This doctoral dissertation is an intellectual biography which discusses the projects and utopian visions of Paul Otlet (1868-1944). Paul Otlet formulated the concept of ‘documentation’, a field incorporating both study and practice that evolved out of bibliography before developing into information science. He was also a sociologist, an internationalist and indefatigable promoter of his conception of ‘universalism’ or ‘mondialism’, and of the Mundaneum and the Cité Mondiale. The major source that is used to throw new light on Otlet as a utopian thinker is an impressive collection of thousands of unpublished schemas. By means of an historical analysis of his schemas and writings, this thesis aims to identify the fundamental universalistic character of his utopian vision of knowledge organization and international organization. Universalism was a phenomenon incorporating complex personal ideals and social objectives, assuming different meanings in the fields of science, culture and politics, and reflecting the historical circumstances and undertakings of the time. By exploring how Paul Otlet and others dealt with the issue, this dissertation aims to contribute to the history of the idea of ‘universalism’. / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Ordet läsning har och har haft olika betydelser. Studien undersöker hur ordet läsning varierats i svensk dagspress mellan år 1900–2016. Sammantaget identifieras 60–70 variationer av ordet. I studien undersöks även om det finns förändringar när dessa ordvariationer används. I studien kombineras två ämnesfält. Det är ämnesfältet läsning och dess historia och ämnesfältet språk och dess utveckling. Detta område undersöks ur ett biblioteks- och informationsvetenskapligt perspektiv, utifrån en teoribildning som beskriver en intensiv läsning, en extensiv läsning, en funktionell läsning, en informativ läsning och en digital läsning. Materialet till studien består av söksträngar insamlade från Kungliga bibliotekets dagspressarkiv. Dessa korta texter granskas med en metodkombination av verktyg från Informationsvetenskap och Systemisk funktionell textanalys. Resultatet visar att ord som relaterar till en intensiv läsning minskar i användning mellan år 1900–1930. Under samma tid ökar användningen av ord som beskriver ett tyst extensiv läsande. Analys av ord och ordstruktur lyfter betydelsen av det kollektiva läsandet. I början av seklet används ord som högläsning, uppläsning och föreläsning relaterade till folkrörelserna. År 1925, då radion får sitt genombrott, ökar användningen av ordet uppläsning. Under samma tid används ett ord som beskriver ett tydligt tal. Det är ordet välläsning. I söksträngarna återfinns en koppling mellan ordet välläsning och frasen dialekt borttagning. Ett tydligt läsuttal diskuteras under en tid då ett kollektivt läsande omskrivs, men en analys av hur ordet används pekar även på att det finns underliggande spänningar mellan dialekter och riksspråk. Under 1960-tal identifieras ett skifte där ord som beskriver en teoretiskt informativ läsning tar över efter ord som beskrivit en praktisk instruktiv läsning.

This thesis explores the cultural history of microfilm and microphotography during the period 1900–1970, thus contributing to the broader field of research on the history of 20th century information management in the era before digital technology. The aim is to study how microfilm repeatedly, in various contexts and over time, was described and perceived as a new medium. To this end the book examines and analyses the plans, dreams and visionary prognostics put forth by various historical actors with an interest in microfilm – using case studies situated at different junctures and periods (1904–1910, 1937, 1940–1952, 1950–1970), while also ranging geographically from the United States to Europe and Sweden. From a theoretical and methodological point of view the thesis seeks to understand the historical formation of microfilm by developing the notions of configuration and reconfiguration, employing a perspective which emphasizes the continuous ontological interplay and interdependence of materiality and discourse in the formation of media. Thus, at the empirical level, the analysis takes into account realized technological materialities as well as unrealized imaginary articulations, dreams and expectations integral to the configuration of microfilm within a broader culture of paperwork. As a result of this approach the study draws on scientific texts and articles in journals, as well as newspaper reports, commercial messages, ads, handbooks and various archival documents. The analysis reveals a close relationship between microfilm and experiences of entropy connected to information systems based on paper and paperwork. It is argued that, within the dreams and plans that are studied, the most important function of microfilm was to regulate noise, decay and disorder associated with the materiality of paper – through ordering, operating on and modifying the capacities of paper media. It is also noted that microfilm was perceived and articulated as a new medium over a long period of time, even though very little changed at the technological level. From a historiographical point of view, it is thus argued, microfilm can be characterized as a simultaneously continuous and discontinuous phenomenon, taking part in a history that unfolded through repetitions, returns and non-linear steps rather than along an uninterrupted, linear path.