The Diffusion of the Printing Press
Iiokonhahes King
The Impact on Europe's Literal Society
The article, The Printing Press and Its "Impact" on Literacy, explains how the printing press made a great influence on Europe and its literal society. The text states "The printing press led to more consistent spelling, grammar, and punctuation (McLuhan, 1962). Through this uniformity and reliability of the written work,readers were able to consistently interpret the writer's thought and ideas." The printing press made it easier for people to understand other's works and helped influence other people's abilities to write with the same spelling and punctuation. The printing press influenced Europe's literal society.
Before the printing press many written works were produced in Latin, however not everyone knew Latin. In the text, The Printing Press and Its "Impact" on Literacy, it's stated "In providing written work in an individuals native language, this further positively impacted literacy rate as there were less obstacles in access to the written word." More books were produced in other people's vernacular, because of that more people were able to read. Now, books aren't published in only one language, they're published in different languages so all can read.
Handwritten books were much more expansive and only the wealthy were able to afford them. In The Diffusion of the Movable Type Printing Press, it's stated "The printing press's speedy takeoff caused the price of reading materials and documents to drop rapidly." Ever since the printing press was invented more copies of books were produced causing the prices of books to drop rapidly and more people were able to read. The printing press made books affordable for all so now more people are more educate and literate.
In the article, The Diffusion of Columbus's Letter though Europe, 1493-1497, it gives the reader a good example on how a written work is diffused throughout Europe with the help of the printing press. The text states "No less than eleven editions were published in 1493! They were issued across western Europe, in Spain, Italy, France, Switzerland, and the Netherlands." Columbus's letter was produced in different editions because of the printing press, people were able to read it because it was produced in their languages. The printing press impacted Europe in that more people were able to be educated and could afford books.