Characters of the Information and Communication Industry: 2Nd Edition

By Richard F. Bellaver

I have taught a graduate course on the history of the information and communications industry for 20 years. The course shows students how the world has moved from primitive communication to the integrated multi-media situation we are in today. Concentration is on the fields of journalism, telecommunications, broadcasting, and computing. Emphasis is placed on the leaders of the areas and the political and cultural surroundings that encouraged or discouraged growth of the industry. It is true that technology is a driving force of this industry, but it has been the individual people (characters) impelled by discovery, acceptance and marketability of that technology who have taken the next step to improve communication.
The Journalism field started with Gutenberg and early added Ben Franklin, later it got a little yellow with Hearst and Pulitzer. I think Henry Luce started the business of media integration, but Rupert Murdoch certainly keeps it going. The first practical use of electricity was found by Samuel Morse and his telegraph. Bell invented the telephone, or was it Meucci? Theodore Vail invented the Bell System. Broadcasting started with Marconis invention, or was it Teslas? David Sarnoff and William Paley made the medium practical and characters like Edwin R. Morrow, Walter Cronkite and even Oprah Winfrey gave it credibility. Certainly Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace had something to do with the start of computers, but later scientists Vannevar bush and Jon von Neumann added the electronics. Then UNIVAC convinced Thomas Watson Junior that IBM better start making them. Jobs and Wozniac started the personal computer business, but Bill Gates created the software to make them run. Tim Berners-Lee hooked those computers to a network and then Amazon, eBay, and Google found a way to make money using the result. This book is the story of these people and companies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 6, 2011
• ISBN: 9781456732592

Richard F. Bellaver

Professor Bellaver has over forty years of experience in telecommunications and information processing. He has been at Ball State University for twenty years in The Center for Information and Communications Sciences. He teaches courses in the history of the information and communications industry, human factors in design, knowledge management and strategic planning. He was the originator and editor of the CICS Journal. Other than publishing the 1st Edition of this book, he co-edited a book called Knowledge Management Strategy and Technology. He provided input to the 2nd and 3rd Editions of Designing the User Interface, by Dr. Ben Shneiderman. Immediately prior to Ball State he was at AT&T Headquarters where he was the Director for System Engineering. He was responsible for planning the analysis of all systems leading to the establishment of the computer systems architecture and helped establish the Data Stewardship program. In two tours in the Michigan Bell Company his responsibilities were in billing and Comptroller results, advanced communications studies, and planning for the IT function at the corporate level. He was a rate case witness and spent some time in Business Research. He spent six years at the Bell Telephone Laboratories responsible for various technical and human factors usability studies. Professor Bellaver has been Director for Public Relations for the International Symposia on Telecommunications History. He has been named a Faculty Fellow by AT&T and the Indiana Campus Compact. He was a Vice President of the Usability Professional Association and has received the Ball State Outstanding Advisor Award. Bellaver is a graduate of Purdue University, attended Rutgers and Wayne State Universities taking graduate economics courses, and has an MBA from Michigan State. He holds the Certification for Human Participant Protections Education for Research Teams sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.

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© 2011 Richard F. Bellaver. All rights reserved.

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First published by AuthorHouse  5/3/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4567-3258-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4567-3259-2 (e)

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Contents

Forward

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Forward

2nd Edition

As said in the Forward to the 1st Edition, this book will let you into my opinion of the characters of the Information and Communications (IC) Industry. I have taught a graduate course called History and Culture of that industry for over 20 years. Primarily the course shows students how the world has moved from primitive means of communication to the integrated multi-media situation we are in today. The concentration is on the fields of journalism, telecommunications, broadcasting, and computing. Emphasis is placed on the leaders of the areas of interest and the political and cultural surroundings that encouraged or discouraged growth of the industry. It is true that technology is a driving force of this industry, but it has been the individual people (or characters) impelled by discovery, acceptance and marketability of that technology who have taken the next step to improve communication. This is their story. This Edition adds eleven characters to the story. It still starts with that lucky fellow Johann Gutenberg.

