Târgul de carte GAUDEAMUS
vã invitã
sâmbãtã 28 noiembrie 2009,
orele 14.45, pavilionul 333
la expozitia

AMPRENTA GUTENBERG
ÎN VIZIUNEA LUI
MIRCIA DUMITRESCU
constructie de carte. carte bibliofilã. carte tipãritã.

Vor conferentia
Acad. Eugen Simion, Acad. Nicolae Breban,
Acad. Basarab Nicolescu, Acad. Adam Puslojic,
Florin Rotaru, director general al Bibliotecii Metropolitane Bucuresti,
grafician Mircia Dumitrescu.

Another incident on the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) hits YouTube, and the world is once again asking the question if BART Police are using too much force, the police acted appropriately, or if BART passengers simply recorded a snapshot in time that could be interpreted at a later date. In the past, to find out what happened during an incident such as the most recent BART scuffle, you would be dependent on a newspaper’s beat journalist to hang around a police station. He’d get a copy of the official police report, perhaps talk with one of his friends on the force, and transcribe what he gathered.

Now news and media are real time. You can get Twitter tweets and video feeds from mobile phones, laptop computers, and reporters on the scene with CNN (or other international news sources). In many cases even established news outlets are starting to heavily rely on “stringers,” or freelancers to provide on-scene raw video for later interpretation by news readers. Nearly every news outlet today asks for viewers to send their “i-Reports” and videos to supplement news reports, and to reduce the amount of time from incident to broadcast.

A very different world from the days of Walter Cronkite, when the evening news would be a well-edited account from a distant reporter, formatted for the time allotted by network news, and face news competition by only a couple other networks (in the United States that would include CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS).

The Biased Media

Media outlets have changed as well, moving from being a 5WH (who, why, what, when, where, how) style of reporting to networks such as Fox, openly stating they present a “conservative” point of view (Huckabee, Hannity, Beck, etc). This means in many cases viewers who prefer a certain point of view will be presented with interpretation of news events which support their beliefs.

It is also becoming more difficult to determine whether a news story is actually a press release or advertisement, rather than hard news. Even when a government organization or company is interviewed following some event or incident, the person interviewed is generally a professional public relations specialist, who may not find presentation of fact as a desired outcome of the interview.

Citizen Journalism Tends to be Pure

In most cases, when a freelancer or citizen records an event, they provide that record of the even in its raw, or pure state. If you see a home video of a tornado on CNN, then most likely the person providing that video is not providing commentary, only the video. When we were receiving near real-time cell phone video from Tehran during the recent violence following elections, most of the video received came out as quickly as possible, and was then processed in its raw form through venues such as YouTube.

All we really ask from the citizen journalist, to give their story or record of an event credibility, is:

• An unedited record or account of the event
• A reference of the event recording’s origin
• A factual context of the event (who, when, where)

We do not always need a deep analysis of an event by a reporter or analyst who’s motivation may be based on how sensational they can make the event, which political or religious ideology they should promote when presenting an event, or their own personal opinion. The main thing we need is context, and enough information to allow us to respond to the news if needed (such as during an emergency or other condition).

Media Changes

David Sasaki, in a recent PBS IdeaLab article walked through the changes in media over the past 550 years. Starting with transcribing bibles for the Catholic Church and aristocracy, and walking through the social changes driven by innovations such as the Gutenberg press, radio, television, and newspapers, Sasaki presents a very compelling argument for embracing change. Whether it be eliminating unnecessary reporters and editors, or better understanding the impact of social media and “publics” created through a global-connected community, we need to understand the dynamics of media change to develop a vision of how news media and information transfer may evolve.

In the 1960s you would watch even local news stations for the “Evening News,” and you would get a solid 30 minutes of reporting on national, international, and local news. Today, if you watch news programs such as CNN’s Headline news, you might get 3 or 4 minutes of hard news, and then 25 minutes of human interest stories filling out the rest of a segment.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for us to interpret news from marketing, fact from advertising and public relations, or gaining access to raw news.

Chaos Theory and Media

Chaos Theory states that any system is vulnerable to changing conditions either within or encroaching on the system. If the current or historical media systems are an example, we can see innovation or technologies (such as the Gutenberg press, Internet, paper, radio) as a significant disruptor to the media “system.”

