The spread of ideas: then and now by sofia fasanella

1450: The invention of printing

sofiafasanella07 — 2024-12-11 20:34:21 UTC

A technical innovation that determined an important and irreversible turning point in the diffusion of books and the consequent growth of secondary education is the invention of printing. It dates back to 1450 and is attributed to Johannes Gutenberg, of Mainz. He used the topographic press and movable metal characters. This innovation leads to the intensification of the phenomena of exchange and circulation of ideas, knowledge, science, information and leads to the definitive affirmation of national vernacular languages.

XV-XVI century

sofiafasanella07 — 2024-12-11 21:05:23 UTC

The ability to print an indefinite number of copies of any text increases the production of paper. This process becomes industrialized during the 15th century, first in Italy and then in the rest of Europe. The first ancestors of modern newspapers appeared in Italy in the 16th century, and more precisely in Rome, Venice, Genoa and Milan. In 1536 the Republic of Venice began to distribute printed sheets that gave information on the war against the Turks.

These are not newspapers in the modern sense, since the fundamental requirement of regularity was missing, but information sheets with very practical purposes.

The gazzettas

sofiafasanella07 — 2024-12-11 21:13:57 UTC

The purpose of gazettes was to deal with topics of immediate utility, to provide useful information to the entire emerging class of merchants who through exchange and trade were establishing themselves as the most important social class: the bourgeoisie. Newspapers, gazettes, spread and established themselves in step with this new class of which they were at the same time a product and which they influenced by creating currents of opinion and new ways of thinking.

The Age of Enlightenment

sofiafasanella07 — 2024-12-11 21:38:38 UTC

In Italy, the Enlightenment found fertile ground among Neapolitan and Milanese intellectuals, and it was in the Lombard capital that one of the liveliest and most interesting journalistic experiences of the period took place, when Pietro Verri, Cesare Beccaria, Gianrinaldo Carli and other members of the Società dei pugni gave life to what was the official organ of the Society, "Il caffè".

England

sofiafasanella07 — 2024-12-11 21:44:03 UTC

In England a new generation of thinkers and writers decided to link their activities to journalism, as demonstrated by the activity of Daniel Defoe, today mainly known for novels such as Robinson Crusoe, but who was also an effervescent editorialist, journalist and founder of several short-lived newspapers; similarly, the Irishman Jonathan Swift also published several of his articles of political criticism and satire in the pages of the Examiner.

XVIII century

sofiafasanella07 — 2024-12-11 21:50:56 UTC

The advent of daily newspapers marked the decline of weekly newspapers, which however occurred slowly. The country where the daily press had the greatest diffusion and growth in importance was England. England also saw the birth of the first evening newspapers. The first examples of periodical press of a non-informative nature appeared around the middle of the seventeenth century: these were mainly publications of a literary or scientific nature.

The industrial revolution

sofiafasanella07 — 2024-12-11 21:54:56 UTC

With the industrial revolution we witness the mechanization of the production cycle of the media. The increased circulation, in turn, stimulates the growth of the market - and of advertising as a new means of financing newspapers. During the 19th century, journalism experienced a period of extraordinary diffusion, both in quantitative and qualitative terms.

1841: The telegraph

sofiafasanella07 — 2024-12-11 21:59:34 UTC

In 1841 Samuel Morse invented the telegraph. The machine was capable of transmitting about 30 words per minute. The first countries to develop a national telegraph network were Great Britain, France and the United States of America. The connection between Great Britain and the mainland occurred in 1858; a few years later, England and North America were connected by submarine cables: in 1866, the first operational transoceanic telegraph cable was laid. The speed of information transmission was the basis for the birth of new professions, such as the stenographer and, after the spread of the typewriter, the typist.

XX century: the birth of "new media"

sofiafasanella07 — 2024-12-11 22:03:21 UTC

The expression "new media", used since the 1960s, indicates the set of communication technologies, diversified and in continuous expansion. The main characteristics of new media are the following: interconnectivity, accessibility to individual users, interactivity, multiplicity of use, ubiquity and delocalization. With the new technologies, participatory journalism was born, a form of non-professional journalism that boasts some strong points, such as proximity to the facts and independence. 1994 is remembered as the beginning of the World Wide Web. Online journalism was born in the United States in 1992, when some small newspapers decided to experiment with journalism on the web to gain greater visibility.