Tag: timeline

It’s All Greek to Me

The Greek Alphabet

During the 5th Century BCE in Greece, Greeks adapted the Phoenician writing system, which was known to be the basis of most western languages. Prior to the creation of the Greek Alphabet, the Greeks used the Linear B Script, which was only restricted to palaces at the time, because it was mostly restricted to administrative purposes (Violatti 1). Later on, the Greeks migrated to the Phoenician writing system, but realized that the Phoenician writing system was limited on consonants so the Greeks would adapt consonants to express vowels. In other words, the Greek alphabet was the first alphabetic writing system to have distinct consonants and vowels (Crabben 1). The reason for this change was because a majority of words in the Greek language started with vowels while in the Phoenician writing system it was the opposite.

The Greeks knew that they had to alter the Phoenician writing system in order to accurately write out Greek or it wouldn’t make any sense. It was this decision that would mark Greek as the first legitimate alphabet. According to Ancient History Encyclopedia, the Greek alphabet was created during 8th Century BCE because that was when archeological records started showing it being used. Another thing that the Greeks also did early on was following the Phoenician writing system by writing from right to left. This was done to make it easier to write the Phoenician letters because of the arrangement of the symbols (Mark 1). However, when the Greeks modified the writing system they changed their approach and began writing left to right (Violatti 1). After its initial conception, the Greek alphabet had inspired the creation of other alphabetic systems such as the Gothic alphabet, the Latin alphabet, the Glagolitic alphabet, etc. and has become the foundation for most writing systems in western culture.

The Greek alphabet is still being used today in a variety of ways, but the most popular is for college sororities and fraternities, specifically in North American culture, with the first fraternity (Phi Beta Kappa Society) being formed at the College of William and Mary in 1776. At first many fraternities and sororities had special meanings behind their names that would be disclosed only to members, but as of late many sororities and fraternities have strayed away from having meanings behind the Greek letters they use. Even though the use of the Greek alphabet isn’t as prominent now does not shy away from the fact that it was a revolutionary invention that has shaped the fabric and makeup of the writing systems that we use today.

Work Cited:

  • Crabben, Jan van der. “Alphabet.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 28 Apr. 2011, www.ancient.eu/alphabet/.
    • Crabben is the Founder and CEO of Ancient History Encyclopedia, and has a BA in Journalism and a MA in War Studies. Crabben expresses vast knowledge on the subject of the Greek alphabet which made learning about this topic a lot easier to grasp. I found this article in particular to be very helpful because of how in depth it was. It was a great jumping off point to venture into other subsets mentioned in the article (which will be mentioned).
  • Mark, Joshua J. “Phoenicia.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 19 Mar. 2018, www.ancient.eu/phoenicia/.
    • Joshua J. Mark is a freelance writer who is the co-founder and director of Ancient History Encyclopedia. Much like Crabben’s article, Mark displays a well rounded knowledge of the topic. I personally had no idea about the Phoenician alphabet so learning that it derived from Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics was really interesting. It was also interesting to find out that the Phoenician writing system was written right to left.
  • Violatti, Cristian. “Greek Alphabet.” Ancient History Encyclopedia, Ancient History Encyclopedia, 5 Feb. 2015, www.ancient.eu/Greek_Alphabet/.
    • Cristian Violatti is a writer for Ancient History Encyclopedia and has a vast knowledge and fondness of ancient history. Much like the previous two, Violatti exuded an impressive and well articulated article about the history of the Greek alphabet. It was interesting seeing the ways that the Greeks modified the Phoenician alphabet in order to benefit the ways that the Greeks wrote i.e. changing consonants to vowels and writing left to right.

Hypertext: An Abridged History

Hypertext

The beginnings of hypertext spawned from the mind of Vannevar Bush, an engineer, in 1945 when he described a theoretical proto-hypertext device called Memex (History of Computers and Computing). Bush wanted to create a device that would make it easier for individuals to compress down books and other important pieces of information. The creation of the Memex system would soon lead to the inevitable invention of what hypertext would later become. In 1963, a philosopher/sociologist by the name of Ted Nelson wanted a way to easily connect content. Nelson was inspired by Vannevar Bush’s concept of a hypertext device that he wanted to implement a hypertext system himself (Hypertext: Wiki). That hypertext system would be called Project Xanadu, which was created in the 1960s, but the use of hypertext wouldn’t be available for commercial use until 1967 when Nelson teamed up with Andries Van Dam to create the Hypertext Editing System (HES). The significance of HES was the fact that it was the first hypertext system that could be available to use on commercial equipment.

Fast-forward to 1978, a computer engineer by the name of Tim Berners-Lee concocted a hypertext database system called; ENQUIRE which would eventually pave the way towards the creation of the World Wide Web (WWW). At around the same time, Apple Computers developed their own hypermedia software called HyperCard both of these served similar purposes, but they each had their own advantages (Hypertext: Wiki) . The biggest differences between the two were that ENQUIRE was able to utilize hypertext in their system while HyperCard was able to render images. According to the History of Computers and Computing website, Berners-Lee was responsible for the inevitable creation of the WWW when he created ENQUIRE, but Tim Berners-Lee later teamed up with a scientist at a company called CERN to create the bonafide concept of the WWW, in which hypertext would still be used.

Since the creation of the WWW or the Internet, hypertext is still being utilized as an easier way to connect information from multiple websites. The use of hypertext has made finding information a whole lot easier by linking websites/webpages together just by utilizing clickable text (Who Invented the Internet?). It may seem as a rather normalized thing because of how often it is used through out the Internet, but it’s important to remember that this concept took decades to perfect to make our lives easier. It’s crazy to think that the initial concept of hypertext was thought up in the 1700s but the fact that it is still being implemented today is beyond anything anyone could have imagined.

Works Cited:

  • History of Computers and Computing, Internet, Birth, The World Wide Web of Tim Berners-Lee, history-computer.com/Internet/Maturing/Lee.html.
    • This article was helpful in that it pointed me in the right direction as to what potential sources I should look at when researching this topic.
  • “Hypertext.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 17 Mar. 2019, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext.
    • Even though the article on Tim Berners-Lee was helpful, I knew that I needed more of a jumping off point with my research in terms of the overarching scheme of hypertext as a whole. I know Wikipedia isn’t a database to solely base information off of, but I did use it as a reference to look up the other important inventions leading up to the creation of the modern day hypertext.
  • “Who Invented the Internet? And Why? : Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, 10 Apr. 2014, archive.org/details/youtube-21eFwbb48sE.
    • Much like the first source, I had knowledge of the WWW but I knew that I needed to learn more about it. I was originally going to look through Tim Berners-Lee’s book, The World Wide Web, but I wasn’t able to find a full-fledged version of the book available to me. Maybe I didn’t look hard enough, but I figured that this video would help fill in any missing information.