The Internet is currently a very disruptive element to traditional media, as it provides a platform for applications such as YouTube, Twitter, instant messaging, and other utilities to provide either real-time, or near real-time one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many communications. On a global scale.

The other disruptor is the fact young people have internet-enabled technologies fully diffused into their education and life, allowing the new “Generation Z” visibility into new communication concepts that prior generations may not yet comprehend, or may never comprehend. What will come out of this diffusion of knowledge into Gen Z-ers? Impossible to know, but it will no doubt potentially be as huge an event as the Gutenberg press was to the world of the 1400s.

A generation where the people are the news, create the news, consume the news, and provide the news. There will be casualties as we re-organize media outlets which no longer adequately support the 21^st century, but the result will be really, really exciting.

Gen-Z youth are not mentally restrained by the technical limitations and legacy of existing broadcast and print media. With their diffused knowledge and operation of existing and emerging technologies, they have a “clean slate” to develop new models of media, news, social interaction, and global presence. As “baby boomers,” we need to continue creating the tools our fledgling Generation Z needs to envision ways to exploit our technology, and further build our global presence and instant access to that news and information they need to live in a wired world.

John Savageau, Long Beach

Nach ein paar Tagen Pause vom Internet, zumindest von diesem Blog, wieder zurück. Man hat eben auch als Halbrentner viel zu tun. Eigentlich wollte ich nahezu täglich meinen Alltag bloggen, aber manchmal schafft man’s nicht oder ist zu luschig, setzt andere Prios, etc. Vielleicht sollte ich mir vornehmen, morgens nach dem Frühstück ein paar Zeilen zu schreiben. Werd’s mal probieren.
Meine Teilnahme an der Quodlibet, der hamburger Antiquariatsverkaufsmesse, habe ich sehr genossen. Nicht übermässig viel verkauft, aber doch zufriedenstellend. Die gemachten Erfahrungen, den direkten Umgang mit Kunden und Besuchern, Kollegen usw. fand ich sehr erfrischend. Insgesamt bestärkte mich der Ablauf der Messe darin, dass das Gutenbergzeitalter seinem Ende entgegengeht. Viele Kollegen wollen das nicht wahrhaben, aber die Zeichen hierzu scheinen nicht nur am Horizont auf, sondern verwandeln sich in gleissende Spots, denen man nicht mehr ausweichen kann. Es wird mich dennoch nicht aufhalten und entmutigen, meiner Nebenbeschäftigung mit dem gedruckten Buch nachzugehen.

Gestern abend war eine tolle Runde bei Beckmann mit sehr interessantem Thema: Internet und wie es uns und unsere Welt verändert, der gläserne Mensch und die Allmacht des Netzes.. Die öffentliche Diskussion über diesen “Machtkampf” zwischen Mensch und System wird spürbar stärker und findet Eingang in sonst flaue Talkshows. Ich bin überzeugt, dass es nur noch wenige Jahre dauern wird, dass das Internet-System noch  rasantere Geschwindigkeit aufnehmen wird zur Vervollkommnung und Entwicklung eines eigenen Handelns und Bewußtseins. Vielleicht wird es schrecklich werden für uns Menschen oder segensreich, noch kann man das nicht sagen. Aber der Weg zur allumfassenden Verselbständigung und Mächtigkeit ist weit beschritten und nicht mehr aufzuhalten.
Karl Olsberg hat eine mögliche schreckliche Variante in seinem Thriller “Das System” vorweggenommen.

Wahrscheinlich sind die Zeiten nicht mehr fern, wo die beiden Google Gründer Sergey Brin und Larry Page sich nichts sehnlicher wünschen, sie könnten die Büchse der Pandora, die sie mit ihrer Suchmaschine und allen Konsequenzen, Entwicklungen daraus geöffnet haben, wieder schliessen. Aber diese Lawine wird weiterlaufen und vieles begraben. Die Firma Google hatte die besten Absichten, wird es eines Tages heissen.
Aufregende Zeiten in denen wir leben; man braucht wirklich keine SF mehr zu lesen, wenn sich in der Realität mit der Entwicklung des Internets und allen damit zusammenhängenden Themen eine Entwicklung zeigt, die weit über die Phantasien von Philip K. Dick oder Arthur C. Clarke hinausgehen. Bei mir formen sich auch einige Themen und Ideen für aktuelle SF-Geschichten; vielleicht sollte ich mir Zeit nehmen und versuchen, es zu Papier (haha) zu bringen.

