Keywords In and Out of Context von Betsy Van der Veer Martens | ISBN 9783031325298

Keywords In and Out of Context

von Betsy Van der Veer Martens
Buchcover Keywords In and Out of Context | Betsy Van der Veer Martens | EAN 9783031325298 | ISBN 3-031-32529-X | ISBN 978-3-031-32529-8

“This book is primarily targeted for the general reader who is curious about how modern information technology came into being through keywords. A close analogy to the style of this book is the BBC television series Connections with James Burke from the 1990s, which traced the origins of modern scientific and technological developments from the earliest days. It is an interesting and entertaining read.” (Anthony J. Duben, Computing Reviews, February 9, 2024)

Keywords In and Out of Context

von Betsy Van der Veer Martens

This book explores the rich history of the keyword from its earliest manifestations (long before it appeared anywhere in Google Trends or library cataloging textbooks) in order to illustrate its implicit and explicit mediation of human cognition and communication processes. The author covers the concept of the keyword from its deictic origins in primate and proto-speech communities, through its development within oral traditions, to its initial appearances in numerous graphical forms and its workings over time within a variety of indexing traditions and technologies. The book follows the history  all the way to its role in search engine optimization and social media strategies and its potential as an element in the slowly emerging semantic web, as well as in multiple voice search applications. The author synthesizes different perspectives on the significance of this often-invisible intermediary, both in and out of the library and information science context, helping readers to understand how it has come to be so embedded in our daily life.
This book: 

  • Provides a thorough history of the keyword, from primate and proto-speech communities to current times
  • Explains how the concept of the keyword relates to human cognition and communication processes
  • Highlights the applications of the keyword, both in and out of the library and information science context