The introduction and development of the printing press had perhaps the greatest impact on communication during the Renaissance. The humanist movement spawned a great demand for texts, which in turn sped up and stimulated the development of print technology (King, 2003). Previously, information was written on papyrus scrolls by a scribe, and distributed to a single designated patron, or community for consumption (King, 2003). This was a private method of communication that reached a larger audience by being read aloud in churches, universities, and monasteries (King, 2003). Due to their size, these scrolls were limited in the amount of information they could hold, and very few of them existed due to time and work necessary for their production (King, 2003). Upon the introduction of the printing press, however, this method of written communication changed drastically. Print technology allowed for faster book distribution, which thus sped up the circulation of ideas (King, 2003). Audiences increased, and intellectuals were able to think and express themselves differently (King, 2003).
This new mechanization of writing also led to the formation of more unified center margins (McLuhan, 1995). As McLuhan (1995) points out, whenever a new speed up in communication occurs, centralist powers take action to homogenize as many marginal areas as possible. With European cities now able to communicate more efficiently, further communities were now more easily contacted, thus allowing for unified and centralized power. To quote McLuhan (1995), “it seems obvious enough that technical means of speed-up should wipe out the independence of villages and city-states.”
(Image source: http://www.questgarden.com/18/79/9/060309085055/images/printingpress.gif)
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