Originally published in 1995. Please excuse any mistakes as this has been scanned from an old paper version.

Defining a new medium:

A comparison between the introduction of the printing press, and electronic media.

Graphic and Media Design, 1995.

Contents

Preface (4)

1 Printing press

The work of the scribe (5)

The introduction to printing (6)

Introduction of the printing press (7)

The development of printing (8)

Function (9)

2 Computer

The development of the computer (13)

Desktop publishing (14)

Destruction of standards (14)

Software (15)

Information (16)

3 New systems

Personal systems (I9)

Electronic books (20)

Interaction (21)

4 Conclusion (25)

Bibliography (27)

Illustrations (29)

Preface

My first encounter with anything resembling a computer was way back in high school; I had been sat in front of an old BBC computer on which I was instructed to type in a series of alien commands, which seemed to have impressed upon me a fear, or uneasiness, with the whole area of computers. Several years from this first experience I find myself, again, in almost the same situation. Today, as a student, and being involved in the area of Graphics; which at present is seeing an increase in the use of computers for everyday operations, I realised that this phobia' of mine had to be resolved before I could begin to use the advantages of this new technology. I found the quickest way to learn this technology was through experience, which led me to purchasing my own computer in 1994, the second year of my course, to ready myself for entry into my final year. Now, after several months of interacting with this computer I have become fairly conversant with the way it works, and the advantages it brings.

My introduction to this technology centred mainly around its uses for print production; however, it soon became apparent that this computer had more to offer me. I realised that this digital technology was enabling new ways of organising and disseminating information, that previous methods could not provide. I want to argue that this new technology is offering us an alternative to the use of paper and must therefore be treated as a new media, which, like others, must develop its own rules and standards.

I want to structure this thesis in a way that will aid a comparison between this new technology and the introduction of the printing machine. Before I can begin to look at the effects of the digital technology I must first look back at the history of printing. The reason for choosing these two as a comparison is simple; both of these areas have, or are, having similar effects upon society, although not always in the same ways. By comparing these two areas I feel it is possible to a gain a greater understanding about what this new media has brought us, and more importantly how it could affect us in the near future. To achieve my goal, I feel that I need to divide this thesis into two main areas. The first area l aim to tackle is that of the introduction of printing; within which I want to discuss the areas that allowed this development to take place, and some of the problems that had to be resolved before its effects could take effect. I also want to discuss the social aspects that developed, alongside printing, which sparked a re-organisation of labour amongst this industry. Within this section I will also discuss the development of this technology and the methods it uses of organising information, which I will use to explain its system of standardisation.

The second area of study will be about the introduction of the computer into printing, in which l hope to explain the effects of this technology on today's society. The first area am going to explore is the change it has brought upon the printing industry, and how this change has affected our first uses of a new media. I want to use this section to define what we really mean by an ‘information explosion’, and in what ways this new technology can help us. One area in which I feel as being important is the user’s ability to interact with the media; I want to look at this area of information retrieval and how it has enabled a more personal experience with the technology.

The essential core of this comparison is based upon the technologies used to produce and distribute information. For the development of this comparison, I believe that, although this subject is to be treated in two separate areas, it would make sense to begin my argument with a more long-term view of this industry; and therefore, begin with the duplication of literature by the scribe.

1 The transition to print.

The work of the scribe

We often claim that the period before the introduction of print was a time belonging to the work of the scribe, (this usually being a monk, who worked for a 'remission of his sins'). However, this is not as clear-cut as it first appears; from as early as the twelfth century the work of the scribe had already begun to leave the site of the monasteries, and to be taken over by a more organised method of duplication. The years preceding the invention of printing seem to hold an interesting change over in the production of scripts; we witnessed a situation where new teams of copyists, or 'lay stationer's', had come together to duplicate these manuscripts. The system they had devised for copying these scripts meant that the original text was divided amongst different sections of the team to be copied whilst under supervision. This seems an important development as these teams were also being paid for the work they produced, which contrasts with the wage being received by the monk. The increased output of manuscripts was, of course, to be beneficial to university sites, which proved a good source of clientele to these newly formed copyists.

The age of the scribe did however make a comeback, As the development of print grew closer there was a revival of Monastic script', almost a 'last Golden age".[1] It was revived in the Netherlands by Gerhard Groote, who also made an influence on other countries to follow suite. The tradition found itself being carried on well after the intervention of print by Johannes Trithemius who argued, among other things, that the word on parchment would have a longer life span than the word on paper.

