History of Science & Tech: Updates!

We are very excited to share some of the progress we have made with the first volume of The History of Applied Science and Technology Open Textbook. In the past few months, we have managed to secure contributors from institutions across North America, Europe and Africa for chapters ranging from the Ancient World to the Medieval Period.

Lead editor Danielle Mead Skjelver of the University of Maryland and University of North Dakota is delighted at the impact this textbook will have on students. She says,

“In the open access ecosystem, The History of Applied Science & Technology Textbook Project is well underway in producing a resource to fill a need that is as yet unmet. We are excited to contribute to the growing number of open access Humanities textbooks!”

This first volume should be available for adoption as early as January 2018. We are grateful for the enthusiastic response and support from members of the Rebus Community, and elsewhere.

What’s Next? Volume II!

Moving forward, we are looking for contributors for the second volume of the book. This project was conceived as a wide-ranging survey text that would provide instructors with content structured around a narrative focused on human transformation across time and geographic space. Volume II will encompass the following chapters:

• The Medieval Period (500 to 1400 CE) — China
• The Remarkable Fifteenth Century (1400-1500)
• The Early Modern Period (1500-1600) — Europe Phase I: Breakthroughs in Scientific Thought & Technological Application
• The Early Modern Period (1500-1750) — Global Technologies
• The Early Modern Period (1600-1750) — Europe Phase II: The New Science of the Seventeenth Century & the Enlightenment

Interested in contributing to one of these chapters? We’re looking for ~1000 word section contributions on a range of topics. We invite you to sign up via our forum, or claim (or suggest!) your section in the more comprehensive Table of Contents.

If you’d rather contribute time as a proofreader, reviewer, or something else, let us know on the forum! At Rebus, we believe that collaborative publishing is the model for the future, and welcome faculty, students, and other participants to work together to build this new model.