Heute stand im Hamburger Abendblatt, dass die Post ihr normales Briefgeschäft bald einstellen wird, zumindest ein völlig neues Konzept anbieten will, nämlich eine Umstellung der besonderen Art: angeboten wird dann, dass E-Mails postalisch auf Papier den Empfängern zugestellt wird. Damit ist dann das Schreiben, das Anfertigen eines papierenen Briefes oder Dokumentes völlig out, aber man kann dann über die Post dem Empfänger noch etwas Materielles zustellen lassen. Ich glaube durchaus, dass dieses Konzept erfolgversprechend ist, aber es wird zu  einem Nischendasein führen, zumal sich die Post das bezahlen lassen will/muss. Damit ist für mich das Schicksal der Post auch klar. der Konzern wird sich auf diesem Sektor zum Nischenbetrieb entwickeln, mit der Folge von unzähligen Arbeitsplatzverlusten. Howard Rheingold, ein sehr kluger Internetbeobachter und Autor,  hat schon vor mehr als zehn Jahren derartige Entwicklungen (völlige Digitalisierung/ Virtualisierung) vorausgesehen.

Leo

Shirky’s Rede an der letztjährigen Web 2.0 Expo: Informations-Überfluss ist eine Mär. Es gibt ihn schon seit Gutenberg mehr Bücher druckte als ein Mensch in seinem ganzen Leben lesen konnte. Die ware Problematik ist das Versagen der Filter.

As I mentioned in my previous post, it is entirely possible to profit off the poor and keep my soul. Today, I want to share a piece of news with you. Wattpad is becoming a Project Gutenberg’s affiliate, which we announced on Wattpad’s company blog and our Facebook fan page. This is walking proof of how for-profit company and non-profit organization can share the same goal.

Proofreaders’ Marks

Unless you’re e. e. cummings or k.d. lang, you’re probably fond of using capital letters from time to time.* But what if you happen to miss one of them now and again? Well, you can easily turn a lowercase letter to a capital with a triple underline.

Now, on occasion you may also want a small capital. Say you’re making a list of authors and Marshall McLuhan is among them. Oh, and did I mention that your list was in all caps? In that case you can use a double underline to indicate that the c in his name ought to be in small caps like the ac in MacDonald. (Edit: the small caps I’m referring to here are shown in the list below and not the sentence that precedes this edit.)

And, truly, that’s all there is to turning your lowercase letters into majuscules!

Want to know how to make capital letters into lowercase ones? You can find that entry here.

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*Caveat: For all I know, cummings and lang may delight in capital letters. I didn’t call them up to ask them—cummings’ number wasn’t listed for some reason anyway—and just made up this bit of libel to be witty. (I hope it worked.)

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That red pencil still burning a hole in your pocket protector? You can find a full listing of all the Word Blog’s Proofreaders’ Marks entries here.

From an Indulgence printed by Johann Gutenberg in 1455 for the King of Cyprus.  One acquired the indulgence for fighting the Turks in Cyprus:

Form of Fullest Absolution and Remission in Life

May Almighty God have mercy upon you, and after your sins are sent away, lead you to eternal life.  May our Lord Jesus Christ, through his most holy and most piteous compassion, as well by his own authority as by that of blessed Peter and Paul his apostles and by the apostolic authority committed to me and granted to you, absolve you.  I absolve you from all your sins worn away, confessed, and forgotten, as well as from all misfortunes, excesses, crmes, and offenses however weighty they may be, reserved for the Apostolic See, and even from any excommunications, suspensions, and interdict, and from other decrees, censures, and ecclesiastical penalties promulgated by law or by man.  If you have run into such matters, I give you fullest indulgence and remission of all your sins, inasmuch as the keys of the Church of Saint Mary extend themselves in this part.  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

And now you know what I’ve been doing with all those years of Latin!

