"The Gutenberg Press | 1450 AD"

What is Johannes Gutenberg credited with? Johannes Gutenberg is credited with with inventing the technology of printing with movable type.
Post a photo of the Gutenberg Press.   
How did the printing press work? The printing press was a hand press in which ink was rolled over the raised surface of movable hand-set block letters held within a modern form.

What motivated Gutenberg to find a better way of creating books? He spent time with his father at the mint, watching goldsmiths and jewelers. Working there and his love of reading motivated him to find a better way to create books.

Why did Gutenberg experiment with metal type versus wood type? Woodcuts were not durable; split in the press after repeated use. A new block had to be carved for each new impression. Gutenberg concluded that metal type could be reproduced more quickly once a single mold could be made.
Post an example of movable type in a type case. 
What is moveable type? The system of printing that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document usually individual letters and punctuation. 

What is a matrix? A hard metal punch is hammered into a softer copper bar, creating a matrix. The matrix can be reused to create hundreds or thousands of identical sorts. 

What ink did Gutenberg develop that he used specifically for the printing press? Oil-based ink, this was an oily varnish-like ink made of soot, turpentine, and walnut oil. Created specifically for the printing press and movable type.

What is paper made from? Where did paper originate? Paper is a substrate made from wood pulp. It was created in 105 AD by Ts'ai Lun.

What is a "substrate"? 

Who did Gutenberg seek to help with the invention of the press? Close to the end of the 5 years, what happened? Gutenberg sought out John Fust to help with the invention of the press. Close to the end of the 5 years and before the 200 bibles were completed, Fust sued Gutenberg. Gutenberg turned over the press, the tools, materials, and all 180 bibles. 

What was the first book he printed? The Bible Post an example of this book. 

How did the Gutenberg Press impact communication?  The Gutenberg press changed communication, it perfected script and made it easier to read. Books were made more rapidly, current information could be shared locally around the world. The cost of books decreased allowing more people to buy them. The demand for books grew and the population became more literate.

Who introduced the printing press to England? William Caxton

What was the early form of newspapers? Trade newspapers

When was the first news weekly published? What was it called? In 1704 and was called The Boston Letter

What kind of press was built in the US in the mid 1800s? A press built completely from cast iron
Post an example of a 1930s printing press.   
By the late 1930s, presses had increased in efficiency and were capable of 2,500 to 3,500 impressions per hour. What is meant by "impression"? The printing or writing on the blocks.

Which printing process is the Gutenberg press an example of? Briefly describe the process?  Movable Type, which is the system of printing that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document.
Post an example of an intaglio press. 
What is intaglio printing and how is ink transferred? Is a method of printing where the image area is etched into the place surface to hold the ink. Ink is applied, then rubbed with a cloth to remove excess. Damp paper is placed on  top. A press applies pressure to transfer the ink to the paper.
 

What is porous printing and how is ink transferred? Porous is a basic stencil process. Ink is forced through the open mesh area.
Post an example of a lithography printing press.     
What is lithography and how is ink transferred? Lithography is printing from a flat surface. When ink is spread on top, the greasy parts accept the ink; the wet parts do not. 
Post an example of a offset lithography printing press.
What variation of lithography is used by the commercial printing industry today? Offset Lithography

How do printing presses used today compare to the Gutenberg Press? Both sort of have a similar process.

Describe four-color process printing using CMYK?  CMYK color model (process color, four color) is a subtractive color model, used in color printing, and is also used to describe the printing process itself. CMYK refers to the four inks used in some color printing: cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black).

"The Codex and the Illuminated Manuscript | 1st century AD"

Post an example of a scroll.   
What were the drawbacks of the scroll? They only allowed for sequential usage. Readers must read the text in the order it was written.
Post an example of a codex.   
What is a codex? A covered and bound collection of hand written pages 

"Codex" is derived from the Latin meaning "block of wood". Why? Because its essentially a book

What is the difference between "sequential access" and "random access"? sequential access is when one go through the scroll to find a certain passage and random access is when one can go to any point to find information 

What were the advantages of using the codex? Its compactness, sturdiness, and ease of reference. For example a codex is "random access" meaning one can go to any point to find information. In addition a codex can be opened flat to any page and was considered more portable than the scroll. The codex was also easier organized in libraries because the title could be written on the spine. 


