Paul Otlet had a vision of an system that could search all the information ever created, from anywhere in the world, at the touch of a button... Too bad the most advanced technologies at his disposal were index cards.

Transcript, links, and more at: https://order-of-the-jackalope.com/steampunk-google-and-the-world-city/

Key sources for this episode include Alex Wright’s Cataloging the World: Paul Otlet and the Birth of the Information Age; Françoise Levie’s L’homme qui voulait classer le monde: Paul Otlet et le Mundaneum; Paul Otlet’s Traité de documentation: Le livre sur le livre; Paul Otlet, Fondateur du Mundaneum, Architecte du savoir, Artisan de paix; and the newspaper archive of the KBR.

Presented by #42 (Alex Baumans). Pathologically interested in anything unusual and obscure. Closet goth, armchair general and amateur theologian. Favorite animals are ducks, octopodes and pigs. You will also find me surprisingly knowledgable about K-Pop girl groups.

Special thanks to the Collection Mundaneum in Mons for their assistance (http://www.mundaneum.org/en) and for providing images for our use. This episode is released under a Creative Commons except for the images, which may not be reproduced without the express permission of the Mundaneum.

Part of the That's Not Canon Productions podcast network. https://thatsnotcanon.com/

Discord: https://discord.gg/Mbap3UQyCB Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/orderjackalope.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/orderjackalope/ Tumblr: https://orderjackalope.tumblr.com Email: [email protected]