How Data Has Shaped Civilization

Data engineering did not emerge yesterday. Through the unique online catalog of the DataArt IT Museum at retrospect.dataart.com, it is possible to explore thousands of years of humanity’s approach to recording and processing data. This retrospective brings together various historical sources, evidence, and visual materials that show how the first systems for organizing information were created—from the earliest records and “tables” used to track beer supplies, to lists of taxpayers that helped manage ancient empires, and even the first cargo manifests that accompanied Viking trade. Through these examples, one can trace the path from early methods of recording data to punched cards, Excel spreadsheets, online shopping, and today’s communication with LLM agents.

The article was published in Nedeljnik.