History of Communication
Since the beginning of time, people have had the need to communicate with one
and other. The most common type of communication is speech, but you could not talk to
someone who lived 20 miles away. Then written language was developed, people marked
symbols on paper, stone, or whatever was available. Then hundreds of years passed, and
people who wanted to share their ideas with people had to do allot of writing, until
someone thought to make a writing machine. This machine is called the printing press.
Gutenberg's invention of the printing press is widely thought of as the origin of
mass communication-- it marked Western culture's first viable method of disseminating
ideas and information from a single source to a large and far-ranging audience. The story of
print is a long and complax one. It may be too much to claim that print was the single
cause of the massive social, political and psychological changes it is associated with.
However, print did wield enormous influence on every aspect of European culture. Some
historians suggest that print was instrumental in bringing about all the major shifts in
science, religion, politics and the modes of thought that are commonly associated with
modern Western culture.
Gutenberg foresaw enormous profit-making potential for a printing press that used
movable metal type. Despite their rapid growth in numbers, secular scribes simply could
not keep up with the commercial demand for books. Gutenberg also saw strong maket
potential in selling indulgences, the slips of paper offering written dispensation from sin
that the Church sold to fund crusades, new buildings and other projects devoted to
expanding its dominance. In fact, press runs of 200,000 indulgences at a time were
common soon after the handwritten versions became obsolete.
There were many different innovations since the first hand operated printing press.
The Stanhope press, which was widely used for many years, still used a
and other. The most common type of communication is speech, but you could not talk to
someone who lived 20 miles away. Then written language was developed, people marked
symbols on paper, stone, or whatever was available. Then hundreds of years passed, and
people who wanted to share their ideas with people had to do allot of writing, until
someone thought to make a writing machine. This machine is called the printing press.
Gutenberg's invention of the printing press is widely thought of as the origin of
mass communication-- it marked Western culture's first viable method of disseminating
ideas and information from a single source to a large and far-ranging audience. The story of
print is a long and complax one. It may be too much to claim that print was the single
cause of the massive social, political and psychological changes it is associated with.
However, print did wield enormous influence on every aspect of European culture. Some
historians suggest that print was instrumental in bringing about all the major shifts in
science, religion, politics and the modes of thought that are commonly associated with
modern Western culture.
Gutenberg foresaw enormous profit-making potential for a printing press that used
movable metal type. Despite their rapid growth in numbers, secular scribes simply could
not keep up with the commercial demand for books. Gutenberg also saw strong maket
potential in selling indulgences, the slips of paper offering written dispensation from sin
that the Church sold to fund crusades, new buildings and other projects devoted to
expanding its dominance. In fact, press runs of 200,000 indulgences at a time were
common soon after the handwritten versions became obsolete.
There were many different innovations since the first hand operated printing press.
The Stanhope press, which was widely used for many years, still used a