Final Blog: Why Print Knowledge Continues to Dominate

Although digital knowledge has expanded, and continues to expand, the way the world interacts and gains information, digital knowledge has not yet replaced print as the dominant form of knowledge.  All of the forms of knowledge that have dominated the world thus far (folk, oral, written and print) have encountered a transition period in which a new medium of knowledge is introduced, but the previous medium remains more influential.  Print and digital knowledge are in the middle of this time of transition.

The first transition was between folk and oral knowledge.  As discussed during the in class final, oral knowledge can be very helpful when teaching folk knowledge, but it cannot replace the physical interaction.  An instructor may tell a student the best way to hold an instrument, but until that instructor shows their student what it will feel like to hold the instrument, the student will not understand.  Folk knowledge transitions into oral knowledge more fully in drama.  Islam’s Ta’ziyeh involves both song and dance to tell the story of the origins of Islam.  The story could not be told without oral communication, and this fact marks the beginnings of a full transition to oral knowledge.

Page from the Book of John

The next transition is between oral and written knowledge.  Written and oral knowledge do not add to one another in the same way oral and folk do.  Written knowledge began adding to written knowledge only after the oral knowledge was written down.  The accounts of the Apostles that were passed by word of mouth had to be written down before scribes could start scribbling their own interpretations of the scripture in the margins.  At this point the subject of the text was oral knowledge, but the form and notes were purely written knowledge.  Over time thoughts began to originate in the written form, overstepping the need for oral communication.

Page from the Gutenberg Bible

 Written knowledge’s transition to print knowledge began with imitation.  Before Gutenberg’s movable type printing press, prints were made using woodcuts that were carved with the appearance of handwriting.  These woodcuts allowed for mass production, but they were difficult to make.  Gutenberg’s type also copied handwriting and was easy to compile documents and mass produce, but because it was new, it was not accepted by all society.  For hundreds of years print was only profitable if it mimicked handwriting and printed works that were originally manuscripts.  Eventually print was able to come into its own form of legible type and works by contemporary authors, but it first had to endure years of imitation.

The current transition between print and digital knowledge is in the midst of imitation.  As discussed during the salon, society is still using textbooks, many sources online originated in print, and even blogs take a form similar to that of a typed paper.  The “lines blur” from print to digital, because digital has yet to discover fully its own medium.  It has already found video, graphics, hyperlinks and many other forms, but it still has many changes ahead.  Perhaps these changes have already been found and manufacturers only continue distributing e-books to prevent alienating the public from the digital world.  In any case, print is still the template and basis for the world’s vast amount of knowledge.

The transition from print to digital knowledge is not complete.  Digital knowledge has the ability to take on many forms, but many of those forms are simply glorified print knowledge.  Print knowledge has a more restricted form, but it is still the most used knowledge medium in education and the world's reading.  Digital knowledge will be the dominate form of knowledge eventually, but, for now, print is the main source of the public’s knowledge.