You’ve Got Mail

E-mail, or electronic messages, can be argued as one of the fastest growing and most widely used sources of communication on the planet. Whether just idle chatter with a close friend or colleague, or a mass e-mail out to the entire company, e-mail can be used for a variety of different reasons and it is estimated that nearly half of the world’s population currently uses or has an e-mail address, (LifeWire).

The world can be viewed as constantly connected thanks to technology and the access to information. This view is believed by inventor of the Web, Tim Berners-Lee, who stated in his autobiography, “In an extreme view, the world can be seen as only connections, nothing else. We can think of a dictionary as the repository of meaning, but it defines words only in terms of other words,” (Weaving the Web). This belief that everything is connected is an odd, but very interesting way of thinking. Even though we do not necessarily have everyone e-mail address or phone number, anyone who has a phone or an e-mail address has access to us or a means of communication with us. Berners-Lee thinks that because the Web is constantly growing, only our minds will follow because the access to countless amounts of information is so easily available.

When Ray Tomlinson began messing with computers and the note system that was available for leaving notes on another keyboard, he wanted to bring to fruition the ability to electronic send another computer a message that was not connected by the same server. He hit his Eureka. And the world has responded. According to LifeWire Statistics, there are nearly 3.5 billion different e-mails out there. This statistic is slightly misleading when taking into account the fact that many people (including myself) have more than one e-mail. But this site also allowed for some very specific statistics, like the fact that Gmail currently has nearly 1 billion accounts (LifeWire). With so many people possessing an e-mail address, information is so easily able to be spread in a massive way. If any notice that came to someones attention had to be sent to numerous people within seconds, e-mail allows any users to send a message to hundreds or thousands of recipients, making it one of the easiest modes of communication that we currently have. I think that because so many people have e-mail, communication will never be the same. I don’t think there is another app/technological feature that so many people on Earth possess, aside from many a phone number.

Being a medium where nearly any type of person can say what ever they want and sent it to whoever they want, e-mail is believed to not be as highly touted as other forms of communication. According to Vanessa K. Bohns, a writer for Harvard Business Review, face-to-face interaction is actually more effective in persuasion than e-mail is. “While e-mail grants the opportunity to send messages to a large amount of recipients, our studies showed that face-to-face conversation and interaction were more persuasive in getting people to fill out the survey than e-mail responders, there were 34 times more recipients,” (Bohns). People actually overestimated the amount of their persuasion through e-mail or text message because the messages were not as personal and it seemed to be sent through a mass e-mail chain that recipients can view. According to Bohns, e-mail users that sent the survey out were unable to persuade people to want to open a link from a mysterious user, while many people chose to fill out a survey from someone they did not know.

While Vanessa Bohn’s article proves that e-mail may not be as personal as in-person communication, it is extremely efficient when dispersing information. E-mail has changed the way people send and receive things. Now, all work-related things can be sent to a phone through an e-mail app and people can see that on the go. All of my job listings for Indeed or Glassdoor come through my e-mail. From here, only things can go up. In the future mass amounts of text are going to be able to be sent through e-mail with no limitations and information will spread faster than ever.

Email Annotated Bibliography 

1). Tim Berners-Lee is the author of this autobiography on himself and is essentially the sole inventor of the World Wide Web.  

2). Berners-Lee’s thesis for this book is the creation of the web and how it came to fruition. One of his main claims is that the web’s evolution and its essence are inextricably linked. There was no “Eureka” moment when the Web came to be.  

3). His intended audience is a more well-educated group of readers that wants to learn the truth about how the internet came to be. Being the inventor, there could be bias towards his work as opposed to others who work on the same type of things, but he proves a lot of other methods or people wrong, but that is because his information on the Web’s creation is much more factual and real.  

4). The article is very lengthy and not designed to be read by everyone. Certainly, readers who have an interest in technology and the history of technology will be more inclined to read this autobiography because some terminology throughout might be very confusing to certain readers. But this book does contain facts from sources of a very high stature, because when it comes to the Internet, there is not much more accurate sources than Tim Berners-Lee.  

5). The information from this source greatly strengthens my thesis. With my thesis being how important E-mail has been to the distribution of information and increase in communication, this article supports the growth and the importance of how the internet has increased all of these forms of communication.  

6). This source is from 2000, so it is still very relevant to my tool because the internet and E-mail are constantly growing and the possibilities for both are endless.  

1). No author- Lifewire provides statistics on email throughout the world. 

2). The thesis for this source is the amount of electronic messaging users in the world, which is nearly 4 billion according to Lifewire, and how that number is constantly increasing.  

3). The intended audience would be people that are curious on communication statistics around the world. Or just lovers of the internet who want to know more.  

4). There could be bias when it comes to the number of users that the article provides. Being 4 billion people, I seriously doubt that there are that many email users, because a lot of users have more than one, and that is something that needs to be taken into account.  

5). The article provides stats for nearly all important email sites, including gmail, outlook, etc. But the site points out that it could be projected to be much higher than the numbers it shows, which could mean that some of the information is inaccurate.  

6). The information from this source will greatly increase the thesis of my proposal. Because I believe that email has changed the way the world has communicated, these stats will assist me in explaining that.  

7). This material is very relevant to my paper because the world is constantly growing into a more technology dependent society and email is helping us communicate in a much more efficient way.  

  • Face to Face Request is 34 times More Successful Than Email, by Vanessa K. Bohns 
  • Bohns, Vanessa K. “A Face-to-Face Request Is 34 Times More Successful Than an Email.” Harvard Business Review, 26 Jan. 2018, hbr.org/2017/04/a-face-to-face-request-is-34-times-more-successful-than-an-email. Accessed 8 March 2019 

1). Vanessa is a writer for Harvard Business Review and has written nearly 10 different articles over the span of 5 years.  

2). The author claims that e-mail, while more far reaching than personal, face-to-face communication, is not as genuine and less likely to get people to join whatever cause you are looking for. Vanessa explains that even though it is believe that an e-mail blast would gain more responders, it is the personal communication that will reign in more people. 

3). The intended audience for this article would most likely be well-educated people that read the Harvard Business Review and just people who want more information about technology and the benefits of it.  

4). There seems to be no bias or slant in this article because they had conducted real studies and tests that had compelling results in favor of in person requests rather than email.  

5). The article used a variety of sources that made the article very credible. Some of these studies were even posted in a psychology journal. One weakness is that the word choice throughout might be a little too advanced for some readers.  

6). The information provided from this source would not increase the strength of my thesis, because I believe that email has strengthened the communication between the world and this article explains that in-person communication is much more effective than communication by email or text message.  

7). The material in this article is very relevant, it is just not in terms of my paper. I am talking about the importance of digital communication and this article wants to keep it more personal and in-person.  

