Publishing: Consequences

Printing and its processes have definitely changed since the 17th century. Gutenberg’s printing process included compositors that would type completely by hand. This slow and very tedious task was replaced by new methods of printing. Moreover, with the development of the computers and the internet, the digital age has significantly changed the methods of printing and creating an impact socially.

In the readings, Brannon (2007) put up a great question: “Would knowledge advance more rapidly, or less so, when texts could be quickly designed, reproduced, disseminated, and updated?” (p. 359)

In my opinion, knowledge will advance. As printing becomes more efficient, we are gaining information from a variety of sources and we are no longer limited by print as a medium of publishing, rather we are given, audio, video and photos to better express complex concepts. YouTube for example has saved me in so many occasions, by giving me access to tutorial videos, from basic tasks to computer troubleshooting ones.  Texts can be changed or customised at any time, depending on the audience, but also everything is easier to access (links), regardless of physical geography in the virtual world

While I do see the benefits of new printing technologies, I also acknowledge the concerns that come with printing in the digital age. Because there is so much information and the availability of the variety of opinions in modern publications, passively absorbing whatever information is on the internet can be dangerous. In the digital age we are forced to examine the trustworthiness of information and therefore we become more critical of the variety of texts that we have been given. For example, just because information is written in Wikipedia, it does not mean that all information should be used as concrete proof.

Digital age of publishing

Another small point I got from the readings was that the proliferation of content has forced us to skim through stories or passively read. We are apparently only alert for 15 seconds in a story (Haile 2014), and I fully agree with it. There have been so many stories in the SMH where I have only read the lead line. However to this day I still prefer having a physical copy of a book to read rather than an ebook. I think physically holding a copy of published content and turning the pages is part of the experience of reading a book, while there is just something about ebooks that feels impersonal and unreal.  

But that’s just my opinion, would a generation that was purely exposed to digital publications think differently about online content?

References

Brannon, Barbara A. (2007) ‘The Laser Printer as an Agent of Change’ in Baron, Sabrina et al., (eds.) Agent of Change: Print Culture Studies after Elizabeth L. Eisenstein Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press: 353-364

Lehrer, Jonah (2010) ‘The Future of Reading’, Wired, September 8, <http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/09/the-future-of-reading-2>

 Haile, Tony (2014) ‘What you think you know about the web is wrong’, Time.com, March 9, <http://time.com/12933/what-you-think-you-know-about-the-web-is-wrong/>

Image:

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