Wednesday 11 February 2015

Session 2: History Of Publishing: Disruptive Technology, The Knowledge Economy & The Sharing Economy



Printing History Timeline

This comprehensive print timeline covers the history of print from around the world. The link below allows you to view it in more detail.


Brecht & The Modern Day

There is scope to cover a number of areas looking at the history of publishing, one unconventional form highlighted is by Brecht (1930) in the theatre which is discussed in the following video: An Introduction To Brechtian Theatre. It discusses how the audience play an active role and where there is a paradox between belief and disbelief, as they are aware it is just a play but are somehow absorbed by the story presented to them so much so they believe it is happening. The audience feel part of the play and are exposed, for example an actor touching them on the shoulder allowing this type of participation to happen. Brecht emphasises the author as the producer, that it was not only about dialogue but about technology and effects. The audience is exposed to this as staff producing sound effects are not conducted behind the scenes but shown on stage for all to see.

http://www.quotessays.com/images/bertolt-brechts-quotes-1.jpg

I highlight interaction as this idea presented by Brecht changed the means of publishing in his time in the theatre from a one way dialogue between audience and actors to a two way dialogue. Dadaism also used this idea by re using old material, everyday objects such as the urinal to make new forms of art.

We move from forward Brecht to introducing a video from the London Book Fair: Future Gazing. Asking the question what is the future of publishing? As well as the mention of self publishing becoming significant as it is more than just about traditional publishing, the most important point was about interactive apps being brought to the forefront of the  modern day publishing world allowing two way dialogue with it's readers or audience. It is important to note this same idea of interaction with the audience was highlighted by Brecht in his time. A funny side note to the video is that when speaking of trends the actual print book was not in fact mentioned.

Walter Benjamin: "The Mass Is The Matrix"

The question that is posed is why do we flock to see original pieces of work when mass mechanical representation  in the form of postcards, prints and other forms are readily available, for example the Mona Lisa, a much loved painting. The original must then have a certain "magic" or significance to it for people to come in their masses to see this work of art. So the mass publication in this sense does not take away from the original piece of work. It still holds an air of importance.

Marshall McLuhan "The Medium Is The Message"

Marshall McLuhan articulated a compelling message that the medium that is used to get a form of work across to the audience influences how the message is perceived. This concept is discussed by Marshall McLuhan in the video: The Medium Is The Message. He emphasises technology as being particularly instrumental, technology by the means of television and radio which was the technology of his time. Television for instance will make you speak in a certain way and have a particular audience as does radio. McLuhan compares hot media with cool media. He reveals that hot media engages only one sense completely, with little interaction from the audience. He reveals that cool media engages a number of senses, with a great deal of interaction from the audience.

Paper As Medium & Technology

It makes sense when talking about the history of publishing to refer to some aspect of the medium of paper. A very enjoyable read is The Woman Who Invented Notepaper: Towards A Comparative Historiography Of Paper And Print by T.H Barrett.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/Xue_Tao.jpg/250px-Xue_Tao.jpg

Paper as a medium and technology is important to the history of the book, and other forms of physical print. In the historiography of the West we tend to focus on the process of printing materials and print history as opposed to looking at paper. In this article Barrett refers to this comparative between the Western world and the East. He states there are no known records of printing technology in China, which does not mean it does not exist, but perhaps due to cultural differences emphasis is made on the technology of the paper. Paper as a technology can mean the use of instruments or tools to create a piece of work. The significance the East especially China places on calligraphy, maybe the reason paper is held with such grace as there is a preference to the written word as a form of self expression. The history of paper begin in the Han dynasty with the use of "thin wooden strips that could take but one or two columns of carefully written characters each", and by 400 CE paper came into use.    

The article quite controversially points out that a woman, in fact a courtesan, Xue Tao, took the lead and was responsible for the invention of notepaper. Xue Tao was known for writing poetry often only 28 characters long and the paper of this period in China was particularly large, as compared with Europe. Here it is important to note the medium was as important as the message as Xue Tao "asked the manufacturers to produce sheets of a smaller size that might produce both aesthetic and economic benefits when used as the medium for her poems". Hence the notepaper was invented. As time went on Chinese history still maintains that even as time went on the "historiography of paper trumped print every time" and that not until the "nineteenth century that we get any detailed account of how Chinese printing was conducted at all".

Disruptive Technology

Disruptive technology is an innovation in which one form of work, eventually replaces another. For instance certain technologies disrupt previous technologies such as desktop publishing disrupting traditional publishing, how the computer has disrupted the published written word. This should not be seen in a negative way but rather as a positive move to improved access and improved services. That the medium is as important as the message in which it carries.

The Knowledge Economy

The knowledge economy as stated by Peter Drucker (1960) is the skills and expertise of workers, or the "knowledge worker" who allows for the success of industries, regions and economies. It is important to invest in these skills for workers as it has a positive impact on the company or industry in question as opposed to workers just undertaking manual work. The quality and access to information is of greater importance than the means of production.

The Sharing Economy

The sharing economy is a need to share goods or services as opposed to owning them. When considering libraries this is quite an old concept borrowing books as opposed to owning them. This has cost benefits amongst others. The use of information technology has allowed the concept of the sharing economy to sky rocket with the use of personal computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. Allowing such services and goods to be accessed and distributed at the touch of a button.

Publishing Redefined

John Feather (2006) states that publishing is:
"the commercial activity of putting books into the public domain. Publishers decide what to publish and then cause it to be produced in a commercially viable form; the product is then advertised and sold through a network of wholesalers and retailers".
This definition is rather limited and can be said to no longer apply. It refers to traditional publishing of books and although it refers to producing them in a viable form which can be taken to mean produced as e-books, this is not clear, It is about enabling access to information using information technology as well as publishing in its traditional sense.




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