Johannes Gutenberg – The Father of Knowledge

The Gutenberg Printing Press, and even beyond that, the invention of a faster means of printing large amounts of text, undoubtedly is one of the most iconic creations known to man. Aside from being able to mass produce books for the first time, the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg altered history for the better and expanded knowledge all the way down to the common folk. Gutenberg and his printing press started a mass movement of information and stories and is one of the sole reasons that the world is even halfway literate.  

Johannes Gutenberg had a lot of help when it came to the creation of his press. Johann Fust, a lawyer and blacksmith, has been recorded frequently as being one of the biggest contributors to Gutenberg’s success, even taking over operations for a little while. Gutenberg also most likely gained help from past generations who had invented printing, such as the people of Asia who had a hand in creating woodblock presses. “His ideas were based on known processes. For example, the printing of block books by means of wooden tables into which the text with illustrations had been engraved,” (Gutenberg Digital). When production of the press finally finished, Gutenberg began the making of the first ever recorded book. He intended to create a forty-two lined Bible that would now be referred to as “The Gutenberg Bible.” This creation was one of the most historic. Not only could the Bible finally be read and owned by many people, but the spreading of religion during this period was vast. According to the Digital Bible site, “The invention of letterpress printing finally gave lower class individuals access to learning,” (Gutenberg Digital), which was very important in the way people thought about reading and text.  

Johannes Gutenberg was certainly a man of his time, and arguably one of the most important figures ever. According to Time Magazine writer Paul Gray, he is up there with the likes of Christopher Columbus and Joan of Arc. Gutenberg allowed the word of God to be in the hands of just about anyone. “Before print, the ability to read was useful mainly for the elites and the trained scribes who handled all of their affairs,” (Gray). But once text could finally be produced at a cost-effective level, people finally had a reason to learn to read. Also, reading eventually became a sort of status symbol, in that people who had the ability to read and write held themselves higher than those who could not. “Affordable books made literacy a crucial skill and an unprecedented means of social advancement to those who acquired it,” (Gray).  

Gutenberg certainly did not create information or knowledge, but he has taken these words and changed their meaning forever. What once was thought as only being able to be in the hands of a few, knowledge can now be dispersed and known by nearly every being on the planet, thanks to printing. “There was a huge ‘knowledge explosion’ that occurred in early modern Europe following the invention of printing,” (Burke 13). It was believed by some elites that knowledge should not even be shared with common people, because it will displace them in the structural hierarchy that they were born into. “In early modern Europe, some elites, like Cardinal Richelieu, often identified their knowledge with knowledge. And that that knowledge should not be communicated to the people, lest they become discontented with their station in life,” (Burke 14). This belief is incredibly selfish and one of the many great reasons for Johannes Gutenberg and his great invention. The skill of literacy also changed the communities that had access or means to text. “From the 15th to 18th centuries, scholars referred to themselves as citizens of the ‘Republic of Letters,’ which expressed a sense of belonging to a community that transcended national frontiers,” (Burke 18). This sense of community, and the idea that each community develops their own customs, texts, rituals and letters, really opened people’s eyes to the individuality that each person can possess and foster. 

The invention of the Gutenberg Printing Press has changed the way knowledge is transferred and perceived. Because of Johannes Gutenberg, knowledge and reading was spread across Europe and undoubtedly had a hand in starting the Renaissance. Gutenberg’s invention is constantly being updated, nowadays being able to create lightning-quick prints in seconds. He should be remembered for making the world literate.  

Gutenberg Annotated Bibliography 

1). Gutenberg was the first person to mass-produce a book so that numerous people could own copies and learn to read. Johannes Gutenberg had the idea to create the 42 line Bible and thus started a revolution in printing.  

2). The main claims of this source are for the history of printing and the belief of Johannes Gutenberg and his ideologies/experimentation of printing. Gutenberg had worked on printing first with woodblocks and eventually worked hard to find a faster, more efficient way to print. 

3). The intended audience for this work was most likely nearly everyone who could get their hands on it at the time. If anyone was able to grab a hold of the 42 line Bible, it was assuredly like a national treasure to own a copy. Also I assume that the intended audience already possessed the ability to read, but it can be inferred that there were a great deal of readers who did not possess the ability before they had gotten the book.  

4). There is no bias or slant, these are digitized transcriptions of the Gutenberg Bible from the 15th century.  

5). This source is hard to find blemishes on because it is just a digitized transcription of the Gutenberg Bible. There are no real weaknesses, as they have Latin versions, German and also English transcriptions for nearly every type of reader that is interested.  

6). The information from this source greatly supports my claim because Gutenberg and the creation of the Bible was just the start of a new cultural growth towards printing and the dispersion of information. Gutenberg and his invention was crucial towards the impact of printing and he was a huge reason why the Renaissance had started.  

7). This source is pretty relevant to my argument, although not the most useful. I can’t pull too many examples from this source, it is kind of just there and nice to look at and be able to use.  

  • Johann Gutenberg, by Paul Gray – content.time.com 
  • Gray, Paul. “Johann Gutenberg (c. 1395-1468)”. Time, Time Inc., 26 Dec. 1999, content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,36527,00.html – Accessed 8 March 2019 

1). Paul Gray was a writer for Time Magazine for nearly 40 years and wrote many cover stories and reviews during that time.  

2). While the Asians had created things and taken steps towards modern printing, Johannes Gutenberg was able to create metal letters and movable type to make mass printing easier. The beginning of printing included the revitalization of classic works and classical learning that spurred the Renaissance.  

3). The intended audience for this article would be history buffs, or people who have any interest in printing or in people who had a huge impact in the spreading of cultural information.  

4). No bias can be viewed in this article, just a straightforward story about the life and the context of Johannes Gutenberg.  

5). The article is short and concise and really allows readers to learn a great deal of information about Gutenberg in an efficient few paragraphs. The article is also very easy to read.  

6). The information in this article greatly strengthens my thesis because Gutenberg and his invention was absolutely crucial in the beginning of printing, and undoubtedly started the world on a printable information trend. Gutenberg also led to people becoming more literate, because they could finally afford books and reading was not just for elites.  

7). This source is relevant to my paper because I find Gutenberg to be one of the most important men in all of history, and right from the beginning, Paul Gray puts him next to Christopher Columbus and Joan of Arc because he believes he is that essential in the history of our known world.  

1). Peter Burke is a historian and writer of many famous historic works such as The Italian Renaissance (1972), Sociology and History (1980), just to name a few. Burke focuses on social and cultural history and ties it to modern dilemmas.  

2). One of the main claims of Burke is that print standardized knowledge by allowing people from different areas to read to same text. Print also encouraged skepticism, because people were reading the same things, their different experiences in the world might lead them to different conclusions about a text.  

3). The intended audience for this book would most likely be historians or history buffs that want to learn about a range of different topics regarding knowledge and information. This book is not easy to read and requires a specific person to want to read its contents.  

4). There seems to be no bias in this book, just precise, fact-checked situations that lead Burke to an accurate timeline of the history of knowledge.  

