The man who wanted to classify the world
Description
In 1934, a Belgian visionary named Paul Otlet conceived of a library with no physical books whose contents could be viewed on a screen. His obsession was to classify, encode and unify books and documents published all over the world. Over the years, he and his staff would fill in 12 million index cards. His classification system is regarded today as similar to hypertext, which enables us to navigate the internet. A pacifist and an internationalist, Otlet was one of the driving forcesbehind the League of Nations. He persuaded the architect Le Corbusier to design a World City dedicated to Peace, Knowledge and Fraternity. This beautiful film interweaves a vast fund of recently discovered documents from his archive with autobiographical material to create a fascinating piece of intellectual history.
Runtime
61 min
Creator
Levie, Françoise
Contributor
Genre
Date of Publication
2004
Database
Alexander Street
Direct Link
Similar Films
The JVC video anthology of world music and dance. Soviet Union III. Volume 25
Daniel Cane Discusses Importance of Growing People Within Company
The Ashanti kingdom (Ghana)
Inside North Korea, The Cyber State
The blue boy
Multiple sclerosis. Attacking the nervous system
An optical poem
Fold crumple crush. The art of El Anatsui
New inventors. Series 1, Episode 14
Serious Reportable Events. Identification and Prevention. Part 1
The spirit of democracy
Artists of the Bahamas. A tribute to African roots
John Rollin Ridge
Shaping America. Searching for stability. Lesson 11
First Soldiers Leading The Soviet Pullout Form Afghanistan Arrive Home