The introduction of paper

The introduction of paper, to the West, seems to have occurred over a long period; it's introduction to England was around 1309, although it did appear

earlier in other countries; it can be appreciated, though, that paper did appear even before the invention of the press, and was to have extensive affects upon society, that today would be taken for granted. The transference from vellum to paper was to be of significant importance in the development of printing as it meant literature could be produced on a cheaper material.

The sheer cost of using vellum was a major benefactor in the shift of material usage; the whole attraction towards the use of paper was its appeal of cutting costs. Although the transition to paper didn't really have any direct affect upon the increase of production it did, 'contribute greatly to more voluminous correspondence and to the keeping of more diaries, memoirs, copybooks, and notebooks."[2] This I see as a major achievement during the beginnings of print, as it now meant that already there was a strong growth in the use of literature amongst society. The presence of paper was about quickening the pace of correspondence between merchants and the bureaucrats which, in a way, allowed them to become their own scribe.

Introduction of the printing press

The development of printing has always been associated with the invention of Gutenberg's moveable type. Although his invention, of 1450, allowed him to mass-produce hundreds of duplicate bibles, the initial effect of this development seemed rather slow to catch on. One reason for this delay might have been blamed on the public's attitude to his newly founded treasure; when John Fust, the financier of Gutenberg's firm was to be found to be selling one bible after another, they soon shouted for the police, giving their expert opinion that such a store of valuable books could only be in one man's possession through the help of the devil himself".[3]

The development of the press didn't really start to take effect until the LĄ6o's. It was about this time that the printing press was being situated amongst the heart of main urban centres, being the area in which we already find an expanding wealth of book production taking place. The printing press, in its most basic, was only a method for mass-production, although it was to have a greater effect on society as a whole. The age of the printer had enforced quite a large change, compared to that of the scribe, by giving the ability to produce an increasingly higher number of publications for an ever-decreasing amount in cost. With the appearance of printing, it seems strange that the work of the scribe continued; his divine art"[4] had been outpaced 'the total number of books produced by all of the scribes of Europe since 330 or even since L400 AD is likely to remain elusive. Nevertheless, some comparisons are possible, and they place the output of printers in sharp contrast to preceding trends.[5] "In 1483, the Ripoli Press charged three florins per quinterno for setting up and printing Fcino's translation of Plato's Dialogues. A scribe might have charged one florin per quinterno for duplicating the same work. The Ripoli press produced 1,025 copies; the scribe would have turned out one'[6]

The great improvement of the press was its ability to increase the speed of book production, which had an increased effect on the ability of literature to be dispersed over a larger area. This increased dispersion of literature led to developments in new method of treating information; one area of development was the use of local news sheet which couldn't have been possible before the invention of this machine.

The idea of printing was not always confined to the invention of the West. The Chinese had already developed a method of printing-which we can date back to around 1041AD-yet this system, at this time, was not able to be developed to the extent of the Western system due to a technological problem with the number of characters contained within the Chinese language. However, the influence of this invention played no real part in the development of the Western system of print; they instead contributed a more important material to the west. The introduction of paper, from China, was to play an important role in the development of the Western print culture.

The development of print

The development of Gutenberg's first moveable type, although, first having an effect on the quantity of literature being produced, it also had an effect on changing the way society was handling, and structuring, information. The true benefits of this technology, however, didn't really take effect until a good period after its introduction; firstly, we had to see a few changes within the core of society, trivial things like the alphabet needed to be learnt. This was important to the understanding of methods in which basic reference systems were being structured. Which became a necessary tool for navigating through the new explosion of literature: 'Ever since the sixteenth century, memorising a fixed sequence of discrete letters represented by meaningless symbols and sounds has been the gateway to book learning for all children in the West,"[7] a major example of this can be seen in the structure used to produce the modern dictionary.

The development of printing, with its capacity to handle large runs of duplications, did ensure an increased expansion of knowledge, however, the way in which it was being applied was changing. The development of printing was mainly a storage device; an alternative to having to rely on the human memory for this purpose. The idea of storage was a major concern with the new onslaught of information. New facilities had to be developed to collect and maintain this new product.