In the year 2000 USA Today named Johann Gutenberg one of the most important people of the millennium. Certainly he built a press that used movable type, but he became famous because of an early confluence of technology. Forty years ago the US Congress wrestled with the confluence of computer and communication technology. Gutenberg’s confluence was good cheap paper available from Italy and longer lasting inks developed in India. The technology of printing took off because quality and economy came together. We are also lucky that we know so much about Gutenberg because the Germans had such a good legal record keeping system in the sixteenth century and Mr. G. had so many run-ins with the law. Four hundred years later the confluence of satellite broadcasting and color printing techniques enabled another printing leader, Allen Neuharth, to produce a national newspaper called USA Today.

Chronologically the story moves to the early age, of computing. After discussing several of the world’s prominent inventors of calculating hardware we center on the character Charles Babbage and his helper Lady Ada Lovelace. The story returns to journalism or the print medium with Benjamin Franklin and the foundation of Freedom of the Press. The telegraph was the first commercial electrical device. Politics, especially represented by the US Government, have had many strange or unplanned effects on the IC industry throughout the years. The fact that the US Congress wouldn’t fund the telegraph system that Samuel Morse wanted to build set the precedent for a private telecommunication industry in the US leading to AT&T stock becoming the most valuable in the world.

The telegraph sets the stage for Bell’s telephone, but was he first to invent a telephone? The reader will be introduced to Elisha Gray a well-known competitor of Bell and Antonio Meucci a less known, or unknown competitor. The first mention of a Thomas Watson was with Bell. After the invention the story gets to the creation of the Bell Telephone system, based on Bell’s ideas and primarily his patent. The Bell System, owned by AT&T, was one of the richest and longest lasting monopolies in the world. It was that way through the efforts of character Theodore Vail, the original network man. Vail at one point was let go, by AT&T, but came back to built the national network, established the manufacturing arm and take the company back over after Nationalization in World War I.

The story mentions another of those technology confluences and a little politics that was between land line communications and wireless. Marconi really built a system for radio telegraphy. It was in use for twenty years before hams started to talk over it. When people like David Sarnoff started talking about speech and music broadcasting AT&T was the most interested provider of the service. It took an astute business decision (euphemism for avoiding the threat of government intervention) to give up ownership of the largest network of radio stations. What did AT&T get, beside a million dollars, for giving up those stations? I think it was the ability to keep the lid on wireless (as we know it today) for close to forty years. Nicola Tesla has been added to the people of this time frame. I think you will agree he is one of the most extraordinary characters of the IC or any other industry.

The story documents one of those lucky incidents or coincidences that have shaped the industry. What if Charles Ramlett Flint had reconsidered hiring a convicted felon (he was found guilty in the first successful US anti-trust case) to run the Computing-Tabulating Recording Company when he brought on Thomas Watson Sr. Watson didn’t care much for the name so he changed it to IBM. Watson had several run-ins with the federal government. An early Supreme Court decision broke up his punched card partnership with Remington Rand, but after the World War II his son had to convince him that maybe the electronic computer could generate more profit that the cards.

The story brings us back to Journalism with Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst. The color of Journalism under these characters was bright yellow and the concept of journalistic integrity became suspect. The desire to keep those nasty British from controlling the US wireless telegraphy industry after World War I led the government to create the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) opening the US to leadership in the broadcast radio and later television industries.

After World War II the computer industry got its start. Babbage’s ideas came to prominence. Jon Von Neumann gets credit for the design of the architecture which bears his name because he was the secretary of a committee that developed it. The computer story continues with the characters Eckert and Mauchly building the first commercial computer in the US, but their company was gone by the time the UNIVAC computer was on the scene. Other characters in the chapter are Hewlett, Packard, Grace Hopper and Claude Shannon. Thomas Watson Jr. takes the ideas of the computer inventors and makes them commercial. Later he bet the company on a computer architecture that was wonderfully profitable, but finally opened up the industry to competition. Who has the patent on the electronic computer anyway?

The establishment of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) led to a very small oligopoly which controlled the voice and then video portion of the communication industry in the US for sixty years, not only the same companies, but the same people for most of that length of time. Besides the corporate founders broadcast journalism was established by Edwin R. Murrow in radio time. Murrow led into television and was followed by Walter Cronkite and Barbara Walters. I have added Oprah Winfrey to this group to bring us up to date.

That beautiful efficient Bell System put together by Vail gets taken apart based on technical developments of people such as Thomas Carter. Technology was important, but the desire of business to have competition in the telecommunications world led to divestiture. Judge Harold Greene was the arbitrator of US versus AT&T and continued to control the US telephone industry for many years thereafter.