5). This book is not short and each chapter is very lengthy. But each chapter highlights an important part of history and Burke ties each one together very nicely.  

6). The information from this source will help me sparingly in my thesis, while I do believe that Gutenberg was integral in the beginning of printing and crucial to what we have now, Burke does not go very in-depthly on Johannes’ life, so I did not find much. 

7). The information from this source is very credible and relevant, and this book would be very useful for our entire class to look over, because it beautifully displays a timeline of information on how knowledge has spread throughout humans existence on Earth.  

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is a way to identify printed text, handwritten text, and numerical data and creating machine-encoded text by scanning in the information. It allows print to become electronic and easy to search, edit, store, display, and use in machine processing. Software identifies characters by program shape recognition and words by character proximity (Hosch).  In the late 19th and early 20th century, the concept of optical character recognition was conceived in the idea to help blind people read (Schantz). In fact, a man named E. E. Fournier d’Albe aimed to create an instrument that would use the technology of the early “photophone” by Graham Bell to help those who couldn’t see by interpreting light to create various tones to be heard (d’Albe). Although this was the original idea, thought of in various ways by various people, optical character recognition has become a tremendous piece of technology used in our every-day lives.

A popular mark of history is in 1931 when US Patent 1838389 was given to Emanuel Goldberg for his “statistical machine.” The instrument was capable of reading text and translating it into Morse code, which was still commonly used at the time for various reasons. This patent later came into the possession of IBM (Schantz). Twenty years later, in 1951, David Hammond Shepard build a machine named Gismo, the first true optical character recognition system. Gismo had the ability to translate print into machine code for processing, could read aloud characters, and translate Morse code. In 1952, the Intelligent Machines Research Corporation was founded by Shepard and an associate, William Lawless, to commercialize their Gismo machine, later renamed the “Analyzing Reader” (Martin). In 1954, the first commercial optical character recognition machine was installed in a business—Reader’s Digest. In this time, the machine was used to automate and digitize business tasks, such as managing subscriber sales data and to convert the data into punched sales cards (Schantz; Smith). They later expanded their use of optical character recognition by using the system to digitize coupon serial numbers. Around 1965, the US Postal Service installed an OCR machine to sort mail more efficiently at a much faster rate (Smith).

Two fonts were created for OCR operations: OCR-A in 1966 and OCR-B in 1968. OCR-A was the first font to create a complete alphabet legible to both machines and humans alike (Smith). However, it was considered an ugly font that “wasn’t built for humans’ sake” (Smith). So OCR-B was designed by Adrian Frutiger (Smith). But in the same year OCR-A was developed, IBM had a breakthrough: the IBM 1287. This was a machining that possessed the ability to read handwritten letters. However, the two fonts were still used as the standard machine font for daily operations. In the 70’s, Ray Kurzwell met a blind man while traveling who explained his only real handicap was his inability to read text. Kurzwell claims this was the inspiration for his purpose for a project he was working on. This resulted in the Kurzwell Reading Machine in 1974, a machine that could take a page and scan it, parse the text, and recite the text to the individual (Smith). This was also the first OCR software capable of recognizing text in nearly any font (Hauger).  It wasn’t until 1978 that these computer programs were sold commercially, and in 1980, Kurzwell Computer Products was sold to Xerox who renamed the software Scansoft and was able to further develop the technology (Smith).

Multiple innovations started to take place in the 80’s. The first passport scanner for the U.S. State Department was developed. American retailers began scanning price tags using OCR. Russian company ABBYY, founded by David Yang in 1989 and still exists to this day, began selling products to help digitalize paper files. Soon companies were created that offered online services and applications. Such an example is real-time foreign language translation through a smart phone app. Today, OCR is used for many things, even though most people don’t realize. Every time a file is scanned into a computer to be digitally stored, to edit, search, or hold, optical character recognition is used. From passport recognition and bank receipt data to assisted technology for those who are visually impaired to in-time language translations, optical character recognition continues to expand and redefine the software and recognition capabilities.

 

d’Albe, E. E. Fournier (1914-07-01). “On a Type-Reading Optophone”. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences. 90 (619): 373–375. doi:10.1098/rspa.1914.0061. ISSN 1364-5021. Accessed 11 March 2019.

Living in the early 20th century, E. E. Fournier d’Albe invented an instrument in 1914 that would help the seeing impaired to read. He believed that by using the same technology as the early telephone, his machine could read text and produce tones for the individual to hear and wrote to explain the instrument to other inventors and technicians of his time. Although this primary source contains very little information about OCR in general, it gives great detail about one of the first systems created, including a diagram drawing.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “OCR.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 10 Nov. 2010, www.britannica.com/technology/OCR. Accessed 11 March 2019.

Martin, Douglas. “David H. Shepard, 84, Dies; Optical Reader Inventor.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Dec. 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/us/11shepard.html. Accessed 11 March 2019.

“Optical Character Recognition (OCR) – Computerphile : Computerphile : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, 4 July 2017, archive.org/details/youtube-ZNrteLp_SvY. Accessed 11 March 2019.

Schantz, Herbert F. The History of OCR, Optical Character Recognition. Recognition Technologies Users Association, 1982.

Herbert F. Schantz in an author and consultant for OCR and document processing. His writing is to inform students, scholars, and field-related experts alike, believing it to be a valuable piece of technology. He provides detailed information on the history and development of the idea and innovation of OCR machines and systems  over the years, but his book his quite lengthy for a nice sit-down read.

Smith, Ernie. “OCR History: The Original Machine Learning.” Tedium, 22 Mar. 2017, tedium.co/2017/03/22/ocr-typography-optical-character-recognition-history/.

Ernie Smith is a blogger and journalist who has created it his personal mission to provide information on topics he believes people should be aware of but usually aren’t. He believes OCR is a piece of technology that is important to modern day society and how things are done. Most of the information in his article relates to the different fonts used for computers to read and the science behind it. However, the information he provides corresponds with other resources to give a good idea how OCR is used today.

 

Media: https://archive.org/details/youtube-ZNrteLp_SvY

The Library of Alexandria

The Library of Alexandria, the epitome of the idea of a “Universal Library,” is a well-known ancient world wonder that has no evidence of existing (Haughton). Some believe it to be a myth that the ancient library was destroyed in a fire, losing all of the works it contained. If the library was still standing today, it would be able to provide much valuable information and manuscripts that could help understand civilizations and cultures from thousands of years ago.

Alexandria is a city that, much like many others, was named after Alexander the Great, conqueror. Alexander helped build a global empire unlike any other before his time that allowed people to see that there was far more than their own culture. But it wasn’t until after his death in 323 BCE and the reign of his general, Ptolemy I Soter, that the idea of a “Universal Library” that could hold the knowledge from every corner of the world came forward. The idea came undoubtedly from a man named Demetrius of Phalerum, formerly of Athens where he was appointed governor until the return of Democracy. Fleeing to Alexandria for refuge, he persuaded Ptolemy I to build a library containing a copy of every book the world had to offer (El-Abbadi; Haughton).