The art of the book had, even before the development of printing, already flourished as a method of storage. "The Chinese had used "books" that were collections of sheets held together by a single pin through the middle. These were much easier to construct than the book of Western societies but more difficult to store and refer back to."[8] Western books had developed a method of stacking the books upright, with the face of one touching the back of the other; however, this method was not widely used until the late 15th century, well after the establishment of printing. This led to a growth in the organisation of libraries being a central storage facility that allowed access to information; without the need for travelling long distances in search of such texts, which would have taken place in the generations belonging to the scribe.

With the development of the library, meaning easier access to literature, scholars found that new ideas towards information were evolving. Developments of certain reference systems and a greater dispersion of text was allowing a greater degree of freedom among students; they were no longer bound to the readings of great teachers, or reading single texts, instead they were able to use a system of cross-referencing between books to gain a wider understanding of a particular subject. These newly formed library systems adopted a method cataloguing which was aimed towards people outside of the library, whereas earlier systems had been confined to inside the library walls. These catalogues used a method of card indexing which had developed alongside the arrival of paper. The development of printing made it possible for these lists to be produced in a sufficient quantity, and also enabled a type of uniformity to appear amongst the different libraries around Europe.

Not only did we see the print revolution affecting the way literature was being produced, we also saw a beginning of new uses develop from this technology. With the increase of print production, we find that there was an increase of applications that this new technology was being used for. The 18oo’s saw printing become useful for information such as Railway timetables, billboards, and other information sites.

Function

The development of these informational items brought with them an interest in the way people were using this information. An early example of the way information was being treated can be seen in George Bradshaw's Railway Companion", of 841: in which he has tried to settle the method of designing timetables, He has made use of a bold Egyptian face which was later to become a standard when ordering information. Another method he used, which shows his interest in functional design, was the method used to update information in the book. The pages of the book were stuck back-to-back which allowed new pages to be added month by month.

This standardisation of the way information was being treated also led to people trying to perfect the language of information. From the 1870's there seemed to evolve a fascination amongst psychologists to create the perfect formula for legibility in type design. This was first seen in the work of Emil Javal who, by attempting to measure the legibility of letter forms, was convinced that a more cost-effective method of setting type on paper could be achieved. This began an explosion of proposals for ways to set type more.

LGeorge Bradshaw

Bradshaw's Railway Companion.

Manchester: Bradshaw & Blacklock, 1841

IŞX75 mm, 47 spreads with; engraved fold-out maps.

efficiently; one being James Millington, in 1883, who put forward a method of reversing type on alternate lines: 'Are we to read backwards? alternate lines set in reverse, to make use of the eyes return journey, wasted in normal reading. [9]

Other areas in which this idea of better legibility came out was the representation of speech. It seemed to be the American's who favoured this scenario of change; H.L. Mencken asserted that 'American spelling is plainly better than English spelling."[10] His opinion being that the letters of their words ran more consistently in their spelling: one example being the substitution of the letter s instead of cin the spelling of "defence". This could be described as an attempt to modify the spelling for a more phonetic representation of the word, as they had tried earlier with the insertion of phonetic characters into the alphabet. An example of this can be found in Isaac Pitman's phonetic alphabet, in which he presented the sound th' and 'ng' as one character; this was later picked up by Legros and Grant who concluded, in their statistical studies, that the insertion of these two characters into the text of newspapers would reap a benefit of about three and a half percent in column inches, and also a reduction in time. It is obvious from this last example that Legros and Grant were only interested in the economy of such a change; as many printers were now employing cheap labour, usually women, who had been unskilled and cheaply paid.

The way the printers were using this labour does seem to relate back to the labour of the twelfth century. In the printing house of the 18oos we do see a division of labour taking place, only this time we see a development of specialised areas being created. One of these being a print advisor, which later became more commonly known as typography.

The term ‘Typography’ has no real bearing on the first couple of hundred years of printing, nobody had discussed the separation of typography from printing until 1683-4, when Joseph Moxen wrote Mechanick exercises. In this book he had pointed that there had been 'no agreement among type founders on the standard sizes of printing type'.[11] With the first developments in printing we had seen the carly printer being influenced by the work of the scribe, (we also saw a tendency for the scribe to

See example 1.

copy the work of the printer), at this time the printer hadn't realised the potential of his technology and was therefore looking back towards history for guidance. We still find influences of the scribes work in today's texts, as some of the more refined rules of readability had already been set up before print, the press was simply a mechanical method of producing type, although it soon became apparent that it's own rules had to be reinvented.