There is a new chapter on journalism. It has to do with national newspapers and deals with characters Allen Neuharth and that mogul Rupert Murdoch. A couple of characters named Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak started a revolution with a device called Apple. It brought computing home. The software guy Bill Gates is introduced. I think he is still around, but several others that have been added are not. Without them we wouldn’t have the mouse, Moore’s Law, or Intel.

In his book Who Killed CBS? Peter Boyer implies that the Big Three broadcast networks are dead. The story mentions Roone Arledge, who helped hold the networks together by revolutionizing sports coverage and then very creatively handling news for ABC. Ted turner is also mentioned as a prime person for the loss of the Big Three’s majesty.

The story gets to another time of confluence, although the media and academics call this one convergence. How did the technical government/academic platform called the internet become so popular? Is it going to replace the telephone, television and newspaper networks? The chapter starts with the development of the ARPANET goes through Tim Berners-Lee and his creation of the World Wide Web and concludes with Cisco and John Chambers. Added to these characters are people who make the Internet commercial. Jeff Bezos with Amazon, Med Whitman with eBay, and Page and Brin with Google are examples of these characters.

To recap, I started this treatise with Herr Gutenberg. Have there been any other characters in the publishing field? How about John Peter Zenger, who got into some trouble with the Royal Governor of New York before the American Revolution? He printed that the British fleet was harbored in New York and as sent to jail for sedition. He was found innocent since he printed the truth. His trial established the freedom of the press expressed in the First Amendment to the US Constitution. Others in the American press may not have had such lofty goals. Benjamin Franklin made publishing into a reputable and profitable business. He used some of the first graphics and advertising in his papers. Others like William Randolph Hearst and John Pulitzer may have generated a war.

Sometimes there just doesn’t seem to be a reason why history has turned out the way it has. Alexander Graham Bell was being supported to work on a multiplex telegraph when he invented his voice device. Why did it turn out that way? (By the way, my source who interviewed Bell told me Alexander probably didn’t say, Mr. Watson come here I want you.) Steve Wozniak invented a computer to impress his friend at the Homebrew Computer Club. How did it turn out to be Apple and start the computer revolution? How did Thomas Watson Jr. convince has father to accept the 1956 IBM Consent Decree and move from obsolete punched card equipment into computers?

This book is a composite of all the research I have done and the articles I have written on the Information and Communication Industry. It also includes references and material, with their permission, from many student papers that I have gathered through the years. All references, including the names of students are listed at the end of each chapter. Does this book cover all the characters in the history of information and communications? Positively not! I attempt to cover the major confluences and breakups of technology, wealth, and ideas, but there are many more maybe a 3rd Edition?

Acknowledgments

Most of this book was written by students of the Center for Information and Communication Sciences at Ball State University. I took papers which they had prepared over the past few years and added linkage material around them. I did include some original stuff of my own that I have previously used in several publications and in professional presentations. I have listed the names of each graduate student after the particular chapter where I used their material, but here they all are in alphabetical order.

Nici Adams, Rich Adams, Louwrens Appelcryn, Julie Bell, Brandon R. Campbell, Thomas Comeford, Brian Conradt, Jason Cray, Aaron Davis, Sam DeWeese, Carrie Dowling, Rebecca J. Early, Scott Evans, Juan C. Fernandez, Justin Fekete, Stephanie Fisher, Rich Garcia, Geoffrey Ginther, Elizabeth Hill, Chris Howe, Elizabeth Hill, Almeca I. Jones, Trevor Kelly, Chris Kestler, Noah Koontz, David Hatton, Stuart Hilbert, Jeremy Knepp, Scott La Mar, Erich Leech, Jason Littrell, Dedra Mahon, Tafadzwa Weston Mudambanuki, David McClelland, Chuket Ounjitti, Paul Panning, Joel Patrick, Donna Penticuff , Tony Piazza, Vishnu Vardhan Ravi, Alfred Saguid, Marc Smith, Matthew Smith, Russell C. Staker, Christine Stiles, Rachel Stull, Stephen Talbert, Eric H. Talley, Carlos Taylor, Eric Thompson, Karen Vaughn, Murali Vasudevan, Elise Wickham, Geoffrey D. Wise, Ryan Wolfgang, Anisha Yadlapalli, Guangqun Zhang, Hui Zhang

I also want to thank Pawel Majkowski and Brianna Pluhar for the editing and proofreading support.

