Communication

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Communication By Matthew

Have you ever wondered what started communication, who made it possible, or how people reacted to it at that time?

If you thought books started with a printing press, you are partially correct. Books and letters actually started with scribes or people who wrote by hand. The average time it took to write a book was three years. However, if you jump ahead one hundred years, movable type was invented. The person who created movable type was Johannes Gutenberg. Movable type means that there are letters of the alphabet that are raised and on a wooden board so that you could move them around to print a page of words quickly.

In 1821, E. Remington and Sons made the first commercial typewriter. It is one of the machines that helped create the keyboard. After a few years, in 1884 Ottmar Mergenthaler made the Lino Type Machine. It was also a main component in the creation of the keyboard. To operate this piece of machinery you would just have to push down lettered keys with your fingers.

The impact communication had on people was very positive. The printing press made books affordable so working class people could afford them. After quite some time, the phone allowed people to talk to one another in “real time” instead of by slow mail or the costly telegraph.

The computer also revolutionized communication. The computer allows people to send emails and even visually chat. Tim Beerners-Lee invented hypertext which allowed people to view more information by linking web pages to each other. If you were looking at your favorite movie and there is highlighted text on the page, you can click on it and you will be immediately linked to another page that may relate to actor who starred in the movie.

The invention of all the things I have listed really revolutionized the world by connecting it. From scribes, to email and cell phones, the history of communication has come a long way.

Works Cited __Inventors__. 18 May 2009 . Michael, Woods,. __History of communication__. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2006.