The Making and Meanings of a Computing Reference Work

This manuscript is about an artifact, the Encyclopedia of Computer Science (ECS). From the time that computer science was mature enough to have its own reference book until printed reference books began to be eclipsed by online products—that is, roughly the final quarter of the 20th century—ECS was the premiere reference work for this field. A second purpose of this book is to introduce with this important case study a theoretical examination of how one can study the history of a professional field through a deep examination of its reference tools (encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases, yearbooks, etc.). To better understand ECS, an examination was conducted on the extensive literature about the history of encyclopedias and then used it to ask probing questions about ECS.