Chapter 1

In the Beginning

Until the invention of printing, the public had to be satisfied with whatever information it was given by official sources, or it had to make do with hearsay and rumor. The early evidence of an official means of spreading news dates from 59 BC in Rome, where a daily gazette called Acta Diurna (Daily Events) was published. Attributed to Julius Caesar, it contained coverage of social and political events: elections, public appointments, government edicts, treaties, trials and executions, military news, births, marriages, and deaths. The Acta Diurna was written in manuscript and displayed in prominent places in Rome. A similar approach to publishing news was undertaken in China from the 6th to the 20th century. How did these early means of making information available lead to the publication and distribution of communications that we know today? Who was the key character that got it started?

One of the fun activities of turning to the new millennium (Y2K concerns forgotten) was to see the lists of people who were considered most influential. The authors of 1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millennium listed Johann Gutenberg as the number one man. Many other rankings including USA Today, a less comprehensive but more widely read list, also had Herr Gutenberg as number one. His invention has been ranked with the greatest events in the history of the education of the world. The reason for the high placing was usually stated as the effect that reading has had on the world. Of course Gutenberg didn’t invent reading or even movable type, but he gets the credit. There are even several pictures of Gutenberg available. Not many other mid-fifteenth century people are that well remembered. Maybe this was an early result of media influence? What made Gutenberg successful, and remembered? I think, as we will see in other instances throughout history, it wasn’t the invention: it was several other economic factors coming to play.

Johann Gensfleisch Gutenberg - (1400? -1468) was a German printer and pioneer in the use of movable type and is identified as the European to print with handset type cast in molds. He lived to be at least 68 years old, according to some, and perhaps even older than seventy. What historians know about Gutenberg is very scant, due to the lack of literacy during the early to mid1400’s. However, German court records show a great deal of Gutenberg’s history.

The start of printing was most important because it led to the development of mass produced, economical priced books, as we know them. To understand the modern book one should understand some of the history behind the medieval manuscript. An entirely non-mechanical process was the first method of reproducing print material. In developing the idea for mass print production, Gutenberg had to consider what elements were required for improving a scribe’s work. Scribes were men who acted not only as copyists but also as editors and interpreters of the Bible and of the law. The most primitive printer, like the public to whom they sold their books, had learned to read in pen-written volumes and knew no other kind. The printer’s problem was to devise a method for producing in quantity a copy already standardized. Up to the 15th Century, all European books were written by pen.

It is difficult for researchers to study the life of Gutenberg because there are many uncertainties. There are great lapses in the documentation of his life. Gutenberg will always remain a shadowy figure, more often considered not as a historical individual but as a cultural hero and a convenient symbol for what is sometimes called print culture. Scholars of Gutenberg have developed their own conclusions and theories of this innovator’s life. Many of the sources that remark on Johann Gutenberg’s life hint at a sense of mystery. No fully satisfactory English-language biography of Gutenberg has yet appeared; too often, writers have tended to follow the lead of earlier scholars in preference to examining the primary evidence and coming to their own conclusions. In order to observe his life closely one must look at the documented information and forgo the speculation.

Uncertainty regarding the details of Gutenberg’s life begins with his birth year. Gutenberg’s year of birth is unknown, but the most cited date is June 24, 1400, with a range from 1394-1406. His full name is Johann Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg. He was born and raised in the city of Mainz, Germany. The last names of Johann were actually the names of the houses where Johann’s family lived and not the family name. Friele Gensfleisch zur Laden was Johann Gutenberg’s father. At this time in history it was customary to pick up the name of the home in which you were living. Friele inherited a farm, part of the Gutenberg house, and this is how Gutenberg was attached to the family. His father was a prosperous merchant and an officer of the Mint which was controlled by his friend the Archbishop. It is said that Friele married beneath himself when he married Elsie Wirich. Although she was a property owner, her father was a shopkeeper. Due to this mix in marriage Johann, along with his brother and sister, were not able to inherit their father’s position in the Mint. This would mean there would be no easy way to an upper-class life for Johann.

