Author Archives: Jason Alley

Science of Printing

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When we went to the EPI the lady demonstrating for us kept talking about the science of printing.  I kind of understood but the pictures from One search that I linked below made me understand more.  The ink and ink colors alone have so much science involved.  Just to find the right combination that is just the right consistency and will be permanent.  Also the reaction the paper is vital and needs to be accounted for, if it isn’t then there is a possibility the ink can ruin the paper.  This goes along with the right combination has to be found to not run through the paper onto other pages.  All in all, the science to printing is vital.

http://0-ehis.ebscohost.com.libcat.lafayette.edu/eds/detail?vid=4&sid=a32cca9c-b1fb-4230-8312-9e6f22bcbbc1%40sessionmgr114&hid=109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmU%3d#db=aph&AN=35077822

Oldest Hand Printing Machine

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As I was trying to answer the blog prompt I went on youtube to refresh my memory on the different types of printing we learned about.  Upon searching “hand press printing” I discovered this video of the oldest hand press.  To me it was curious how different it looked from the one we saw at the printing station.  It is much simpler but I am sure was much less efficient and accurate.  It also appears much heavier and I can only imagine the strength it took to work one of these.  This printing press most definitely took both longer to use and wasn’t as accurate.  The heaviness and function that is like a huge stamp simply didn’t allow for precision.  Because it took longer to use it would be impossible to create a lot of copies which would hinder the spread of publishings and would not allow for many books to be sold.

Now there are electronic presses that allow for many books to be printed per hour.  The precision of lettering has also increased thanks to new technology.  It is interesting to see where printing came from and how far it has come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74zwKLYAm9I

Back Then

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This past weekend, my parents came to visit. Of course after catching up for a bit, my mom posed the question, “how are your classes going?” Having the experience of EPI still fresh in my mind, I began talking about the printing press. To my surprise, my dad knew all about it. He told me about how when he was in school they had print classes where they would work with printing presses. He knew about the intricate process of putting each metal letter one by one into the palate; he knew about the inking process; and he knew about the strength needed to work the press itself. Keep in mind, my parents are on the older side, but this really outdated them, from my generation. When I picture people working at printing presses, what comes to mind are old figures like Benjamin Franklin, not my mom and dad. However, it was neat that something so foreign to me could be so familiar to my parents.

Our conversation stemmed further into technologies of the past when my dad brought up how in addition to the printing industry, the music industry is also not the same as it was when he was growing up. ” You know there once was a time when you actually had to go to the record store when you wanted to hear a song,” my dad claimed. His statement reminded me of a quote from Sound Recording: The Life Story of a Technology. “sound recording was on the verge of its first commercial peak. The fifteen years after 1910 would see the record player become a widely diffused consumer item” (Morton 42). Although I may jokingly make fun of my parents age, I am almost jealous. I mean, look at all the technological breakthroughs that they got to experience. Of course, you can argue that we are living in the prime of technology. But, they got to live through the first real breakthroughs. How cool is that?

Communication Today

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While not directly related to publication technology, this online article describes why some people, specifically females, add extra letters to text messages and emails. It reminded me of one of our first discussions in class when we talked about authors’ voices versus readers’ perceptions in literature. At times, it can be more difficult to express emotions with written words because the reader does not have the ability to see the contextual clues that the author would express when speaking: a smile, wink, rolling of the eyes, etc. In lieu of these gestures and without a special sarcasm period or apostrophe, extra letters are one way to give the author more control of his or her intentions. This idea assumes, however, that the reader can identify and differentiate between the five different reasons for elongating words.

Free Translations

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Ever since I’ve been in this class, it seems like these things keep finding me. My friend (who did not yet know I was taking this class) sent me a link to show me “a bubbling pot of stupidity.” Degree of intelligence aside, the page regarded IP and copyright. The article writer talks about a game translation that was being done by a group, and how they asked to not have their work taken and used for an illegal patch of the game. The writer then states to ignore that due to being hypocritical. “You cannot disrespect someone else’s intellectual property and then turn around and stamp your feet at others who disrespect yours.”

This statement incited an argument between the writer and and readers who felt insulted by the statement. Due to the nature of people on the internet, the argument quickly decayed to insults and name calling, but the point still stands: should the free translation made by a group of their own free will be protected from stealing through respect, or does the lack of actual copyright make it free game to take and modify?

For those interested, and to get a better idea of the debatess that occurred, the page is here, with the long list of comments/arguments at the bottom.

