The evolution of discovery , research, writing, comunication , technology and publishing
Naturalists, Explorers and Field Scientists in South-East Asia and Australasia
by
Indraneil Das (Editor); Andrew Alek Tuen (Editor)
​"Alfred Russel Wallace- His Predecessors and Successors. Naturalists, Explorers and Field Scientists in South-east Asia and Australasia. An International Conference" will be the premier forum for the presentation of new advances and research results in the fields of studies on Alfred Russel Wallace and other natural historians, past and present, as well as contemporary research on South-east Asian and Australasian biological diversity. The conference will bring together leading researchers including biologists, ecologists, zoologists, botanists, geologists, anthropologists, social scientists and others from around the world. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: history of biology, biodiversity, anthropology, geology, conservation, ecosystem management, environmental impact assessments, environmental law, environmental policies, landscape management and habitat restoration and management.
Call Number: Springer Electronic Books
ISBN: 9783319261614
Publication Date: 2016-03-14
The Book Before Printing
by
David Diringer
"A remarkable work. . . . For sheer weight of information there is no equal to it." -- The Spectator. It is probable that the earliest "books" were written on wood or leaves as early as the fourth millennium B.C. These fragile materials, unfortunately, have not come down to us. In their absence, the earliest surviving books are the clay tablets of Mesopotamia, the oldest attributed to c. 3500 B.C. On these ancient clay shards, dense rows of cuneiform script record the seminal writings of mankind: the Gilgamesh epic, Sumerian literary catalogues, Babylonian astrology, Assyrian accounts of the Creation and the Flood, and the Lipit-Ishtar Law-Code (c. 2000 B.C.), predating Hammurabi and the oldest law code in human history. Probably as ancient as the Mesopotamian writings, or nearly so, are Egyptian hieroglyphics. In a sense, it is the papyrus scrolls of the Egyptians -- preserved by that country's hot, dry climate -- that represent the true ancestors of the modern book. As the centuries passed, papyrus slowly gave way to parchment (the prepared skins of animals) as writing material. Indeed, the handwritten parchment or vellum codex is "the book" par excellence of the Middle Ages. Western European book production is only part of the story, and the author is at pains to illuminate the bibliographic contributions of numerous peoples and cultures: Greek and Roman book production, books made in central and southern Asia, the books of Africa, pre-Columbian America, and the Far East -- material that is often not mentioned in Western histories of the book. Based on years of painstaking research and incorporating a wealth of new material and conclusions, the text is enhanced throughout by abundant illustrations -- nearly 200 photographic facsimiles of priceless manuscripts in museums and libraries around the world.
The RIT library has a subscription to one of the oldest journal title started in 1665 for the English speaking scholars at that time. source: JSTOR database
Scholarly Publishing Timeline starting with the 14th century to now-21st century.
1323: Compagnie du Gai Sçavoir, the oldest learned society on record, is founded in Toulouse, France.
1665: Journal des Sçavans and Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London are first published. Each journal used some form of peer review, although not exactly like today's version. Philosophical Transactions published famous scientists such as Newton, Hooke, van Leeuwenhoek, Faraday, and Darwin.
1731: Medical Essays and Observations, the first fully peer-reviewed journal, is launched by the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
2010: The altmetrics manifesto, describing potential new ways to gauge the impact of research beyond citations and impact factors, is written.
2012: Several innovative and relatively new journals, including F1000 Research, PeerJ, and eLife, are launched. These journals are experimenting with new forms of peer review, new business models, and new funding sources.
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