Jag har när jag har bloggat lite om diverse frågor (bl a Sverigedemokraterna och islam) velat belysa hur resonemangen går kring dessa frågor i exempelvis våra nordiska grannländer som Danmark och Norge. Nederländerna slank visst också med av bara farten. Jag har fått en antal mail rörande mitt bloggande, samtliga av väldigt positiv och uppmuntrande karaktär. Även ett antal nya sympatisörer till centerpartiet har kommit till. Välkomna, för vi behöver verkligen varenda röst nu för att hålla oss kvar i riksdagen och vid regeringsmakten! De senaste dagarna har det – genom bl a en riksdagsledamots agerande lite bakom kulisserna (lycka till med det du) – även inkommit några reaktioner som har varit negativa. En partikollega undrade till och med om jag fortfarande är centerpartist. Det var nämligen några som hade ifrågasatt det, fortfarande bakom den där omtalade kulissen… Kutym och vanligt anständigt, hederligt folkvett föreskriver att man själv direkt sätter sig i kontakt med den som man har synpunkter på. Man kommer ofta långt med ryggrad i alla sammanhang.

Ja, jag kan bara bekräfta att jag i själ och hjärta är en tvättäkta centerpartist! Vi har dessutom varit det i flera släktled. Jag är nog mer “riktig” centerpartist än de flesta i vårt parti!

Jag tror att vi alla går in ett politiskt parti för att vi vill förbättra en lång rad olika områden för våra medmänniskor och för vårt land. Ibland säger vi kanske saker mer för att provocera och väcka uppmärksamhet, ibland uttrycker vi oss raljant, plumpt och ogenomtänkt. Det är så internet och bloggandet fungerar, vilket kan chockera vissa som fortfarande lever kvar på Gutenbergs tid… (Nu var jag visst lite raljant igen.) Men jag tycker faktiskt att ungdomspolitiker ska vara lite mera “wild and crazy” än man kanske kan vara som äldre.

Jag tycker att vi förr eller senare kommer att tvingas att ta itu med de frågor som redan har högsta prioritet i Danmark. Jag förstår inte varför SD ska få ha monopol på att få debattera sådana frågor som folk är bekrymrade över idag. Även om det långt ifrån är de viktigaste frågorna på den politiska agendan. Det kanske för vissa, som har benägenhet till skygglapps-seende, kan verka som att det har varit för mycket fokus på islam och SD. Och det har det kanske också? Jag har dagligen följt den allmänna samhällsdebatten i Danmark den senaste tiden – på nätet – och kanske fått ett visst mått av influens därifrån. Influenser av den borgerliga regering som har suttit längst i världshistorien, inte bara i Danmark. Till och med socialdemokraterna där följer i princip regeringen hack i häl i dessa frågor. Ibland söker socialdemokraterna till och med att “övertrumfa” regeringen i just de här frågorna. Men ingen centerpartist – eller någon annan – skulle väl påstå att den borgerliga regeringen i Danmark är “främlingsfientliga” eller inte tillräckligt liberala nog. Ja, det är en liberal, borgerlig regering som sitter vid makten där. 

Nog om detta. Jag har sagt vad som finns att säga i frågan och kommer framöver att lägga betoning på mer vardagsnära frågor. Jag håller med om kanske 99 procent av vad vårt underbara parti står för. Jag har ju själv varit med på partistämman och jobbat fram handlingsprogram m.m. 

Centerpartiet är större än våra egna små egon och småpåvar, och ideologiska inkvisitorer av Sovjetmodell hör inte hemma i något modernt parti i dag. Och nu funderar jag snart på att skriva om hur vi ska göra partiet ännu större och hur vi ska vinna det kommande valet!

Free eBook from Project Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

Author, Bjornstjerne Bjornson, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B8rnstjerne_Bj%C3%B8rnson

If I was going to give an eReader to a preTeen, I’d load this short story on.  It’s quick (about 100 pages on a 6 inch screen), and has a good, honest moral which they’ll ignore.

“Ugh,” you roll your eyes, “then it will be boring and dull, dull, dull.”

No, it’s not, it’s delightful.

Bjornson takes us from the birth of the “Happy Boy” to his adulthood, along the way the reader gets to enjoy Norway, farming, rural life, school days in the 1860’s (one room) and of course; competition for the girl of his heart. 

Word craft, word smith, prose writer, however you want to describe the craft, Bjornson is gifted (even after translation).  In a few words he captures the character, or describes the scene, then takes us into the story.  The characters are real, they are not exaggerated for effect nor do they embody all good, nor all bad, they are balanced.   He writes a “glimpse” into the thoughts of six schoolboys on the day of their final exams and truly captures their spirits.  It is one of the many gems in this short story which I hope will leave you as impressed as I was.  