2 The transition to the computer

The development of the computer

The evolution of the personal computer has followed a similar path to that of the printed book, but in 4o years rather than 6oo. Like the handmade books of the middle ages, the massive computers built in the two decades before rg60 were scarce, expensive and available to only a few. Just as the invention of printing led to the com- munity use of books chained in a library, the introduction of computer time-sharing in the 1g6os partitioned the capacity of expensive computers in order to lower their access cost and allow community use. And just as the Industrial Revolution made possible the personal book by providing inexpensive paper and mechanised printing and binding, the microelectronic revolution of the 1g70s will bring about the personal computer of the 1980s, with sufficient storage and speed to support high-level computer languages and interactive graphic displays.

Alan Kay, Virtual Reality, Microelectronics and the personal computer, 1977.

With the advent of the computer into our society we have seen a dramatic change in the technology used for print. The computer was originally developed as a machine to handle large calculations; recently, however, it has been adopted as a tool with tremendous potential for dealing with text. The first industry to profit from the computers involvement with print was of course the newspaper. The Washington Star was the first paper to obtain the use of a computer, in July, 1973. The system adopted was a Peanut 620 unit, which they found useful purely for it's production purposes; they boasted that the system was capable of justifying any type size and line width that the line casting equipment could handle.

Needless to say, we have just scratched the surface of operations that can effectively be handled by a computer. I think it is a necessary tool if newspapers are to continue to be the dominating means of communications in years to come.

Desktop publishing

The newspaper was merely a starting point from which this technology could develop; its real impact came in the 1980's with an explosion of 'do-it-yourself' publishing possibilities. Development of this kind of technology created a new wave of literature amongst society. The desktop publishing' idea was allowing society to come in contact with a greater wealth of up-to-date specialist information. A growing greed for information allowed the chance for publishers; e.g. Time magazine, which arrived in the mid-zo's, to capture a niche in the market.

It might be said that the appearance of desktop publishing coincided with a need generated by the magazine industry. With the coming of the rg5o's the general society were already beginning to see developments in the use of television; this new media being able to compete for specialised audiences, otherwise devoted to the use of magazine. The introduction of this digital technology allowed, almost, for the magazine industry to recapture the audience it had once lost to television. I say almost because the progress of the magazine leaned heavily on their need to create a new audience around the television, which began to happen at the same time that the TV was taking over.

With the adoption of the computer into print it aided the industry to compete against the TV in two ways: first it made it possible to produce these publications for a smaller cost than earlier methods, and second it allowed these publications to be output at an increasing rate. The benefits of this technology also meant that smaller printing firms were able to create publications devoted to smaller markets; which may not have been successful within the earlier economic climate.

Destruction of standards

It might be seen that the use of the computer, as being a very inhuman technology, has made the whole area of design into a more precise, and calculated, field of work. This, however, is not the way it is;, the computer has given us a more visual representation of our design, it has made it possible to make changes in near 'real-time' and see them develop on screen. Bringing the exact opposite of what we first expected. The computer has allowed us to become more experimental in our work, and with this allowed us to have a more personal approach to design.

With the use of the computer it is apparent that it has no real references to measurement of its own, only the ones we give it. Designers have recently begun challenging this point and asking why we are settling for the defaults set up by software manufacturers. In the design of publications we have looked upon traditional methods and rules for guidance. It is recently being argued that maybe this is the wrong thing to do. Many of the rules that have been adopted today were set up for a technology of the past. "The machinery's changed and perhaps columns set up for the machinery then are no longer the best way to read things..".[12]Another example of this historic nature is the use of the point system; first developed as a method to standardise the way printers worked, and is still being used by designers as a general rule of measurement.

Software

The development of the computer, alone, was not enough for all these changes to take place. The area which did have more significance was the software being designed for it. It was the design of this software that enabled humans and computers to come closer; certain methods of interaction had to be created before the language of the computer could be understood by the general population. Design of the interface had to be made to be intuitive to use. One of the major breakthroughs in this kind of 'user-friendly' design was that of Apple.inc, which grew out of a team of Home brew computer hobbyists. Their new design of interface meant that now non-programmers could use computers; leading to an even wider market for software developers.

