Affordances of Technology
Writing language has a history of its own.
The first uses of applied writing for purpose were hand-written by monks. Because of the length of time, craft, and skill involved, books were rarely produced, and were deemed valuable treasures. Works produced at this time were predominantly religious works such as bibles.
Although the Roman Alphabet had been created, Monks had a different, more cursive style typeface in their works. In the early 12th Century, the long S became conventional, and most typefaces were based on the Gothic Style of the Monks. Long S’s were used at the beginning and middle of words, with the small S at the end.
It became universal in type to use such S until roughly the 18th Century. It was phased out because of the kerning and overlap of the letter; it became particularly problematic and thus a normal s replaced it. You can tell the age roughly of a document if it uses the long S.
Of course, people could write letters and documents using parchment and ink, however, the rates of illiteracy at this time were much higher than today, therefore only the educated could write.
In the Mid-15th Century, the Printing Press was invented in Germany.
Letters were carved onto a block, which a mould was taken of the block, and filled with metal. This mould would then be used to print a whole page and then be discarded once all the printing was done, then another mould would be made for the next page. The Bible was the first book to be printed.
Will Claxton brought the printing press to England in 1600, and advancements in technology circa the Industrial Revolution lead to the rolling printer. Letters would be made out of metal but could be rotated on the printing block, and then re-used. This allowed for faster printing and production, as well as the re-use of letter blocks.
Newspapers, posters, flyers and books were now much easier to print, and could be sold and distributed far greater than before. Such an advancement even lead to the radical challenge of the 1800s to have a greater influence through the use of pamphlets and propaganda.
