Why do I think Broadsides are cool?

           For those of you that may not know what a broadside is let me explain. They are printed posters that announce events, news, advertisements, proclamations, etc. They are a single sheet of paper and where like newspapers before newspapers.

I love broadsides one they are so cool just the way they are printed with cool weird illustrations and two they said the coolest stuff. They ranged from, ads to religion, to stuff about dead people to last words of people sentenced to execution. You could put what ever you wanted on them and I love that.

In class we got to make our own broadsides. I was really interesting to here what people did.  Some went funny, making a satire of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, some went historical talking about the printing press, and some went news related talking about the recent property destruction of TCU by Baylor. They took the form of news page, announcements, wanted posters and more.

The one my group did was a propaganda poster for people to go to Mars for water set in the not to distant future. It was fun to come up with something that was engaging that people might want to read.

I really enjoy broadsides and think they are a great way to get information out with out having to create mass amounts of content for a whole book or newspaper. That's why I think broadsides are cool.

Reading in a Digital Age

           I have been reading since I was about four. I have always loved to read words on a page and the feel of the page and the smell of the ink. I loved the experience of reading so much that I would not let my mom read me bedtime stories and opted to read them to myself. I love bound books and convenient paperbacks (perfect for traveling). I love the physicality of reading and feel like the Internet is trying to ruin that for me. 

Let me explain I think it is great the information is so easily obtainable especially by people that might get accesses to books in the same ease of access way that I am able to. I just feel like the written word is becoming a little less written. I like to write and hope to someday sell books but I’m afraid that when I craft my perfect novel or curate my short story collection that it will be digitally and only in a digital format.

I what the person who reads my work to be able to share with me the reason I love to write, and that's because I love to read. I want them to feel the physicality of the time I put into work to be a physical weight in their hands not just some text on a screen the digital stratosphere. I feel like those midlevel monks angry about the printing press yelling “It’s Satan’s laziness.” Okay maybe not that bad but I am afraid. Afraid that digital writing will extinct my beloved bound books and I will only be left with digital when my heart is so analog.    

Newspapers going the way of the dodo

Newspapers, what has become of them? Once peoples’ main source of information has become obsolete due to the use of the internet. I still can remember looking up movie times and getting coupons for sales from the newspaper now I can do that and more from my computer, phone, or any smart device (even my TV).

Newspapers where a sign of their time and efficient for the age they where useful in.   They  served their purpose, getting information to the masses as quickly as printing millions of text with ink and newsprint. They were the source of information preferred above television and the radio. So what is it about the internet that made the newspaper extinct?

I believe that it comes down to speed. Everything is faster on the internet expelled now in the 2010s. Why wait days or walk to a store to get information you can get in less than 30 seconds and not even have to leave your bed. The internet can do everything the newspaper can and more.

The Internet also lets people choose. They can read many articles on the same subject with out having to buy multiple newspapers. It gives them a full and complete picture with even if the articles have biases.

The internet is like the tool that gave man the power to make the dodo bird extinct. It is literally giving newspapers no way to escape being hunted and picked off by being smarter, faster and more efficient.       

The Power of Knowledge

Through out class we have talked about how the printing press expanded the realm of what information could be assessed. We also learned that people tried to suppress this information. It was hard for me to understand why anyone would want to deny people the right to information. I live in an age where information is not only immediately at my disposal but information is trusted at me with out having to seek it out.  Information never seemed dangerous to me.

While being in class I learned that the monks were the main source of drafting books and manuscripts. They would spend at time months to years hand drafting and illustrating this giant books and when they finished they seemed not to let anyone read them. Sure the population was mostly illiterate but if you don't give them the opportunity to learn then nothing is gained.

I believe that the restriction of these books was a way to hold power in the hands of the wealthy and the church and to keep the impoverished weak and subservient. If the impoverished were educated maybe they could understand that they were living basically like slaves. The phrase with knowledge comes power, power to understand and to change things. After learning this fact and gaining a deeper understanding of how information can truly change things it’s no wonder that the clergy was afraid. Afraid people would ask questions, people would stop believing, and people could cause change.