Abu Dhabi Calling!: A Pilot Investigation of Spatial Patterns in Phone Directories

Abstract

Before the rise of web listings, phone directories were the primary means of finding the contact information of personal and commercial telephone subscribers. The “Abu Dhabi Pilot Calling!” project builds on spatial humanities research that uses city directories for a data-driven approach to urban history. This pilot project attempted to understand the geographic nature of demographics in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates using 1972, 1985, and 1995 phone book directories from the Frauke Heard Bey and David Heard collection at NYUAD library.