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August 5, 2004
Uscript
Posted by Ross Mayfield
Franz Dill posts on Printing, Uniformity, Optimism at the IFTF blog, extracts a fascinating passage on Diarmaid MacCulloch’s The Reformation on the influence of the emergence of printing during that time:
…Printing, which produced multiple identical copies of a text, encouraged a familiarity with uniformity, very different from the individuality of a manuscript. That in turn was able to produce a sense of how significant it was when differences occurred: Uniformity, paradoxically put a premium on individuality. A culture based on manuscripts is conscious of the fragility of knowledge, and the need to preserve it. A priority must be to keep it secure simply to avoid the physical destruction of a single precious source, and that fosters an attitude that guards rather than spreads knowledge…. a manuscript culture is going to believe very readily in decay … because copying knowledge from one manuscript to another is a very literal source of corruption. This is much less obvious in the print medium: Optimism may be the mood rather than pessimism … (p. 71)
Printing influencing the form of ideas? How might the ability to cross link on the web, to blog and comment, to transfer memes readily have on our modes of thought?
When information is abundant, copying common but maliable, and with varying sources at any point on the planet — it may be that pessimissm similar to the manuscript era rules the day. The pace of change having quickened also reduces our trust in information.
But what may be different from the manuscript or printing eras is our involvement in the media itself. If information is corrupted, links correct. If its outdated, we edit. I’d suggest, perhaps blinded by my own participation and use, that the form of our media and how we script it gives cause for optimism.
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1. dreww on August 6, 2004 10:25 AM writes...
yeah, at least we've got spelling checkers. oh, wait. nevermind.
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