I loaded this Author because he was referred to in another novel that I’d read.  I was further interested when I learned that Bjornson was a Laureate of the Noble Prize in Literature (He was Awarded in 1903).  I was worried that a book written in 1870, in another language, then translated, and read in 2009, would be a difficult read, which is why I started with a short story.  With the exception of a few words, the story is simple and straight forward.

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The article is an opinion of the Authors.  

© alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com, October 2009, to Date. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Life can be a series of adventures, one after the other, until you just want to give up.  Then another comes along… 

Perhaps it’s not fair to start off this way, Roderick never gave up, but he did get really frustrated with a new struggle just when he was getting settled from the last one. 

Tobias G. Smollett, the Author, was paid by the word, and paid by the issue and that’s why Roderick’s life never really settled down.  He wrote in the 1700’s; I didn’t think I’d be able to understand the English back then but I did, quite easily (none of that formal Shakespeare prose, Smollett wrote in the commoner’s English).  Was the story dull?  Nope, it couldn’t be, Smollett would have never sold another series if it was.  On that assurance alone, you know it will be an entertaining read, and it was.  Imagine reading just one Chapter per week, try to take it in small doses, they way it was published; I bet you can’t, you’ll want to read on.  

Smollett did not bend to the “proper” story line of the time, and filled his work with truer accounts of life than other Authors.  As a glimpse into the difficulties of living in the 1700’s, it is a delightful way to peek, but be prepared to not like some of what is written.  For all those current people who wax on about how wonderful it would be to live back then, when life was simpler, have them read this.  Tobias’ honest accounts will have them back-tracking on their words pretty fast. 

Roderick Random is well worth the read, but do know, the last few chapters towards the end Tobias switches to a new character; a Playwriter.  I think, to illustrate to the reader that Roderick’s life was not unique.  But do not worry, Tobias brings Roderick back and ends the series in a manner that encourages the Reader to pick up his next Edition.  

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Free eBook, from PROJECT GUTENBERG - http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page 

Author information – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobias_Smollett 

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© alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com, October 2009, to Date. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to alias Hubbaloo and www.Hubbaloo.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

National Novel Writing Month is this very month. The idea is to write 50,000 words over the thirty days of November, which averages out to a little under two thousand words per day. The prize for winning–self-satisfaction, more than anything else, but I also think it helps a budding author to build habits, writing daily, not just blogs or a diary, but also fiction / non-fiction, with the goal of someday publishing.

It’s a tough order to fill, getting published. On the other hand, with the increase and acceptibility of digital publishing, there are more possible avenues to explore today than there have been in the past.

Take me, for example: I read two to three books a week. I have several eReaders on my Blackberry phone, for which I can purchase and download books from various sites, such as eBooks for tons of choice from literary to best sellers to genre fiction and reference, Baen, if you love science fiction or Gutenberg, which is a fabulous resource for classics and books no longer copyrighted.

On the flip side of the coin, eBooks become an attractive choice for any author looking to publish. You can create your own eBooks and market them yourself, or use the more conventional route with a publisher. Whether through an established publisher, or going it on your own, the obvious attraction is the speed and reduced production cost with which books can be published. And, your book can go ‘global’ at the same time.

Here’s my wish list for eBook software

I would love to see a generic eReader that has the ability to access a variety of online book retailers, and to display the downloaded material without having to resort to proprietory software or different formats. A translator would be a good enhancement, expanding both a reader’s access to material not written in her native language, and an author’s access to a truly global market. An integrated dictionary and thesaurus service, better navigation, and text to audio are more additions I’d like to see.

Lots of positive movement in the writing business, but a lot of confusion at the moment too. As for NaNoWriMo, a great idea to get started on writing and publishing a first novel.

Oh, and in case you’re interested, here is my Wrimo web page.

A informação foi pouco difundida no início das civilizações e sociedades. Quando a ciência se desenvolvia, um meio de comunicação que servisse como democratizador da informação era necessário. Mais necessário que este meio era a própria educação, era necessário que ela não pertencesse somente a alta aristocracia.

Gutenberg inventou a imprensa, revolucionou a fabricação de livros, jornais e revistas. Porém, era necessário deixar a cultura penetrar a mente de todos. Os livros, sozinhos, não ensinam nada, é necessário saber lê-lo.