Today we find software being created for almost every application; compared to the early days of type justification, and the Washington Star, the uses of these computers seem almost endless. For the design of print we are being given software that will automate everything that, before, had to be done by hand. By allowing people a greater access of this technology it is allowing more people to become involved in the production of print. This increasing access to print does, in a way, open up the whole profession of the printer, and his 'black art". It also allows people to design the look of their own work.

One area that has been completely blown open by this new software is the design of the typeface. This has allowed even the novice to turn his hand in this direction. This 'sophisticated software is sweeping away the mystique of a skill older than the Romans.[13] The first of these programmes was written as early as the 1970s; Ikarus, as it was then called, was the pioneer of storing characters in the form of mathematical outlines. The job of designing type, at this time, was a long and tedious one, and not really within the reach of the beginner. The latest developments, though, such as Fontographer, or Font studio have adopted an interface that can be used by almost anyone. The leading font package at the moment, Fontographer, allows the user to draw directly onto the screen with the use of a pressure sensitive tablet;, enabling the user to create any number of new, or hybrid, letter forms. This, in efect, has taken the power from the typographer and allowing society to redefine the shape of the alphabet.

Information

The period of this transition seems to us, (or at least is being promoted), to be filling a need; we are being told that we are presently witnessing an information explosion. In reality, we discover, this explosion only appears that way; the growth of this information is ʻexponential'[14], but it's sheer size has now become too difficult to organise. The development of this new technology has promised us an alternative to paper, it brings a new media on which to print, anda new means of storage. The development of this method of storage seems to have inherited a similar trait to that of paper. The cost of storage on this new technology seems, rapidly, to be decreasing in cost, whereas the use of paper has recently become more expensive.

This media also has a few other advantages over that of paper; it not only allows information such as text to be recorded, it also allows audio, and visual recordings to be stored as well, this is currently being used in some of the main cD ROM encyclopedias, appearing today, which make their whole use appear more attractive.

The use of these new systems tend to bring something unique to the use of information. The nature in which this information is being stored allows the user to gain a more personal interaction with the information. In the case of an encyclopedia, stored on a CD ROM, it is possible for the user to explore the information in a completely new way than that was allowed with the paper version. This retrieval system allows a unique method of cross-referencing, it is possible to begin with one area of interest, and finish up, via this method of linked words, at a related subject in another part of the encyclopedia.

This same method can also be used to search through large amounts of text, proving more reliable than ordinary indexing systems. This system can also be programmed to record, or tag, certain areas of information deemed valuable to the readers subject, which can the be catalogued in a personal index for later use. Comparing this system to that of the early librarian shows how immediate this way of researching can become.

This form of retrieval isn't only restricted to searching through cos, it also has advantages when searching for information on a wider scale. By use of the computer it is possible to break down almost every geographical boundary in the world; a system which can physically use the entire world as a library from which to pull information. The only barriers at the moment are with the compatibility of files from different sources, although this problem is being dealt with.

With the computer linked up to an international phone-line, it is possible to link-up to other data bases to search for a specific subject. The advantages of this are numerous; it means that users will be able to get different types of information-text in page form or more suitable formats, documents facsimiles, graphics, maps, statistics manipulate them and store them for their own applications, make copyright payments, etc. They will then be able, in turn, to publish or distribute the results either publicly or privately for a specific individual or group.[15]

Seeing this advantage of being able to connect computers across long distances, the use of this as a communications gateway is an attractive idea. The use of the computer for communicating is not new. It was first developed for military purposes, but later expanded to the use of Universities and Medical units. Today, however, there is an ever increasing network of computers around the world; all being able to send and receive documents of any nature. One of the widest uses for this network of databases must be Email; allowing the user to correspond, instantly, across the globe. This method works the same way as a fax but allows the user to depart from the need of paper. It also allows the user to communicate with several people at a time, which was not available with the telephone, (although the telephone line is still needed for most types of communication), allowing world wide conferences to be set up.

3 New systems

As with all technological developments, though, our lives are confronted with change. The computer has made it possible to create new ways of viewing information; one of the earliest changes we saw was the development of "Teletext'. This system, although being received through a television set which had already been accepted into our lives, did begin a process of people being able to control the information that was being sent to their homes. A simulation of this new "Teletext experience' was shown in Chicago on CH 32, during the September of 1981, this first viewing showed what this new system was capable of, which resulted in a rather poor graphical interface and was slow during use.

