The flow of information through
society is essential for the survival of knowledge through ages and allows for
advances in any given field of research. Whether it be the arts, sciences,
medicine or law, the ability to expand, learn and grow all comes from the
ability to share and communicate. To publish. This essay will attempt to
explore how the invention of the printing press and E-Readers, benefited the
science world in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and in contemporary
society.
One of the fundamental turning
points in history would undoubtedly be the invention of the printing press by
Johannes Gutenberg. This new invention allowed for the survival and renewal of
old texts and the publication, and most importantly, the circulation of
countless more. Information could flow through society a lot easier and
therefore be worked upon, theories disproven or added to, and information and
knowledge simply acquired. The following paragraphs will look at how the
invention of the printing press allowed for a flow of knowledge through society
and heightened the scientific world during the fifteenth and sixteenth century
and to help illustrate this point, the focus will be on Claudius Ptolemy,
Nicolaus Copernicus, and Galileo Galilei and how the publication of their works
benefited one another.
Claudius Ptolemy, born in Egypt,
published sometime in the 2nd century a work entitled, Geographia, a
book which mapped the worlds geography in the Roman empire and had was thought
to be lost, Niccolo Niccoli is said to have owned a copy which ensured its
survival, until it was published again in the 15th century and brought back
into circulation (M.Aston). What the circulation of this book did, some 11
centuries after it was originally published, was allow for an expansion of
knowledge. As Margaret Aston states in her The Panorama of the Renaissance:
'Renaissance
geographers, who inherited Ptolemy without his maps and a keen interest in his
methods for making them, made good their lack by not redrawing Ptolemy's world
but also adding maps of their own - with places and continents unknown to
Ptolemy.' (Aston, M 203)
This new ability to circulate
information allowed for growth of information and knowledge. It is undoubtedly
one of the most defining moments in all of the history of publishing.
Although the story of Ptolemy's Geographia
is an fascinating one in regards to the sheer power which came with the
printing press in its ability to reproduce and recirculate, it is not his work
which ties with that of Copernicus and Galileo. A work he published entitled, Almagest,
was the most definitive of astronomical studies for centuries and stated
that everything in the solar system orbited the Earth (M.Aston). Though one
finds it fascinating to delve into the complex works of these early pioneers,
it is not the point of this essay to analyse the publications contents, only
how they work with one another in time.
With that in mind, a jump forward
in time of around 14 centuries is needed at this point. Now in the fifteen
hundreds, Gutenberg's printing press has been changing the way information
flows through society for just over a century when Nicolaus Copernicus, born in
Poland, sent for publication his work entitled, De Revolutionibus Orbium
Coelestium, which studied planets and their orbits and adopted a very new
and unheard of approach to physics and cosmology, that which went against the
grain of the time (S.Hawking). Copernicus stated that everything did not orbit
the Earth, instead, everything in the solar system orbited the Sun. Although
Copernicus' work was largely ridiculed as without merit, largely by the
catholic church, the work was nonetheless in publican and his theories able to
flow through society and reach the hands of yet another great astronomer almost
a century later, Galileo Galilei, who was born in Italy.
Galileo was definitely a
supporter of the Copernican theory and in 1632 published a book entitled, Dialogue
Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. This publication explored Ptolemy's
theory in comparison to Copernican theory, and was very much in favour of the
latter. This publication landed Galileo in a lot of trouble and he was branded
a heretic, but nonetheless inspired many after him (S.Hawking). And was made
widely available through print publication .
The reason for this comparison is
to show the way in which information was able to flow across the world due to
the invention of the printing press in 1440. Three men, separated by centuries
and continents were able to learn and grow off one another. What the printing
press did for science, and many other fields of study, in this period is is
indisputably phenomenal.
In the digital age publications
take on many forms and an analysis of what it means to 'publish' in todays
society is a lot more complex then that of printing ink words onto a page. If
only Gutenberg could see the way in which publishing has evolved since his
printing press revolutionised the industry. If he could hold an E-Reader in his
hand and browse through immense possibilities it provides to the user, he would
be truly astonished. The next section of this essay will explore the uses of
E-Readers and tablet devices and the way in which they have shattered the
conventional ideology of publishing, being that of physical, ink publications
such as books and magazines.