Ao ler um livro, somente encaixar as palavras não funciona. O senso crítico precisa estar acoplato ao cérebro do leitor. Ele precisa ser o nosso filtro e nosso corretor.

Apesar da situação pouco cômoda sobre a educação, a cultura imaterial, como as músicas, a dança e a histórias, ainda eram fortes (e são até hoje em diversos lugares). Esse tipo de cultura fornecia a base de crenças e deveres dos cidadãos, a organização social era definida pelos costumes, crenças e valores de uma sociedade composta por pobres analfabetos e ricos estudiosos.

Sempre que há o embate relevante entre ideias, ou seja, quando o senso crítico atua, o resultado será favoravel à evolução do pensamento do Ser. Toda forma de cultura faz o Ser pensante utilizar seu senso crítico e avaliá-la, toda forma de expressão pode ser um baque, pode causar estranha sensação, pode atrapalhar o bom andamento das ideias e atos de quem sentiu-se agredido. Toda ideia contrária nos causa aversão.

Sabendo que tudo que nos agride no nosso íntimo é, primeiramente, posto pra longe de nós. Devemos, então, refletir sobre isto que nos feriu profundamente. Devemos formular a base de resposta que poderá fortalecer nossos princípios.

Toda forma de cultura é um tapa na cara. Só depende do seu uso, a forma que foi inserida no contexto. Depende também do receptor, da forma que isso o impactará. Não há informação sem conclusão quando se tem senso crítico, mas há assimilação quando se é alienado.

In today’s post we are going to discover what digital libraries are. We can define them as libraries in which collections are stored in digital formats and accesible by computers. We can affirm that digital libraries are a type of information retrieval system.

Digital library concept

Moreover, one of the main ideas of this post is to present some of the most important digital libraries that nowadays exist such as Project Perseus, Project Gutenberg, Google Book Search, etc. However, as I am studying a degree in English I thought that it would be appropriate to focus on one important digital library with contents in English. That is the reason why we are going to talk today about the Darlington Digital Library (University of Pittsburgh).

The Darlington Digital Library was created from the collection of books, atlases and maps that were assembled, in the first place, by the attorney William M. Darlington, who was born in Pittsburg in 1815. After his death in 1889, it was his family that continued his passion for recollecting documents and materials about colonial American history. In 1938 the University of Pittsburgh Press published a magnificent overview of the whole collection.

In adittion, the Digital Research Library (DLR) department started digitalizing and scanning books from the Darlington collection in the year 2006. In this project there are involved scanning technicians and graduate students who spend 90 hours per week digitalizing the already mentioned materials. But would you like to know how does this process take place? Then pay attention to the following video:

As a result, what we obtain is a whole series of atlases, books, broadsides, images, manuscripts and maps that can be consulted online, at any time and all around the world. Besides, with this system of digital libraries the materials that we have access to do not suffer any harm and they are preserved in optimum conditions. So, if remained skeptical about the benefits of digital libraries give them a try. You will not regret.

References:

• Digital library. (2009, October 22). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:10, October 25, 2009, from
  http//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Digital_library&oldid=321357328
• List of digital library projects. (2009, October 21). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:13, October 25, 2009, from
  http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_digital_library_projects&oldid=321196444
• The Darlington Digital Library. (2007). In The Darlington Digital Library, University of Pittsburgh. Retrieved: 19:17, October 25, 2009, from
  http://digital.library.pitt.edu/d/darlington/index.html

(Note: in the future this article could be modified several times in order to include more up-to-date information.)

     Passing the Crandall Printing Museum on the street it is hardly noticeably as an unpretentious brick building.  Upon entering however, I was transported back to the 17^th century in the lobby, and then directed promptly to the Gutenberg Press room.  Listening to an elderly gentleman who began typesetting at age 14, my perception of the history of Gutenberg’s invention completely changed.  He invented every step of the process, overcoming multiple obstacles which laid the standard method of printing for more than 400 years.  After determining the most suitable metal was copper, he invented a hand type caster used to create metal letters, similar to stamps today.  He then through trial and error determined what mixture of metals to use with the hand type caster.  He settled on 7% tin, 13% antimony, and 80% lead, called Printers Metal and still used today.  He built a case to sort the letters in, putting the capital letters in the uppercase, and the lowercase letters in the lowercase – which is the entire reason we call our letters that.

