The Mundaneum Imaginaries : A Media-Archaeological Study of the "Paper Google"

Sammanfattning: In this two year master’s thesis, using concepts borrowed from media archaeology, I examine the construction, content and function of the alternative historical narrative that is mediated through the partnership between Google and Belgian museum and archives centre the Mundaneum. This alternative narrative presents Belgian bibliographers Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine as having prefigured the Internet and as having created an analogue “paper Google.” Through a close-reading of publicly available material related to the Google/Mundaneum partnership, I examine a set of issues relating to the interplay of dominant and alternative narratives, to the narrative function of realized and imaginary media, and to the implicit messages that this particular narrative mediates. In the study, I find that the examined alternative narrative is constructed both in opposition to and with support from the dominant narrative, and that recognition from international actors is used in order to confirm Europe’s place in Internet history. Furthermore, I note a tendency in the text to confuse and to conflate different media technologies. I argue that this confusion renders the narrative more flexible and dynamic, making it possible to connect the media created by Otlet and La Fontaine to any modern technology. Finally, I find that, by attaching different connotations or “media imaginaries” to the media depicted, the texts are able to present knowledge organization as a medium for peace, the Mundaneum as an important actor in information society, and Google as a company with its roots dug deep in European soil.