What helped spread the use of the codex? It is believed that the spread of the codex is associated with the rise of Christianity. Which adopted the format for the bible early on.  


What replaced papyrus? Describe the process used to create it? Papyrus was slowly replaced with parchment. A substrate made from animal skin such as, sheep, goats and cows. Hair and fat were removed and skin was smoothed out. The hide was then soaked in water and calcium, flour, and salt were added. Then the skin was stretched out, flattened and dried. 

What is vellum? Finer qualities of parchment were made from skins of young calves 

Name several examples of current technology that utilizes the format of the codex? The kindle, and the I-pad 

What led to a period of cultural and economical deterioration? The decline of the Roman Empire resulted in fewer books being created, this led to a period of cultural and economical deterioration. 

Post an example of an illuminated manuscript.   
Who began creating books by hand, taking the creation to an art form? Monastic monks who became scribes 

What does "illumination" refer to? What was included in this ornamentation? Refers to the boarders, illuminations and ornamentation added to each page of text. Ornamentation included initials of chapters or paragraphs , paintings in margins, boarders around text.

What tool was used for creating the illuminated manuscripts? Natural quill pens were used for the highly intricate and detailed work.

Why were these manuscripts reserved for religious purposes? Because the work was laborious illuminated manuscripts were reserved for religious texts, many during Christian masses.

What is craftsmanship? Why is it important? Some illuminated manuscripts still exist today because of the materials used and the craftsmanship employed to create them. It was replaced by an invention that changed the world the printing press.

"The Roman Alphabet | 7th century BC"

What was the basis of the Roman uppercase alphabet? The Romans used a variant of the Greek alphabet as the basis for their uppercase alphabet
What were the purposes of the formal and informal styles of lettering? A rigid, formal script was used for important manuscripts and official documents and a quicker, informal style was used for letters and routine types of writing.  

Why is the Roman alphabet the most widely used and what contributions did it make? Refined several distinct styles of lettering which were used for different purposes.

From where did serifs originate? The carving of words into stone

When and where did lowercase, or minuscule, letters develop?   It is a true alphabet which originated in the 7th century BC in Italy and has continually altered for the last 2500 years — influenced by Etruscan, Greek, and Phoenician alphabets to the Semitic alphabet — in which the phonetic values of some letters changed, some letters were lost and gained, several writing styles ("hands") were developed and two such styles, the minuscule and majuscule hands fused into one resulting in lower and upper case letters 
 
What is a ligature and why were they utilized?  Ligatures (special combined characters, "fi" "fl" "ff" and "ffi" being the most common) were originally created for two reasons. First, when working with metal type you couldn't kern these characters close enough together, so they were combined and placed on a single piece of metal. They were also used to imitate calligraphy, where these letters could be merged by hand. 


Post an example of the Roman alphabet in visual form. 

"The Greek Alphabet | 800 BC"

How did Greeks come in contact with the Phoenicians? Around 800 BC with the rise of ancient Greece

How was the Greek adaptation of the alphabet different from its predecessor? Its most notable change was with the adaption of the Phoenician letterforms. Phoenicians regularly traveled to Greece and established trade agreements with them
Why is the Greek alphabet considered to be the world's first true alphabet? It has given rise to many other alphabets including the Latin alphabet. 

Name several similarities and differences between the Greek and modern English alphabets? . much less suitable for Greek languages, several of the consonants were adapted as vowels
Post an example of the Greek alphabet in visual form. 

"The Phoenician Alphabet | 1050 BC"

The Phoenician alphabet is based on what principle? Based on the principle that one sign represents one spoken sound
Describe the shape of the letters and what tool created them? The shape of the letters were angular and straight the letters were incised with a stylus

What two reasons made the Phoenician alphabet so successful? This system contrasted with other scripts at the time which used complex characters and were difficult to learn. Another reason for success was the trading culture of Phoenician Merchants spread the use of the alphabet into parts of North Africa and Europe.