The Temple of the Muses, also referred to as the Museum, was home to botanical gardens, laboratories, and the Library (Haughton). Ptolemy II, son to Ptolemy I, completed the Royal Library, the final piece of the Temple of Muses. There were stories of creative ways of filling the Library with knowledge. One was every ship docked in Alexandria was searched for books, and once found, they would be taken into custody to determine whether o r not they had any value. If found worthy to keep, they would make a copy to return to the owner along with compensation (El-Abbaddi). Another story was how Ptolemy III acquired original works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides that resided in Athens as prized works. He convinced the governors to lend the works to be copied along with a pledge for the save return. The works were copied and then those copies were returns to Athens with the return of the pledge (El-Abbadi).  It’s said the collection of knowledge overfilled the Royal Library and a daughter library was built, creating two sites. According to a Greek writer named Callimachus, the daughter library contained about 42,800 scrolls in his life (305 BCE- 240 BCE). However, much later (around 300 CE) much higher estimations of 700,000 were given.

Then the devastation of the library by fire took place, but it’s an argument as to when the fire occurred. Many people believe Julius Caesar is to blame when he involved himself in a civil dispute between his acclaimed lover, Cleopatra, and her brother, Ptolemy XIII. Caesar occupied the city in 48 BCE and found himself surrounded by the Egyptian fleet (El-Abbadi). His men set fire to the ships, but the fire spread uncontrollably to parts of the city (Haughton). According to Plutarch, who wrote about the event, claimed that the Royal Library was destroyed in the spread of fire to the city. However, approximately three decades later, scholar and philosopher Strabo mentions a Museum that is believed to refer to the Library, hurting claims that it had been burned down by Caesar (Haughton). Alternatively, it claims he is expressing grief that such a library had been destroyed and he could not obtain the knowledge, supporting the Royal Library was gone (Al-Abbadi). It is speculated that the Royal Library was in fact destroyed, but the daughter library remained.

Nearly 400 years later, Emperor Theodosius I set out to destroy paganism, destroying the Temple of the Muses (Haughton). Eyewitnesses testify that the building was destroyed down to the foundation, which was too heavy and massive to move. It’s claimed Theophilus, the bishop who led the destructive attack, ordered a Christian church be built on the remains (Al-Abbadi; Haughton). This was the second destruction which was of the second site.

The final idea of the destruction of the “Universal Library” looks to Caliph Omar in 640 CE. It is said that after capturing Alexandria, he declared, “They will either contradict the Koran, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous,” and had the collection of 4,000 manuscripts burned (Haughton; Musharraf) . However, this theory did not come about until near the 13th century and is often considered a flourished myth that arose from political tensions at the time. Since there is strong and supported evidence that both sites were destroyed prior to the Islamic invasion, this theory, once a controversial idea, has long been denied by scholars.

Unfortunately, there are no physical remains of the city. No archaeological evidence has been found of the foundation of the building or its contents. A great fountain of information was destroyed, and the rest of the world will forever mourn the great loss of culture and knowledge.

Works Cited

El-Abbadi, Mostafa. “Library of Alexandria.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 8 Feb. 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Library-of-Alexandria#ref334082. Accessed 6 March 2019.

The author, Mostafa El-Abbadi, is a professor at the University of Alexandria, Egypt. He claims that the Library of Alexandria was the first of its kind, a “universal library” that would hold all the knowledge and culture the world had to offer from every corner of the globe. His writing contributes to Britannica which is a helpful source to all looking for scholarly information, particularly helpful to students, high school and older. He remains firm in his belief that the library was a great achievement that was destroyed before the Islamic reign and therefore, Caliph Omar was not responsible for the destruction. He provides detailed information, and the article contains internal links to names and places one may not be familiar with. He supports the idea there were two separate events that destroyed the two sites individually and is a great, reliable source.

Haughton, Brian. “What Happened at the Great Library of Alexandria?” Ancient History Encyclopedia, 2011, https://www.ancient.eu/article/207/what-happened-to-the-great-library-at-alexandria/. Accessed 6 March 2019.

Brian Haughton is an author and researcher on ancient civilizations and monuments as well as a qualified archeologist. He aims to educate students and scholars alike. His article is from the perspective of an archeologist so he refuses to completely believe the Library is gone forever but rather waiting to be discovered. While most of his evidence appears to be concrete, he brings up a few minor speculations that other sources prove wrong or incorrect. However, the article provides a good summary of the major events that took place and the details around them that anyone could walk away with a good understanding.

“Library of Alexandria – Documentary : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, archive.org/details/Library.of.Alexandria-Documentary. Accessed 11 March 2019.

Musharraf, Muhammad Nabeel. “Destruction On Library Of Alexandria || Australian Research Journals : Muhammad Nabeel Musharraf : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming.” Internet Archive, 1 Jan. 1970, archive.org/details/DestructionOnLibraryOfAlexandria/page/n7. Accessed 6 March 2019.

Muhammad Musharraf’s work is archived with the Australian Islamic Library. His work sets out to prove the innocence of Caliph Omar in the destruction of the Library in 7th century CE. The primary audience is other scholars who claim the Caliph is responsible despite the fact most scholars have abandoned the thought. Although his work is almost entirely around the false accusations, he still provides valuable and detailed information about the events leading to the destruction of both sites of the great

 

Media: https://archive.org/details/Library.of.Alexandria-Documentary

The Rosetta Stone and AOL

The Rosetta Stone

The Rosetta Stone, namesake of the widely successful language software, is of massive importance to the fields of archelogy and Egyptology. The discovery and subsequent translation of the stone enabled scholars to read texts that, until then, had been indecipherable.  Texts and records left behind by the ancient Egyptian societies, at least those that hadn’t been destroyed, offered a wealth of knowledge on the daily lives of every day citizens and the ruling classes. It is no exaggeration to say that if the stone had never been discovered, or destroyed by carelessness, our understanding of Egyptian society wouldn’t be nearly as advanced as it is today. The discovery of the stone changed history, or rather allowed us to understand a portion that was otherwise lost.

The Rosetta Stone is a massive black/grey stone block (Image) most likely composed of granite. The stone’s smooth face is its most notable aspect, as it contains three different sections, written in Ancient Greek, Demotic (the common man’s language of Egypt), and Hieroglyphic (British). The carvings on the stone are believed to have been produced around the times of 204 to 181 BCE during the rule of one Ptomely the V. The written material is not of much importance (it states that the priesthood of a temple in Memphis supported Ptomely’s ascension and rule), rather what characters it was written in. The stone was lost for considerable period of time, and around the end of 4th century AD, writing in Hieroglyphs fell out of usage, along with the knowledge of how to read it (British).  The stone was only rediscovered by chance when the French army was digging the foundations for a fort near el-Rashid (or Rosetta) in 1799. During this time the French, under Napoleon, were pushing to expand their empire and Egypt possessed a wealth of resources for the French to plunder. The officer in charge of the fortification, one Pierre-Francois Bouchard, realized the importance of the stone and insured it’s safe keeping. After Napoleon’s defeat, the stone was seized by the British as a part of the Treaty of Alexandria in 1801(British).  Afterwards, the stone was transferred to the British Museum by George the third, and scholars began to decipher the carvings in earnest (British).

