827802380

World without history? Digital information is volatile: with it our culture can disappear but its preservation can save us

By: Stefano Cariolato

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

World without history? Digital information is volatile: with it our culture can disappear but its preservation can save us

By: Stefano Cariolato

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

439

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Youcanprint

Published Date

ISBN 10

8831627074

ISBN 13

9788831627078

The Treasures Ships. Ming China on the seas: history of the Fleet that could conquer the world and vanished into thin air

By: Stefano Cariolato

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

The Treasures Ships. Ming China on the seas: history of the Fleet that could conquer the world and vanished into thin air

By: Stefano Cariolato

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

626

Publisher

Youcanprint

Published Date

ISBN 10

882780238X

ISBN 13

9788827802380

Book's by Stefano Cariolato

The shortest century

The shortest century

World without history? Digital information is volatile: with it our culture can disappear but its preservation can save us

World without history? Digital information is volatile: with it our culture can disappear but its preservation can save us

The Treasures Ships. Ming China on the seas: history of the Fleet that could conquer the world and vanished into thin air

The Treasures Ships. Ming China on the seas: history of the Fleet that could conquer the world and vanished into thin air

World without history? Digital information is volatile: with it our culture can disappear but its preservation can save us

World without history? Digital information is volatile: with it our culture can disappear but its preservation can save us

The Treasures Ships. Ming China on the seas: history of the Fleet that could conquer the world and vanished into thin air

The Treasures Ships. Ming China on the seas: history of the Fleet that could conquer the world and vanished into thin air

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