| People once used drums and smoke signals to send messages across sparsely inhabited valleys. Later they wrote on rock walls, then on papyrus. People invented paper, wrote letters, and sent them by foot, boat, or horseback. As history moved along, new forms of information sharing were invented. Some of these inventions changed history and our lives forever. | |
| One of the life-changing inventions was the printing press. Johann Gutenberg created a printing press with moveable metal type containing letters, numbers, and symbols, and in 1454, printed multiple copies of a letter. Their invention of the printing press allowed millions of inexpenxive paper copies to be made quickly and easily. Gutenburg's press was the photocopy machine of the 15th century. Today, printing presses allow millions of books, newspapers, and magazines to be mass produced every day. |
| Paper printing created huge new industries. Newspapers have billions of subscribers around the world. Billions of books, magazines, advertisements, and printed materials are constantly being reproduced. Millions of new jobs were created in this printed, paper-based communications industry. Billions of trees have given up their leafy lives to satisfy the insatiable appetite of this industry of printing presses, fax machines, photocopy machines, and millions of printers. |