The factor that was most important to the successful translation of the stone’s Hieroglyphs was the presence of the Ancient Greek writings. While Hieroglyphs had fallen out of common usage, scholars at this time (1803-1820) still possessed the knowledge of how to read the Greek script, and began to base their translations off of that. One of the first individuals credited with a translation of the stone is Thomas Young, a British physicist, who was able to translate the name Ptomely from the stone (British). While he was able to successfully translate other sections of the hieroglyphic script, he was never able to state with certainty how or why he was able to do so. The next major discovery was made by a French scholar by the name Jean-Francois Champollion, who realized that the Hieroglyphs also recorded the sound of the Egyptian language, as well as the writing styles. He was then able to piece together the alphabet of hieroglyphs that was used for non-Egyptian kings (This work was completed using multiple texts aside from the Rosetta Stone).  He later discovered that this same alphabet applied not only to foreign kings, but local rulers as well, thus along scholars to fully read the ancient script(British). The translation of the stone provided scholars with “a knowledge capable of enriching the annals of mankind….reaching back at least ten centuries” (Figeac). While there existed other works and etchings that were important to the rediscovery of understanding hieroglyphics, such as the “six Plates” (Figeac) a series of written works based in different forms of hieroglyphics (such as linear and hieratic), it is not a stretch to say that Rosetta Stone was of far greater importance.  Today the stone is housed in the British Museum along with many other artifacts. It has resided there since 1802, when it was originally donated. However, during World War 2 the curators feared it, along with many other artifacts, would be destroyed. During this period, which is often referred to as the Blitz, the stone and other pieces were stored underground so that the works would be preserved if the museum was not. However, it has since been returned to its home within the museum.  Today the stone acts as the namesake for a piece of language software that helps users to learn new languages with relatively easy to follow lessons.

The Rosetta Stone’s importance to history cannot be understated. Its discovery radically changed the timetable of scholarly efforts to translate ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and allowed for the successful translation of other important historical documents. The stone was the key to understanding an otherwise dead language.

 

America Online

America Online was crucial for the popularization of the internet, and to a certain extent home computing as well. This one time tech leviathan changed the internet from a niche service primarily used by college students and professors, for sharing documents and selling drugs respectively (one of the first internet transactions was the sale of marijuana by a Stanford student to a MIT student, this occurred in 1972), to the information superhighway that is now pivotal to the smooth running of our daily lives. While the internet we use today is not the same as the one created and run by America Online, it’s existence is entirely due to this one company and the services it provided.

America Online, or AOL for short, saw its origins after the collapse of Control Video, an Atari games distributor, in 1983. Steve Case, a former employee of the company, went on to found Quantum Computer Services, or QCS for short. Originally the company was designed to host a message board service for the Commodore 64, a computer gaming system of the time. But Case began to expand on the original service and started laying the foundations for its expansion. In 1991, QCS officially changed its name to America Online and began to shift their company focus away from hosting only messages boards to internet access at large(Time). By 1993, their service was no longer exclusive to the Commodore 64’s message boards, and they had begun to design and sell software for the Windows computer software platform. It was at this point that they began to offer their own Internet browsing service as well as an email service. According to one of their 1995 commercials, all you needed to get started was a copy of their browsing software (which they provided to you, for free during the trial period), a phone line connection (this was the era of dial up), and a computer. It was that simple, they even threw in ten free hours of internet service as an incentive for new users, along with subscriptions to magazines and access to the New York Stock exchange (Commercial). While company started small, having only one to two hundred thousand users when it first went public, it quickly grew to having more the one million subscribers within a few years’ time, and it only continued to grow. This was due in part to their ad campaign, as one of the limiting factors of dial up internet was its download speeds. Even the smallest files by today’s standards could take upwards of thirty minutes to download, and most service providers charged by the minute or by the hour. But, since AOL offered ten hours of free browsing, they were able circumvent new users reservations of costs. When the ten hours were up, many users decided to sign on permanently as they came to enjoy/rely on the services AOL provide.

By 1997, AOL was starting to buyout many of the competitors such as Compuserve and Netscape, and folding them into AOL brand(Time). Also around this time, AOL switched from an hourly rate to monthly pricing plan, as many local providers had begun to witch their payment plans, and AOL did not want to lose out on new customers or maintain old ones.  By the year 2000, AOL was the largest provider of internet access in the United States, with over twenty three million subscribers. Despite the concerns of some, AOL also moved to purchase Time Warner, the second largest telecommunications company in the US, during this period as well (Senate). While there was a hearing on the merger, with most of senators concerned with how this merger would affect competition and unaffiliated content providers, the merger was ultimately approved. This was due in no small part to the pro-business stance of the Senate at this time, which was largely Republican. When this merger went through, it was one of the largest such merger to have ever occurred at roughly 124 billion dollars. Thus the largest internet provider in the US combined with the second largest telecommunications, and executives of both companies were expecting massive growth, and profits, as a result (somewhere in the ballpark of 33%). However, this was not the case as by 2002 broadband connections began to become common place in the US. AOL, the one-time ruler of internet access, was to slow to hop on the “[Broad] Bandwagon” and its stock prices began to plummet(Going from 55 dollars a share to around 15). While AOL never officially folded, it was cut loose from Time Warner to become its own company once more, and now largely makes profits off of advertising technologies and media brands they have purchased.

While AOL has almost no presence on the internet (aside from their webpage), it’s impact is undeniable. AOL moved the internet from a niche audience to the mass culture of the United States within a few short years, and is synonymous with internet during the 90’s. It is entirely thanks to AOL that the internet we rely on is as widespread and multifaceted as it is.

 

 

Works Cited

The British Museum. “Everything you ever wanted to know about the Rosetta Stone.” Objects in Focus, The British Museum, 14 July 2017, blog.britishmuseum.org/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-the-rosetta-stone/. Accessed 6 Mar. 2019. Created by the British Museum, this post was created as brief historical synopsis of the Rosetta Stone. This piece acts as brief overview of the history of the discovery and importance of the Rosetta Stone from believed date of creation to the present. This post seems to be designed for a general public audience. As this post was created by a British organization, it is clear that greater emphasis is placed on British contributions to the stones translation/safe-keeping than that of the French, it’s original caretakers. This posts does cover a decent range of the history and importance of the artifact, but it wasn’t produced by or for a historian/archeologist and wasn’t produced by any of the original translators. However, this article does highlight most of the important events regarding the stone and it’s current whereabouts.