Copyright Controversy – The Verve

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This week, I’ve spend much time working on the essay for the first portfolio, with the central theme of the essay being the history of copyright laws. Doing this made me think of an instance involving one of my favorite bands, The Verve. During the mid-90’s, while working on an album, the Verve came to an agreement with Decca Records, the company that deals with the music made by The Rolling Stones. Both parties agreed that for a small fee, the Verve would use a five note sample from a relatively unpopular Rolling Stones song in the composition of one of their own songs, “Bittersweet Symphony”. When the album as released in 1997, “Bittersweet Symphony” became a worldwide hit, bringing The Verve both enormous fame and album sales.

After seeing the success of this song, former Rolling Stone manager Allen Klein filed a lawsuit against The Verve, arguing that they had used “too large of a sample” from the original song. This was an absurd claim, as not only did the Verve use the exact amount they agreed to, but their resulting song was essentially unrecognizable from the song that the five note sample came from. Nevertheless, the case went to court. Facing a difficult legal battle, in which there was the potential to lose much money and still lose the case, The Verve had no choice but to hand over 100 percent of their royalties from the song to the Rolling Stones.

This whole controversy represents a disgusting chapter in copyright history. Allen Klein, fueled by greed, created a false claim and cost The Verve all the money they would have made from a worldwide hit. What makes it even worse is that these are the types of instances that copyright laws are supposed to prevent, but it is arguable that they have created this problem.

http://www.thevervelive.com/2005/05/bitter-sweet-symphony-controversy-and.html

Tuesday’s Interactive Class

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On Tuesday, we examined a great deal of material which almost caught us up to the modern age of printing. It was interesting to see books printed for a much larger audience; for example, we saw the first bits of magazine-style advertising in Dickens monthly installations, and it can be predicted that after that it can certainly be proposed that advertising became much more widespread, not just in newspapers, but in books, magazines and journals. The new, mechanized way of printing books allowed books to be printed more quickly and distributed to an even larger audience. As Howard points out, Stanhope’s iron press allowed for much more efficient printing; the London Times invested in a “battalion” of them, greatly increasing their production. It’s interesting to see that books in that era were printed so efficiently, yet the labor required was still vastly more extensive than the labor required for books printed today. It really takes away the value of the book nowadays to think that some books aren’t even printed, and are simply available through e-book format, when our predecessors worked so hard to ensure that a printed book could be available to anyone who wanted to learn how to read.

Tuesday’s Class – Lithography

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The viewing of the lithographs earlier this week greatly impressed me. I previously did not have much experience with viewing such materials, and so wasn’t aware of how beautiful these print forms could actually be. What were particularly impressive were the depictions of the Marquis de Lafayette, which were very well detailed. It would be very interesting to view how such works are made, similarly to when we visited the printmaking institute and saw the process used for earlier print forms. I would imagine it to be a very intricate process, requiring much effort in order to make the images come out well.

Week 4 Prompt – What if . . .

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For this week’s prompt, I have thought of a very interesting scenario. In one of the earlier class sessions in the library, we examined manuscripts dating back to the Middle Ages. With these pieces, everyone noticed the great amount of labor that went into creating the intricate details of the books, as well as the material that these works were made out of. For my what if scenario, I am wondering how things would be if the printers of the time had access to modern printers and materials. The issue presented with this is that if this were the case, then we would not be able to view such materials today. The reasoning behind this assumption has to do with the issues of quality and preservation. As some people have stated in previous blog posts, the advances in mass production have resulted in books of lower quality. Today, people have the knowledge of how to preserve such fragile materials for the future. However, in the Middle Ages, such knowledge would not be available. So, it is not unreasonable be to assume that if the modern form of books had existed back then, hundreds of years of exposure to various elements would have removed such objects from existence.

The Speed of Technology

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I found this article titled, “11 Problems People Had in the ’00s” on the website, Buzzfeed. The 11 problems highlight how changes in technology affect the way society views everyday life. The article reminds me of a comment in Howard’s book discussing how time and technology affected people’s preferences of fonts:

“…within fifty years of this work, the attractiveness of scribal handwriting gave way to the clarity of more utilitarian scripts” (63).

Technology has greatly affected how students view the college experience as writing technology has changed quite a lot over the years. My parents always talk about writing papers on typewriters, and how they had to be extremely careful not to have any typos. Computers and Microsoft Word technology has completely changed the way students view assignments. I oftentimes make mistakes when writing, but technology fixes those mistakes.