Talk:United States technological and industrial history

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	To-do list for United States technological and industrial history:	edit  · history  · watch  · refresh
Here are some tasks you can do: Verify: Everything. Expand: Early industrialization, Effects of industrialization, Service industry, Technology and society NPOV: Everything.

I think this can be merged into economic history article. Rjensen 13:15, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

There's a difference between industry and economy. Salty! 22:09, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Article Expansion

I am beginning a drive to expand this article as it is woefully and embarrassingly incomplete. While I don't want to get into debates about technological determinism, I will submit that industry and technology have played a more dominant role in the history of the US than in any other country.

I will primarily be integrating, paraphrasing, and citing Cowan's Social History of American Technology, Thomas Hughes's American Genesis, and Smith & Claney's Major Problems in the History of American Technology as the basis for this article since they are well-recognized scholars with a broad survey of topics. If you believe these scholars represent extreme or minority perspectives or that there are other scholars who should be included, I will happily welcome your contributions and discussion.

I have begun to use the Harvard citation template for book citations as it is well-supported by Wikipedia for same-source in-line citations. For other citations, please use complimentary reference templates on Wikipedia:Citation templates for journal articles, conference proceedings, dissertations, etc.

A major problem I foresee is a conflict between organizing this article by either topic or timeline. As the organization stands now, it is more topical as I believe technological developments and advances overlap substantially and usually do not fit within tidy temporal boundaries of Presidential administrations, periods of conflict, etc. Nonetheless, I believe the organization I have introduced follows the arc of well-established American historical eras: pre-colonial, pre-revolution, ante-bellum expansion & industrialization, Civil War & Reconstruction, early 20th century Imperialism-World Wars-Depression, Cold War & globalization.

My goals in the context of wikipedia are in this order:

1. Evaluated by History of Science WikiProject as a GA or higher by March 1, 2007 April 1, 2007.
2. Evaluated by United States WikiProject as a GA or higher by April 1, 2007.
3. Submit to broad peer-review and FA-review by May 1, 2007.

I look forward to your help and contributions.Madcoverboy 20:17, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed Merger

I had originally tagged this article to be merged with Science and technology in the United States as this article is generally written about history. However, I removed the tag and would like to keep the articles separate because:

1. Science & technology article should attempt to convey some of the history of American science and technology, but also the roles of social institutions (universities, government organizations, companies) and policy decisions that have shaped the current landscape.
2. This article should attempt to provide some sort of bridge between this article and the other histories of the US by describing the turning points and emergence of technological systems that shaped American history. Industrial systems, methods of production, and infrastructure, impact on economy, etc.

Madcoverboy 18:50, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] A service not an industry.

The problem with these improvement drives is that they may cause unnecessary additions to articles. I just deleted a couple of sections about services because this article is about technology and industry. I feel like the article has lost a lot of focus and needs to be refocused on a history of technology and industry precisely. Scifiintel 01:03, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

If you can "precisely" define what "technology" and "industry" are, then you would have surpassed decades of academic literature and thought. Technology and industry are not just physical artifacts like steam engines and smokestacks. "New" topics like media, banking, and leisure are can be constructed in terms of innovation, production, consumption just like "old" traditional topics like steel, oil, and railroads. These "new" topics are certainly far from unnecessary and since Wikipedia is not a paper encyclopedia, the role of these "old" systems declined in social and cultural importance in the 20th century (relative to new systems in banking, media, and leisure), and there is a sizable body of literature about media, banking, and leisure in the history of technology and industry, "new" topics warrant inclusion. Madcoverboy 06:25, 3 April 2007 (UTC)