Champollion, Figeac, and Aime Champollion. Universal Palaeography or Fac-Similies of Writing of All Nations and Periods. Edited by M.J.B. Silvestre, translated by Freddric Madden, London, H.G. Bohn, 1849. HathiTrust, babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015081561618;view=1up;seq=194. Accessed 18 Mar. 2019. Main author is one Champollion-Figeac. Contains written works by Jean Champollion. History of writing across all regions. Comprehensive work. Meant for a scholarly audience. Produced around the time of the discovery/translation of the Rosetta Stone.

“Early AOL Comercial.” Youtube, uploaded by My Commercials, Alphabet Coperation, 16 Nov. 2009, www.youtube.com/watch?v=1npzZu83AfU. Accessed 11 Mar. 2019. Video was originally produced by America Online (however this clip was posted by the YouTube user mycommercials). This video is an advertisement for their online service. This commercial is intended for a general audience. As this was produced as a commercial, and by the distributor of the product, it is clear that their intention is to sell the product/service. Therefore, there is no acknowledgement of any potential faults or failings of the product in question. As this is material created by the company, it gives clear insight into their marketing plan and what the service can do.


File:Rosetta Stone.JPG. .JPG file, 21 Nov. 2007. Image of the Rosetta Stone. Aside from the text etched into the stone, there is no writing. Of note, I personally did not take this picture, but it is available for free use.

Rothman, Lily. “A Brief Guide to the Tumultuous 30-Year History of AOL.” Time, 22 May 2015. Time.com, time.com/3857628/aol-1985-history/. Accessed 13 Mar. 2019. The author of this piece is written by Lily Rothman. This piece is a brief synopsis of the history of the company know as AOL, it is clear that this piece was designed for a general audience. It is clear that the author of this piece is rather critical of the company and focuses on public reactions to the company. Acts as a overview of the company covering most of the major events, but wasn’t written by member of the company and was written many years after the events.

United States, Congress, Senate, US Senate Commitee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. AOL and Time Warner Merger. Government Publishing Office, 2 Mar. 2000. U.S. Congressional Hearings, archive.org/details/gov.gpo.fdsys.CHRG-106shrg78185/page/n3. Accessed 6 Mar. 2019. 106th Congress, 2nd session, S. HRG. 106-1090. Created by the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. This document is a transcription on the hearing for the AOL and Time Warner merger that occurred in 2000. This document was produced for politically and legally minded individuals as a direct source of information from the government. This document was produced at a time when the Republican party was in control of this committee, and is therefore biased towards corporations(pro-business). Committee members seem to be in favor of the merger. While this document is produced by the US Government and contains quotations from the CEOs of both Time Warner and AOL, it is a very long document as it is a direct transcription of what was said at the hearing (including some jokes which while slightly relevant don’t contribute to the hearing as a whole). This particular document s very useful to my paper,as it is a direct source from a major event in the company’s history.

Chinese Woodblock Printing

Chinese Woodblock Printing

Who would’ve thought that it was possible to print out text using wood and ink? Well that’s exactly what happened decades ago in China, with the cultural phenomenon of Chinese woodblock printing. Chinese woodblock printing enhanced the way of copying multiple texts of up to many copies, including dramas, poems, histories, and novels. Chinese literature was such a great way for the Asian culture to express their art through text, whether it was linguistically or with artwork. The only problem was figuring out a way to spread their work and pass it on for others to see. Imagine, it’s the 600s and there are countless hours of hand copying, especially how expensive paper was back then. Seems exhausting. But then, woodblock printing became a thing and it was such an advantage for those who wanted to publish their work and have copies of their text printed for all to see. This was even true for artwork. Chinese woodblock printing had an impact on society because of its history and culture.

Beginning around the early 600s, Chinese woodblock printing was a way of the people to print and press text and make copies of up to thousands of volumes, prayers, images, etc. According to Chinese Literature, “Woodblock printing was a kind of printing press whereby a text could be copied quickly and easily by carving the characters in relief on wooden blocks which were then inked and pressed to paper” (Mark). Woodblock printing was such a convenient way of getting word out about anyone’s creation. Take Wang Wei for example. In Chinese Literature, “…poets like the great Wang Wei (c. 701-761 CE) were read and appreciated by people who would have never heard of his work before” (Mark). Not only was Chinese woodblock printing good for printing copies of someone’s poems, but it also was great for copying beautiful artwork. According to Chinese Literature, during the Tang Dynasty, there was a scroll of the “seated Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara…the bottom part contains a long prayer. Printed in ink on paper” (Mark). Woodblock printing was a popular type of printing technology that had an impact on China.

Chinese woodblock printing was used for only some of the literature used, but then as time went on it became an efficient way to copy many other things. According to Asian Education, “At first woodblock printing was mainly used for printing books on agriculture and medicine, as well as printing calendars, calligraphy, and auspicious charms”. Chinese literature was an interesting way of expressing words and emotions especially through paintings, poems, histories and prayers. According to Ancient History Encyclopedia’s Chinese Literature by Emily Mark, “The creation of woodblock printing, which became widespread during the Tang Dynasty under the second emperor Taizong (626-649 CE), made books more available to people” (Mark). Before this invention, technology was not advanced and not many copies were created because of the time-consuming effort of hand copying. Not to mention the expense of paper.

It’s difficult to say how popular woodblock printing is at this point since there are other printing techniques used in this day in age. Technology has evolved so much that there is also 3D printing, which is used in architecture for printing 3D models. But that’s just dealing with architecture. There are other forms of printing, but the most common way of printing nowadays is through a copying machine. Now, many copies of all sorts of text can be created through printing and copying. And the best part, no hand copying and there is affordable paper.

In conclusion, Chinese woodblock printing was a technique used around the 600s in which character were carved onto wood, and then pressed and inked onto paper. This cultural phenomenon started during the Tang dynasty and many used it to copy text and artwork. Famous poets such as Wang Wei became a famous poet because if it weren’t for this form of printing, it would probably take years to make so many copies of his poems. It’s amazing to know that you can also press art-filled masterpieces from a woodblock. Around this time, Chinese woodblock printing had a big impact on the Chinese culture and it wouldn’t be surprising if many across the country were still using this form of printing.

Work Cited

  1. Mark, Emily. “Chinese Literature”. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 11 Apr. 2016, https://www.ancient.eu/Chinese_Literature/.

Emily Mark has an English degree and has studied the Chinese culture, especially the Chinese Literature. The intended audience is for those who are interested in learning more about the Chinese woodblock printing. A secondary audience could be for those interested in the general topic of Chinese literature. This website was relevant and supported my topic because it gave knowledge on Chinese woodblock printing. This is also why it’s considered bias because it’s mainly on the good things about Chinese literature. But all in all, it was knowledgeable and talked about the history.