Personal systems

One area of information design that is being affected by computer technology is the area of public information systems; these have already begun to be adopted by some of the larger, dominant, information industries in the market, which rely on a simple method of visual communication with the client. One system, employed in the Victoria and Albert museum', leans heavily on the client being able to interact with the information displayed; which is manipulated simply by pressing certain areas of the screen, instead of clumsy usage of a mouse or keyboard. This system, designed by 'Art of Memory, incorporates a style of icons to help unlock chunks of information. Graham Howard, the creator of this interactive programme, explains that he borrowed the idea and transferred it to a computer screen; 'a similar device was visual used in the building of our churches where cach gargoyle, and painting was laden with meaning.[16]

The advantages of such systems are boundless; it allows the user to manipulate text, image, and sound, with endless possibilities. This particular system was designed to be as user-friendly as possible, and was created with an interface that was intuitive to use.

The simple use of iconised symbols allows even a visitor as young as nine to navigate through the wealth of information.

Although the use of icons in this database were employed to aid its usage, it must be understood that this system was also meant for use in New Yorks Cornig museum; this meant certain cultural glitches had to be avoided; cases such as thei used by Europeans to represent an information booth would be totally wasted on the Americans, who don't use it.

One of the largest areas of growth in the future, will probably be in home shopping. It is already being used by some companies, to order new software, but can't be said to have had a big impact upon the general public.

This method of transaction is being presented the same way as teletext; it means the user can access, and purchase, any item on offer without having to leave home. All that would be needed is some kind of link to this virtual shopping arcade, and a credit card number. This could be an advantage to the disabled but would make it extremely dangerous if a child could gain access. As this system is still under development there are still a lot of bugs needed to be ironed out before it can be used by a wider audience.

Electronic books

In ten years time, the book as we know it will be dead.[17] This does, in many ways, seem possible with today's technology; in reality, though, the book is far from it's death. The development of the computer has made it possible to store any amount of information behind a small screen; it seems feasible that the contents of a novel could also be stored in this way. The only prevention from this transition taking place is, indirectly, from the consumer.

One type of electronic book that has already begun to appear is, in a way, related to the information system. This has taken on the form of becoming a personal information system which, although being portable, is still capable of carrying vast amounts of information. This type of system is being developed along the lines of a personal Discman; which would allow the user to access different volumes of information. This system has been in the Japanese market since r99I, so a variety of software has already been written for its use. Other systems being developed are aimed towards the personal computer, such as a lap-top, being a more comfortable size for the reading of text.

Dorling Kindersley, one producer of digital titles for the personal computer, is aiming to make this new 'book' able to offer more than a conventional book; 'which is exactly what games machines managed to deliver over and above conventional toys like train sets and Action men.[18] While there are already electronic books in the market, the majority of these are offering no more than that of the ordinary book. At present the Groliers Encyclopedia is one of the worlds largest selling digital book, but there seems to be no incentive for this media to take off with reading for pleasure; people still see the paper book as a treasured object, even though it is cheaply produced. The electronic version, on the other hand, can be made to offer so much more. At present it still resembles the old book; in that it scrolls page by page, and gives the option of dog-earing the corners; it also allows the inclusion of authors notes to aid the reader in understanding. 'It changes the way you relate to cach word. At the beginning of the codex book, people didn't appreciate all the capabilities of it. It suddenly gave you random access to each page. The electronic book takes things a step further because it gives you access to every word'.[19] It is also possible to insert animated images, if needed, which could combine with the text to draw the reader closer.

Interaction

I see one of the biggest concerns with this new technology is the method in which we use it. We are moving into a new generation; from one being practiced in the methods of paper books, to another being conversant with the electronic equivalent. At present we are witnessing the transition; which might be an important part in the evolution of this new medium. We are already seeing major developments in interface systems; making it easier for that initial change-over, but what we are seeing is a conversion of the real world into the system of the computer. With the Apple.inc. operating system we have been given a desktop on which to work, a system of files or folders to represent sites of information, and even a wastebasket to throw our rubbish. This kind of system, as Howard Rheingold mentions, can be a means of augmenting the mind:"The "desktop metaphor" that turned files and filing cabinets.. into graphic symbols on the computer screen was a primitive"virtual world that let me put my thinking tools right here in front of me, where I could see them....The screen acted as a visual cache for my short-term memory, the way placing documents and file folders on a physical desktop serves as a visual reminder.[20]

A well- designed computer system can actually improve your quality of thinking.. A subtle thing happens when everything is visible: the display becomes reality. The users model becomes identical with what is on sereen. Objects can be understood purely in terms of their visible characteristics...One way to get consistency into a system is to adhere to paradigms for operations. By applying a successful way of working in one area to other areas, a system acquires a unity that is both apparent and real...These paradigms change the very way you think. They lead to new habits and modes of behaviour that are more powerful and productive. they can lead to a human-machine synergism.