As Gutenberg lived in the Dark Ages, he tried to keep his invention secret because the public and the Catholic Church was leery of anything different.  When the Catholic Church did discover his work, they gave him permission to keep his press if he were to print the Bible for them, but it needed to be in Latin.  He then began the arduous process of creating all the Latin characters.  He developed ink, a mixture of linseed oil and lead and copper oxide to make the ink black.  He created inking balls covered with goose skin to apply the ink to the letters.  He built 6 printing presses and trained 6 teams of printers, assigning each group to a different task.  He printed 140 copies of the bible on paper and 40 on animal skin. 

The year 1450-1500 was called the “Out of the Cradle” Period.  20 million books were printed which brought Europe out of the Dark Ages.  This foundation led to the founding of the United States of America.  The six different printing groups Gutenberg trained spread out in Europe and established their own presses after he went bankrupt.  As people printed their ideas, religious differentiation became public.  When the colonists came to America, they brought and printing press with them to continue the circulation of ideas. 

Benjamin Franklin became an apprentice to his brother James for the “Boston Current” after he was persuaded by his father this was the way to continue his love of reading.  As he spent time surrounded by political ideas he developed his own opinions.  After his brother rejected his request to write for the paper, he began sending letters to the paper under the penname “Silence Dogood” until he finished expressing his ideas.  By age 16 Benjamin Franklin had become an accomplished printer, which usually took to age 21 or 22.  When his brother got in trouble with the law, he became the full printer, eventually starting the “Pennsylvania Gazette” at age 24.  This is only the beginning of Benjamin’s life.  He served in the military, participated in the creation of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, wrote America’s first joke book with “Poor Richard’s Almanac”, served as an ambassador for the United States, and made discoveries about the world around him.    

All of these events and men led to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.  Both a printing press and a book binder were in Palmyra, New York , possible with the building of the Erie Canal to ship the printing press on, when Joseph Smith finished the translation of the golden plates.  5000 copies of the Book of Mormon were initially printed, only taking an unprecedented seven months.  The same process used to print the Gutenberg Bible was used to print the Book of Mormon 400 years later.

The Crandall Printing Museum is in the process of expanding its size with the goal to be completed by next year.  All missionaries who enter the Missionary Training Center will have the opportunity to go through the museum before leaving for their mission area to have a solid foundation of the truly miraculous process it was to bring forth the Book of Mormon.   Donations are needed for the completion of the building.  For more information or to donate, please visit http://crandallmuseum.org/.

This is Madame DP, who I first met in Bristol when I was – 11, give or take.  I was pretty fond of the old girl, despite her restlessness, and fake pearls, and pasted-on grin (grinning while she ate, even – no easy thing).  Saddened to learn that she has, now, officially, passed on; though she must’ve been 100, if a day.

But seriously, I’m glad she’s dead.

A few points of business.  It looks as if my novel-in-poems MAVOR’S BONES - which won’t officially be published until next fall – can presently be ordered and printed on the spot via the new-fangled Espresso Book Machine.  There aren’t many of them in the world just yet, but if you find yourself at any of these locations, why not order a copy – and watch it be printed, bound, and dropped into your hands in four minutes flat – still warm!

Not much else to report just yet – but look for new poems and drawings in forthcoming editions of Quarterly West, Labletter, Wascana Review, Transition, The Egregious, Highlights for Children, Ladybug, and others.

I have to go now.  My coffee needs me.

If you’re a writer and you  haven’t read @NathanBransford’s post today, “When is writing unhealthy?” (http://bit.ly/1o0oo), then you should. You may not come to the same reaction as I did, or you may not even care to respond, but it got me thinking that this idea that not everyone should write shouldn’t even be asked. But then I said to myself, yes, ask it, and then answer it for yourself and see exactly how you feel about it. 

Here’s how I feel about it. Here’s my response to Nathan Bransford’s probing and important question:

What, has writing become the next addiction? Writing doesn’t have to be about what is good or bad. It only gets labeled as such when it is connected to some monetary reward.

Can you imagine someone telling Gutenberg, “Hey, the Bible is a little lengthy, and it’s repetitive, so let’s not print it.”

It’s like this. Writing is an act of proving our existence, whether it’s good or bad doesn’t matter. In the spirit of Descartes, if you are a writer, hack or genius, you say, “I write therefore I am.” Writing leaves little pieces of your life, no, your soul, here on earth before you leave this god forsaken place.

