The purpose of this guide is to explore the effects that the evolution of writing materials has on civilizations and humanity.
The research thesis of this guide is to showcase the evolution and creation of writing surface, and it's positive connection to how civilization and humanity has advanced.
My research questions addressed in this guide are:
Writing surfaces are extremely important to humanities history, but how? The history and impact of this topic isn’t widely researched nor is it known too well. In this time of change from paper to computer it is important to know the importance and history of such a topic. People should know the significance of such a change in writing surfaces as it is seen that each change in the past opened the door to something new. The methodology that was used was searching specific keywords through the SVC database and onesearch, as well as on google scholar. There were around 14 articles and videos that were collected and annotated in the works cited. The results indicated that each writing surface had its own kind of effect on the civilizations it was a part of. Generally, each surface increased communication between communities, as well as an increase in general knowledge among the populous as more people started to be able to write due to writing surfaces becoming more acceptable. With this information it is good to take the past and apply it to the future. The present is in an age of transformation and transition, it is important to learn from the past and notice but the pros and cons that could come out of the use of each writing medium. It is curious to think about how much of the history of writing surfaces could be applied to the computer. Is it even possible to compare them? The future is the only thing that knows, so scholars just have to keep learning, researching and testing, to see the in-depth effects of the computer.
The history of writing surfaces is as long as humanities. People have always wanted to record information in some way, this started out as cave walls. However, people wanted to start sharing and spreading information, so the Mesopotamians created the clay tablet. This was the go-to for many millennia until the Egyptians created Papyrus. Contradicting the clay tablets heavy and durable nature, the papyrus plant was light and flimsy. This wasn’t the best, they didn’t want to haul around tons of clay tablets, nor did they want to worry about their papyrus crumbling. To combat this the Europeans created parchment. This writing surface was made from animal skin that was stretched tissue thin. This material was super durable and everything people wanted. However, it was extremely expensive as the labor to making parchment was extremely high. This caused people to move on and move on they did. While parchment and papyrus were still being created, China figured out how to make paper. This was a huge step in history as paper was both cheap to make and relatively durable. China kept the recipe a secret for the longest time, until it was leaked and spread to the middle east, and then to Europe. With the introduction of the recipe of paper, parchment and papyrus were soon to be left behind. Interestingly, parchment was still used as the go to writing surface for legal documents, but other than that papyrus and parchment weren’t as used as before.
The Video below showcases the many items used in history as writing surfaces. Starting from the very beginning with cave walls, all the way to how computers were created to emulate paper, without the use of actual paper. This resource is important because the history of writing surfaces is a very long and winding road, splitting off and combining at many times. With the video organizing it into something manageable, that would help a lot of people get a good idea on this topic.
Citation:
Films for the Humanities & Sciences, et al. Paper. Infobase, 2011.https://sbctc-skagit.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01STATEWA_SKAGIT/th2jo4/alma991000669970902822.
This Data shows the growth and devolopment of printed books from the 15th century all the way to the 18th. This is important because it illustrates the significance of paper and it's ability to be mass produced. No other writing surface has been shown to match this level of production, ever. It is good to see just how important the ability to mass produce something is.
Citation:
Max Roser and Hannah Ritchie (2023) - “Books” Published online at OurWorldinData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/books' [Online Resource]
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