Smith et al, Virtuat Reatity, The Star User Interface, 1982.

This parallel, we find, is also being reflected in the way we structure information for the computer; we are recreating, exactly, the format developed with the use of the book, and keeping as close to its rules as possible. The reason for this is to make an easy transition into the new technology, much the same as the transition to print was, although we are beginning to see designers tackling this technology in new ways. With the use of print on screen, it is now becoming apparent that if print is being designed on screen it should, therefore, stay on screen. This is becoming evident in some of the Multi-media presentations which incorporate text and images to explain the information.

The computer is about freeing the user from repetitive tasks, it gives the user a lot more

"..it is possible to send a gesture ;), or emotion:(,with the

text,to help with meaning. Smileys consist of of the normal

keyboard characters, but are arranged in such a way to create a

face or symbol."

freedom to what they can actually do '-but at the moment people arent using the freedom, they're actually trying to find ways of limiting it to what we're used to."[21] This is the area that designers are trying to rethink; Neville Brody challenges the view that type should be used on screen, believing that we have come to a separation from type for print and type for the screen; an example being the use of a FUSE font on the screen, working better than when used in print.

The screen, being a visual transmitter, compared to that of the telephone has a different way of communicating. It has no way of representing gestures, or emotion; although it does allow a greater visual awareness to the information. Brody mentions that he can foresee a new language being developed directly for this technology; one area in which we are already seeing this happening is through the tNTERNET; already we have adopted a new kind of language to try and solve this problem of gestures. The language I refer to is this use of Smileys* within text; with these it is possible to send a gesture, or emotion, with the text, to help with meaning. Smileys consist of the normal keyboard characters, but are arranged in such a way to create an expressive face, or symbol. Although this might be considered a new language it is only an extension to our own, and not an alternative.

Another area that needs considering is the input of information. At present we are still being tied to the use of the Qwerty keyboard; which proves to be a rather cumbersome tool. Not only that, it is also considered to be ergonomically unfriendly in use, and could benefit with an alternative to its use. We do have systems that allow you to talk straight in to the computer, or others that are designed for the handicapped, but nothing to replace the standard keyboard, which might change the way we use it.

The form of the computer, for now, is very much the same as the television; it requires us to position ourselves in front of a monitor and peer through it's virtual window. It is, however, different to the TV as it allows us to interact directly with the information we are receiving. At present the computer is still seen as a means to an end. In the production of print it is used to produce the films used for the final print; and therefore can only be seen as a tool for production. This can be compared with the development of the printing press; it began as a method for producing vast amounts of duplicate manuscripts, which couldnt have been possible with earlier techniques. It later proved that information could be used in different ways; such as the development of the book, which brought forth a whole new way of referencing literature. It also led to a standardisation in the way information was being recorded and presented; leading society to learn the new rules of this technology.

4 Conclusion

With the adoption of the computer into the design of information we have seen a change in attitude to how this information should be structured. This electronic revolution can, I think, be paralleled with the revolution of the printing press; it is bringing us the same alternative that was presented with the change over from vellum to paper. The option of paper is allowing us the advantage of storage on a cheaper material which can also be used over and over. Therefore it could be considered as an alternative to paper but, for the present, the methods employed to control this media vary little from that of the paper book.

The advent of the computer has forced all kinds of changes into the print industry; one of the major factors being the speed at which work can be turned around. This might be the case, although, we also find that the overall work load created by the computer ends up as considerably more. Computers have allowed us more independence to create the printed piece; it no longer has to go to the typesetters, or be pasted into a layout; it is now possible to generate colour separations straight from disk. This is increasingly making the designer more impelled to tackle every part of the design process; opening up an option for companies to dispense with a large number of employers, seeing that the work can now be put in the hands of just a few; 'to date the single most important effect of the computer has been not in creating new industries but rather in allowing existing ones to run more efficiently with the involvement of fewer, ruinously expensive human hands'.[22]

In a way, the use of this technology has reversed the methods set up with the early printer; taking away the division of labour that appeared with print and returning back to being controlled by one operator. When you realise that digital technology is in some ways reversing the stability and regularity brought on by printing technology, it is actually quite profound.[23]This might be the point at which the designer needs to rethink his attitudes; there is no reason why the designer should be left with all the work; why be given the job of a typesetter when he'll still charge the wage of a designer? Put this way the division of labour would remain and only the speed at which it was turned out would increase; meaning also that the quality of work would remain at a high standard.