So now go on you worried writers who are suddenly asking should I do it or should I not, go on, get out there and write! Good, bad, garbage, write until you bleed. Write because you can’t live without writing and be proud of it!

“One ought only to write when one leaves a piece of one’s own flesh in the inkpot, each time one dips one’s pen.” ~Leo Tolstoy

@StephtheWriter

Dear people of Blogsville, am un anunţ de făcut:  de mâine, marţi, 13 octombrie volumul Jamais vu sau la prima bere cu tata va putea fi achizitionat la modicul preţ de 18 lei la Libraria Gutenberg. Adresa este Strada Episcop Mihai Pavel nr 4 în caz că nu ştiaţi. De-asemenea am scris un post în care este descrisă lansarea de la Primărie din 25 septembrie în detaliu. Click me lol.

Mitru

Eigentlich verhältnismäßig sinnlos JETZT noch eine Fortsetzung zum ersten Beitrag zu leisten – deshlab lassen wir das auch einfach und erzählen stattdessen etwas über kleine Knuddelbärchen.

NEIN, nicht wie dieses komische Eisbärendings aus dem Berliner Zoo.

Ach scheiss drauf, dieser Beitrag existiert schlicht, weil der erste mein neuer ‘Klick’-Spitzenreiter ist und ich mich in der Sonne des Erfolgs zu baden pflege.

Lest was anderes, als meinen Beitrag zur Wahl, hier, es gibt fast ausschließlich bessere (wenn auch noch sinnlosere) Texte hier auf NewWorld’sEve.

Und doch! Kurzer Schwenk zum Thema:
wer die Grünen gewählt hat, isst auch kleine Kinder aus sozial schwachen Familien. Blöp.

Harpel’s Typograph circulated widely among the printing rank and file, an obvious target audience, but it also found its way into the better parlors of middle class America. The Typograph, filled with ornate typography and dashes of color, became a crossover hit. Its showpiece was a portrait in stigmatype of Gutenberg. Stigmatypy was composing room art, a mid-nineteenth-century way of ingeniously composing pictures (rather than text) out of thousands of tiny pieces of type metal. Oscar Harpel was a wonderful printer, and he reached for artistic expression. Printing historian David Pankow, honoring that reach, thought that Harpel’s pioneering work on the Globe press indicated that “relief printing on highly finished coated paper was capable of producing amazingly detailed and exquisitely colored work that rose to the level of fine art—a goal embraced just as keenly by the chromolithographers of the time.”[1] But Harpel’s color printing was never the subtle serial overlays of lithographic printing. He offered advertising design at a very high level, to be sure, but stigmatypy typified Harpel’s art. There weren’t any colorful landscape “paintings” in the Typograph.

1. David Pankow, The Printer’s Manual: An Illustrated History (Rochester, N.Y.: RIT Cary Graphic Arts Press, 2005), 66.

This is essay number 14 of “Oscar Harpel,” a printing history series.

Sou um vasculhador da Wikipédia. Gosto de saber quais os principais fatos marcantes de cada dia. Hoje não foi diferente, me ative um pouco mais na leitura devido aos inúmeros acontecimentos do último dia de setembro ao longo da história. Como bom comunicador não poderia deixar de citar aqueles que me interessam, do ponto de vista profissional. Segue abaixo a listinha:

- Surgimento do primeiro livro impresso, a Bíblia de Gutenberg, em 1452 (data bastante controversa).

- Em 1915 é feita a primeira transmissão de rádio em Nova York.

- A TV Excelsior encerra as transmissões em 1970 depois de uma grave crise financeira e pressões do Governo Militar. Grande parte dos profissionais, treinados nos EUA, foi contratada pela recém-fundada Rede Globo.

- Em 1948 surge a primeira edição do personagem de HQ Tex.

- Nascimento de Truman Capote, em 1924. Jornalista estadunidense famoso pelo livro A Sangue frio e por ser um dos precursores do jornalismo literário. Ficou mais conhecido pela massa após o filme Capote, indicado em cinco categorias do Oscar. Famoso pela afetação, Capote nunca foi premiado em vida pela obra, mas postumamente reconhecido como uma mente brilhante.

Truman Capote

PS: A última edição do ALT já está aqui no blogue. Baixem a vontade!