Week II: Publishing, Publics, Selves: history and social impact

Publishing has become ingrained in our everyday lives and it is easy to forget the impact that publishing has on society. We rely on the publishing process to deliver information and entertainment at our fingertips. With technological advances and the rise of the digital era, there has once again been a shift in the way these materials are ‘disseminated’. From its early beginnings to some exciting future prospects, the contribution of publishing is exciting and diverse.

Public consumption of information simply would not be as widespread and immersive as it is today without the developments of publishing. In 1439, Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press signalled mass reproducing of print texts, allowing people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds access to information. The process of recording and reproducing content followed, further enhancing the reach of publishing. This extended to a worldwide scale with the advent of the internet in the twentieth century and a globalisation boom.

My preconceived assumption of publishing before starting this course was narrow and simplistic. Yes, the dog-eared novels on my bookshelf are published works, but so too are films, YouTube videos, posters, songs, tweets. Therefore the medium itself, whether it be print, visual or audio, is not as significant as the information that each text presents to the audience.

The possibilities for publishing are endless, but one question keeps coming up. How will new developments affect the consumer experience? Several of the readings (Lehrer, 2010; Kendall, 2014) discuss the idea of information retention, expressing concern over just how much attention an individual pays to texts given the plethora of articles that can be accessed. Soon apps like ‘Spritz’ (Spritz, 2014) will greatly increase the speed of data intake (but not necessarily appreciation). Today, the dissemination of texts appears to lean towards flooding people with data, data, data; this abundance of choice, in my experience, leads to publishing and sharing works becoming both social and individualised. 

It is clear that the future of publishing is synonymous with digital and online publishing. E-readers make books easier to access and transport and paperbacks are set to become nostalgic novelty items (Lehrer, 2010). Giant publishing houses now have to share the scene with online grassroots projects since the public can now self-publish their compositions on sites such as Amazon, YouTube and Soundcloud. However, 3-D printers are not quite mainstream and 4-D printers are a far-off phenomenon for the Average Joe.

However, the future is fast becoming the present and through this course it will be interesting to see where the publishing industry will go.

For the resources specifically referenced:

Kendall, L. 2014, ‘Actually reading’, Medium.com, accessed 4 August 2014, <https://medium.com/best-thing-i-found-online-today/actually-reading-7333481c0b1a>

Lehrer, J. 2010, ‘The future of reading’, Wired, accessed 4 August 2014, <http://www.wired.com/2010/09/the-future-of-reading-2>

Spritz 2014, Spritz, accessed 4 August 2014, < http://www.spritzinc.com/>