The computer has allowed us greater access to information, and is allowing society to store their information in global networks; which can be retrieved from anywhere in the world. It is also possible to store this information in more compact areas which solves the problem of the vast quantity of information. However, the design of this information is becoming increasingly harder to obtain; unless you are conversant with the methods for using the internet then it could take time to retrieve the information. This area of retrieval is being refined by the software giants, but the basic method of retrieval doesn't seem to be changing from what we are already used to.

It seems apparent that the idea ofa new language for information would not be accepted, with the design of letters specifically for the computer we are still seeing letter shapes distinctive to our own, anything else can only be considered, for now, as fine art or for usage amongst a particular group of users, (which could not be defined as a new language unless it was generally accepted by society). until such time as society is ready to accept it.

Bibliography

Books

The Future of the Printed Word.

(ed) Philip Hills

(London, Frances Pinter Ltd, 198o)

H. Rheingold, Virtual Reality,

(London, Mandarin Paperbacks, 1992, 2nd edition)

Trendsininformation transfer,

(ed) PJ.Hills,

(London, Francis Pinter, 1982)

Multi-Media Communications,

(ed) M.Katzen

(London, Francis Pinter, 1g82)

A.Smith, Goodbye Gutenberg.

Oxford, Oxtord University, 198o)

E.L,Eisenstien, The printing press as an agent of change.

(Cambridge, University Press, 1979) voL. 1 & 2,

R.Kinross, Modern Typography

(London, Hyphen press, 1992)

K. MeGarry, The changing context ofinformation,

(27)

(London, Library Association, SECOND EDITION, 1993)

S. Bodker, Through the interface,

(New Jersey, Lawrence Eribaum Associates, 1991)

Automation,

(ed), M. Philipson,

(New York, Vintage books, 1962)

D. Burns, Designers on Mac,

(Tokyo, Graphic-sha, rg92)

Articles

Creative Review,

Face to face: Brody Carsons', voL. L4 NO. 5, (May 1995).

Pro-am Gulf', voL. I4 NO. II, (November r994).

XYZDirection

"G force', March 1g92.

"Technique, the technology', April r992.

Give the man a mac', r993.-

New Media books, May 1994-

Interactive design', July 1994-

Personal Correspondence

Lorraine Wild, ReVerb, 3oth January 1995.

(281

Illustrations

1. George Bradshaw:

Bradshaw's Railway Companion, 1841.

(Modern Typography)

2. Graham Howard:

Glass Gallery Data base

(Design week, 11 th March 1994).

3.

Neville Brody:

Fuse font, 1991.

(Designers on the Mac).

4. Smileys:

(a9>

[1] Eisenstein, The Printing press as an agent of change, p14

[2] Eisenstein, The Printing press as an agent of change, p217

[3] IBID. pP49

[4] Eisenstein, The Printing press as an agent of change, p217.

[5] IBI. p45/46

[6] De la Mare, Vespaiano, The printing press as an agent of change, p207.

[7] Eisenstein, The printing press as agent of change, p89.

[8] Smith, Goodbhye Gutenburg. P10.

[9] Javal, Source unknown.

[10] Mencken, Source Unknown.

[11] Kinross, Modern Typograpby, p16.

[12] Carsons, Creatiee Review, May 1994, P27

[13] Benedik, Source unknown.

[14] Hills, The Future of the printed word, p15.

[15] Hills, Trends in information transfer, p18.

[16] Sweet, Design week, 11th March 94, p14/16.

[17] Weekes, XYZ Direction, May 1993.

[18] Weekes, XYZ Direction, May 1993. P12.

[19] Weeks, XYZ Direction, May 1993, p13

[20] Rheingold, Virtual Reality, p69.

[21] Brody, XYZ Direction, August 1993, p14.

[22] Sudwarts, Mac-User, 3rd March, p63.

[23] Wild, Personal correspondence, 30th Jan 1995.

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