WRITING SYSTEMS

Writing Systems

• The first writing systems developed:

– Independently in Mesopotamia and Egypt

– Around 3500 BCE

– To aid emerging civilizations with record

keeping (economic, social and religious)

• Many of the original writing systems were symbolic or pictorial

Cuneiform

Phoenician Alphabet

Hieroglyphics

THE INVENTION OF PAPER

Papyrus

• Named for the plant of which it was made

• Emerged in Egypt around 2400 BCE

• Allowed written messages to become portable

PLANT PAPER

Modern Paper• Ts’ai Lun of China gets credit for inventing

the first modern paper in 105 CE

• Original papermaking process consisted of:

– Soaking plant fibers, then beating them to a

pulp…literally

– Straining the pulp into a frame where it dried

THE PRINTING PRESS

Block Printing

• Early writing is hard to come by simply because books had to be hand written by scribes.

• The first printed book, Diamond Sutra, was created in 868 CE in China.– Printing had been used earlier for documents

• Block printing consisted of carving the message into wood, stone, metal or some other material, then stamping the message on paper.

Block Printing

Movable Type

• Movable Type:

– Emerged in China with clay blocks around

1041

– Revolutionized by Johannes Gutenberg

almost 400 years later

• Gutenberg Printing Press (1436-1440):

– Utilized replaceable/movable metal or wooden

letters

CHINESE CLAY BLOCKS

GUTENBERG PRINTING PRESS

JOHANNES

GUTENBERG

PAGE FROM

GUTENBERG’S BIBLE

GUTENBERG’S

PRINTING PRESS

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Communications via Electricity

Telegraphy

• Telegraphy was the practice of using electric signals to transmit a message

• Emerged in the 19th century

• Significant because:

– It freed communication from geography

– Prices for goods became more uniform

– Led to a need for standardized time zones

First telegraph message “What hath God wrought?”

Telephone

• Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell BOTH invented their own version of the telephone in the 1870s.

• Graham got the credit because he got the patent.

GRAYBELL

FIRST CALL BY

BELL

WIRELESS

COMMUNICATION

Radio

• Scientists predicted the existence of electromagnetic or “radio” waves

• Waves could carry music, speech, pictures, etc. through the air thus resulting in wireless communication

Television

•• Added yet another component of the Added yet another component of the communication process back into long communication process back into long distance communication.distance communication.

•• ““Today we have, in a sense, the Today we have, in a sense, the transmission of sight for the first time in transmission of sight for the first time in the worldthe world’’s history. Human genius has s history. Human genius has now destroyed the impediment of distance now destroyed the impediment of distance in a new respect, and in a manner hitherto in a new respect, and in a manner hitherto unknown.unknown.”” ––Herbert HooverHerbert Hoover

Computers, Internet, Smart Phones

• Looking back at how far communication has come, explain how these three items have completely altered today’s communication.

– Consider:

• Speed

• Distance

• Availability