When looking through all which is
possible through an E-Reader it becomes difficult to see where it benefits one
aspect of society more then another. One browses through the categories on
Apples AppStore and see's pages of categories of applications; games,
education, business, news, entertainment, and the list goes on. It appears all
aspects of growth and development in information and industry converge to a
single point, you. The tablet device holder. And at alarming rates, twenty four
hours, seven days a week to be precise. There is no stopping the flow of
information in todays society.
To pluck a specific example from
the multitude of applications and publicans which can be accessed from a tablet
device seems redundant, however, upon acquiring a digital subscription to say, Wired,
a magazine publication which reports on technological and scientific advances
around the world, one can see the purely unprecedented reach, the information
gateway that these devices provide to the user. What the printing press enabled
for Galileo's, Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, tablet
devices, E-Readers and Wired, offer the everyday citizen; a chance to
explore and examine, critique, analyse and even question that which governs the
technological and scientific world which surrounds us all. It allows for a
rebirth of knowledge and information from another’s publication, it is itself a
digital renaissance.
A close look into the digital
subscription of Wired shows just how effectively these devices enable a
marriage of dense information and aesthetic wonder. The digital magazine is
vibrant and animated, articles literally jump out at you, play music and are
sometimes even narrated. The content becomes appealing to all which read.
Although Tablet devices and
E-Readers are undoubtedly an ideology changing instrument, like that of the
printing press, they are not without their flaws. Jonah Lehrer discusses in his
article, The Future Of Reading, his concerns with the way in which
E-Readers could have a negative impact on our understanding of a text. He
states that technology always moves forward, benefiting and developing itself,
and it will surely be the same with E-Readers. He then states:
'making
content easier and easier to see - could actually backfire with books. We will
trade away understanding for perception. The words will shimmer on the screen,
but the sentences will quickly be forgotten.' (Lehrer, J)
He then goes on to talk about
this concern in relation to a study undertaken by Stanislas Dehaene, a
neuroscientist, whereby it was concluded that easy to read text is interpreted
by the ventral pathway of the brain, and more difficult text is interpreted by
the dorsal stream in the brain, which is more active and aware then the ventral
pathway and thus enables us to acquire more knowledge from a text. (Lehrer, J)
This is a legitimate concern
which faces tablet devices and E-Readers, however, there are ways around it. As
Lehrer states himself, possibly having the ability, as a user, to manipulate
the text, make it more difficult to read, by dimming the screen or so on. Even
with this in mind, who is to say that humans wont adjust to this new form of
information digestion? Surely in the fifteenth century, Gutenberg's printing
press made it far easier to read a publication then something which had been
hand written on parchment with a quill.
The printing press gave
information to society. Where It enabled a flow of knowledge the likes of which
had never before been seen, tablet devices and E-Readers reconstitute it. They
break down and rewire the way in which information flows from publisher to
user, from user to user and eventually back to the publisher and back out
again. It is a closed circuit of information, the snake eating its own tail.
If the printing press was the
spark which triggered publication as we know it today, E-Readers are apart of
the flame it left behind. As Aston states:
'The
legacy of recovered texts and the newly established understanding of Greek
provided the essential base for more investigative, questioning, observational
attitudes of the mind. The invention of the printing press was critical for
this process. 'The printing press sowing knowledge', along with the invention
of the compass and the making of gun powder, were commonly acclaimed as the
three revolutionary discoveries by which the age (the Renaissance) was
altered'. (Aston, M 204)
The E-Reader not only saw an
easier, more efficient way of publishing, but a whole birth of knowledge, of
understanding, which could reach the globe and inspire thought and development.
E-Readers and tablet devices are doing much the same, except in an instant.
They make information and knowledge accessible at any time and place. The scientific world would not be where it is
today without the invention of the printing press, furthermore, even this essay
could also cease to exist for several reasons. Without the printing press
information would not have been able to flow through society, knowledge and
understanding would not have been able to grow and tablet devices, E-Readers,
publishing, as we know it today, would most likely not exist.
Hawking, S 1988, 'A Brief
History Of Time', Batman Press, Great Britain
Aston, M 1996, 'The Panorama
of the Renaissance', Thames and Hudson, London
Lehrer, J 2010, 'The Future of
Reading',
Naughton, J 2010, 'Publisher Take Note; the iPad is
altering the very concept of a 'book', The Guardian, < http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/dec/19/ipad-publishing-kindle-books-apple
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