What long term effects on the social structures of civilizations did the Phoenicians have with the creation of their alphabet? First widespread script, its simplicity allowed it to be used in multiple languages, also allowed common people to learn how to write.

Post an example of the Phoenician alphabet in visual form.

"Hieroglyphics and the Egyptians | 3,000 BC"

In the sixth century BC, what three civilizations invaded Egypt? Persians, Greeks and Romans 
Post an example of the inside wall(s) of an Ancient Egyptian temple.   
What was discovered on the inside of the temples? Inside the temples they discovered carved and painted images on every wall and surface.

Scholars believe that Ancient Egyptians were inspired and influenced by which written language? Cuneiform

What is the difference between logographic and alphabetic elements? Logograms are visual symbols representing ideas or objects and alphabetic variations came later as the language evolved into demotic used for document writing.

The term Hieroglyphic derived from what two Greek words? Hiero means sacred and Glyphic means engraving or writing.

What is a scribe? Students went to scribe school to learn how to read and write

Who else was trained to read and write? Why? Military leaders were trained as scribes so they could communicate while in battle.
Post an example of hieroglyphics on papyrus.   
What is papyrus and how was it made? Papyrus substrate made from reeds Native to Egypt. Wet reeds are placed criss-cross over each other flattened and dried, and are rubbed with flat stones until the surface becomes smooth. 

What is a substrate? a papyrus made from reeds  

What were the Books of the Dead? The Books of the Dead were usually commissioned by the users themselves before death. 

How did Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics become a forgotten language? Over time those who could read and write hieroglyphics disappeared until no one knew how to decipher the ancient language. 
Post an example of the Rosetta Stone.   
What is the Rosetta Stone? Where was it discovered? Scholars believed that this Rosetta Stone had the same inscription written on it in three different languages. It was discovered in 1798 a few miles east of Egypt  

What three languages are included on the stone? Egyptian hieroglyphics, Demotic and Greek 

Why couldn't the text on the Stone be deciphered? A chunk of the stone was missing none of the three texts were complete

Who finally deciphered the text? What was his breakthrough? French scholar Jean Francois Champollion, Champollion's breakthrough came when he was able to match up the hieroglyphic symbols with the Greek version of the name Egyptian Pharoah Ramses.

Why does the interpretation of the Rosetta Stone have such significance?  Because of the Rosetta Stone we now know a great deal about the ancient Egyptians and Egyptian hieroglyphics. 

"Cuneiform and the Sumerians | 3,000 BC"

The Sumerians were one of the earliest types of this kind of civilization? What does that mean? The Sumerians was one of the earliest Nomadic civilizations who migrated to Sumer. Now known as southern Iraq around 3500 BC.

Why is the region of Sumer considered the Cradle of Civilization? Sumer is considered the Cradle of Civilization because its where cuneiform was created the world's first written language.

What could the Sumerians practice year round because of the regions climate? The Sumerians were able to practice year round agriculture.
Post an example of early Cuneiform (Sumerian pictograph).
Why was Cuneiform created? Cuneiform was created to keep track of business transactions.
What medium was used to "write" Cuneiform? Explain the process of preparing and writing on this surface? The Sumerians chose to write on clay tablets. They would wet the clay, form it into flat surfaces, use a wedge shape stylus made from reeds to make impressions into the clay surface and lay the clay tablets in the sun allowing them to dry and harden. Creating a permanent record of the transaction.

What did Cuneiform begin as a series of? Cuneiform begin as a series of pictographs. 


Post an example of evolved Cuneiform (wedge-shaped).
After it evolved over time, what shape did the characters of Cuneiform evolve into?  Cuneiform evolved into a wedge shaped language.
Post an example of Akkadian Cuneiform.
After the Akkadians conquered, what happened to the Sumerian culture and written language? The Akkadians adopted the Sumerian culture and written language cuneiform.

What is a pictograph? A pictorial or visual representation of an object

Why did the creation of Cuneiform allow the Sumerians to become a sophisticated culture? The new form of communication allowed Sumerians to become a very sophisticated culture and because of their fertile region Sumerians became a target for many invading civilizations.