2. Mark, Emily. “Chinese woodblock print”. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 11 Apr. 2016, https://www.ancient.eu/image/4560/chinese-woodblock-print/.

Emily Mark has an English degree and has studied the Chinese culture, especially the Chinese Literature. The intended audience is for those who are interested in learning more about the Chinese Woodblock Printing and how the artwork was created since it’s a scroll with someone sitting criss cross and has a long prayer at the bottom of the scroll. A secondary audience would be for those studying the Chinese art. This image was relevant and did support my topic because it shows an art piece that was made and copied using woodblock printing. The good side to the website is that it has the image that shows the work that was made with this printing technique, but the downside is that there is not too much information on the scroll itself.

 

  1. “The Invention of Woodblock Printing in the Tang (618-906) and Song (960-1279) Dynasties”. Asian Education, 2012. http://education.asianart.org/explore-resources/background-information/invention-woodblock-printing-tang-618%E2%80%93906-and-song-960%E2%80%931279.

Art Education is a website based off art from different museums and the history on them. In this case, it’s on the invention of Chinese woodblock printing. The intended audience is for those who wish to learn more about the history of Chinese woodblock printing. This website is relevant and supported my topic because it has historical information on woodblock printing. Although that’s one of its strengths, the information however is not too in depth.

 

Blogs

Blogs

One of the most popular forms of communication still around, blogging gives people the opportunity to write a diary-like entry online for others to see. This genius creation gave people the opportunity to express their opinions and thoughts in their journals which then became a cultural phenomenon. Blogs are still used to this day, more popular then before thanks to the help of social media. Blogs are a way for many to voice their opinions in certain topics. It’s even gotten to the point where many are doing vlogs, video logs in which people record their own diary entry about an event in their life. Blogs have such an amazing impact in our society because of its history and culture.

Let us start with the history of a blog. According to St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture, “Blogging began in the early 1990s and soon became a powerful tool for social communication…” (333). Think of a blog as a diary entry, but for the Internet. And that’s exactly where it came from, people writing in their journals. According to Jill Walker Rettberg’s Seeing Ourselves Through Technology, “By the late eighteenth century, the personal diary had become common…as paper became cheaper and a wider group of people learned to read and write, personal diaries…became increasingly known” (5). As time went on what started out as paper writings became worldwide Internet diary entries. The book also states that “Vivane Serfaty (2004) compares blogs to the diaries of the Puritans, which were, she writes, ‘a requirement of self-discipline’ that ‘recounted a spiritual journey towards personal salvation’ (5)” (5). Diary entries back then were used for religious purposes for an individual to be grounded and stay religiously intact. And since it was from the age of the Puritans, technology wasn’t available.

Now that we know a little about where blogs came from, let’s explore how it has made a difference in our society. Since blogs started out as diary entries for religious purposes, blogs are not just for one topic, but multiple. These posts were a way for others to communicate with each other on any topic from food, to fashion, to politics, and so on. This was also a way for people to give a piece of their daily lives that others could possibly relate to. This could also be why modern blog posts are categorized depending on the topic, because common journal entries were for religious purposes back then. Which means many wrote journal entries related to religion.

We write blog posts about a relative topic whatever it may be. And we can see them on other popular social media sites. Not only does Jill Rettberg have a book on this technology-based innovation, but she also has her own blog created in the late 2000 that’s still going strong. One of her posts says “Blogs are different, but we often read them through other social media sites, finding links to blog posts on Facebook or Twitter. Blogs have grown increasingly….” (jill/txt). Now we see blog posts everywhere such as Pinterest, Instagram, and even Tumblr. If social media is still around, it’s believable that blogs will be too.

Blogging is still popular today, especially since there is now a thing called vlogs. A vlog is a video log by which people create a diary entry of their own, but in the form of a video. This is a popular innovation for, say, YouTubers because it gives them the opportunity to share their stories and events that happen throughout their daily lives.

What started out as common diary journal entries became a cultural phenomenon anywhere. Technology was not advance back then, which means nobody could really post a diary entry on the Internet. Now anybody can publish their diary entries through the process of blogging. From topics such as food and fashion, to travel and countries, anyone can voice their opinion about anything, just like blogger Jill Walker Rettberg. Blogging may even have sparked vlogging. This gives people a chance to record video diary entries. So instead of blog posts, vlogs are more of a visual representation. All in all, blogging will be around for long time if social media sites are still around.

Work Cited

  1. Rettberg, Jill. “Category Archives for Blogging”. jill/txt, Oct. 2000,

http://jilltxt.net/?cat=37.

The author of jill/txt is Jill Walker Rettberg. Rettberg is a blogger and has been blogging since 2000. She is also a writer in which she created a book called Seeing Ourselves Through Technology, which discusses our life with technology. The intended audience for this website is for those who are interested in reading her posts and possibly interacting with her on her website. A secondary audience could be for those who are interested in the topic of technology and would like to get insight from a blogger. This website was relevant for research and it did support my topic because it was a site from a blogger and her blog posts, which is what the basis of the research was about. Although it was relevant, it does have its pros and cons. One good thing about this website was that it there were a variety of technological topics to choose from with blogging. The downside is that if you’re not interested in voicing your opinion in this field, it doesn’t have a diverse number of topics. This is also why the website could be considered bias because it’s mainly about technology.

 

  1. Rettberg, Jill. “Seeing Ourselves Through Technology: How We Use Selfies, Blogs, and Wearable Devices to See and Shape Ourselves”. jill/txt, http://jilltxt.net/books/. Macmillan, Palgrave. 2 Oct. 2014.

The author of the book Seeing Ourselves Through Technology is Jill Walker Rettberg. Rettberg is a blogger and has been blogging since 2000. She also not too long ago came out with the second edition of her book. The intended audience is for people who are interested in technology and the book. A secondary audience could be for those who would like to find deeper meaning about how technology affects us as humans. This book was relevant and supported my topic because of its information on how we use blogging and the impact of it. It is bias only because Rettberg discusses the good about technology more than not. In terms of pros and cons, one good thing is that the book is informational on blogging. The only downside is that its not too diverse on technological topics.

 

  1. Giles, Cynthia. St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. https://ezproxy.stevenson.edu:2354/ps/retrieve.do?tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=SingleTab&searchType=BasicSearchForm&currentPosition=2&docId=GALE%7CCX2735800295&docType=Topic+overview&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment=&prodId=GVRL&contentSet=GALE%7CCX2735800295&searchId=R4&userGroupName=vjc_main&inPS=true.   James Press, 2013. p333-334.

Cynthia Giles created this piece of the St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture and intended to publish it for those who want to educate themselves on what is happening with blogging or any other general topic on pop culture. This site was relevant and supported my topic because it was on blogging, including the history and impact. The only reason why it would be bias is because it’s mostly about blogging. The good thing about this part of the encyclopedia is that it discusses a little about blogging, but the downside about it is that it doesn’t go into depth about it.