When Gutenberg was young guildsman, there were many difficulties between the patricians and guildsmen in the city of Mainz. A major cause of strife was the patricians’ refusal to pay taxes. An act that furthered the resentment between the two parties was the creation of annuities by the patricians; after a lump sum, payments were to be paid back at five percent every year for twenty years. Gutenberg was a recipient of these annuities. However, the plan did not work because the city was paying out more than it received. This led to further problems between the patricians and guildsman. In 1411 the patricians left the city, as their ancestors had in the civil war of 1332. Johann’s family moved back and forth several times in and out of Mainz. His father died in 1419.

Throughout Gutenberg’s twenties he was facing issues such as the ever growing chance of social collapse and the threat of civil war, the frustration of being deprived of the life of a patrician that so easily could have been his and incidentally the Black Death epidemic which was rampant at the time. He was making very little money and unsatisfied. In 1429 he refused the archbishop’s offer of a residence in Mainz and decided to move to Strasbourg.

While in Strasbourg, around the year 1436, Gutenberg was sued for breach of promise of marriage and slander. The allegation concerning breach of promise was unsuccessful, and it is further believed that he was single his entire life. The slander charge involved a witness by the name of Clause Schott who presented evidence that angered Gutenberg. He called Schott names, which led to Gutenberg paying a fine. This was the first of many court battles for the inventor and the start of lasting documentation on his life.

Gutenberg’s success as a printer would have never occurred if it were not for the Chinese and their invention of paper. The papyrus plant, which grew along the banks of the River Nile in Egypt, furnished the first writing material used as a sheet or roll by the ancient Egyptians. Although papyrus was not true paper, the Egyptians used it for more than two thousand years until T’sai Lun, in China, about the year 105 A.D., made paper from vegetable fibers. It obviously took considerable time before paper would be more common for use in publishing books. By the 1440’s paper, due to the Italians who discovered an economical production process, was finally at a stage where it could be used to apply ink with a pen, brush, or carved wooden block. Only then was it possible for Gutenberg to find a way to make suitable pieces of metal type.

Gutenberg was about thirty years old when he first came into the public eye with his ability and his work. He had the knowledge of three distinct arts. The earliest one he practiced was the polishing of stones and gems. The second was that of making mirrors. Gutenberg was not the inventor of latter art, but he seems to have been the first to practice it in Strasbourg. The third was the secret invention, which raised the expectation of his partners to a high degree of enthusiasm. Gutenberg’s partners in this new and mysterious art were Hans Riffe, the mayor of a neighboring town, Anthony Heilman, a lender of money, and Andrew Dritzehen, brother of the Sheriff of the city of Strasbourg. One day they discovered Gutenberg working on a secret project. They begged to be included in this work, to be taught the new process, and to have a share in the profits. In 1438 Gutenberg and his new partners set out on a project that held the key to the progress of mankind. Gutenberg converted a wine-press in preparation for the first experiments. Partners Dritzehen and Riffe worked hard from the early morning to late at night on various tasks assigned by Johann. While Heilman contributed as a lender, he was also assigned various assignments from Gutenberg. Carefully and patiently, the four worked on every small detail of their tasks. Gutenberg, always the master, after showing them how wood blocks were cut and printed, explained to them his idea of making letters of metal that could be used to form words and sentences.

Gutenberg’s fast pace in the development of his new press was slowed in 1439 when partner Andrew Dritzehen died. Immediately following his death, his brother George filed suit (again a court record) against Johannes for money paid by his deceased brother Andrew and for a small partnership in the unnamed venture; or, as a replacement for this, to require Gutenberg to invest George with all his brother’s rights in the partnership. The trades which Gutenberg taught his pupils and associates included gem-polishing, the manufacture of looking-glasses, and the art of printing, as we learn from the records of a lawsuit. In these records, Gutenberg appears distinctly as technical originator and manager of the business. Concerning the new art, one witness states that in his capacity of goldsmith, he had supplied printing requisites to the value of 100 gulden; mention is also made of a press with peculiar appliances (screws). The suit was therefore obviously concerned with experiments in typography, but no printed matter that can be traced to these experiments has so far come to light. George Dritzehen was refused his request after sound testimony from Gutenberg, who the judge believed was a man of integrity. Following the trial Gutenberg returned to his dream of movable metal type. However, as time passed, so did the investors’ interest. Within a short period of time each partner/investor lost faith in Gutenberg and pulled their money from the invention.

Gutenberg was much stressed at this point and felt the need for a change of pace. He decided to take refuge in a nearby monastery. The Archbishop of Strasbourg permitted Johann a few days’ stay so that he could interact with the monks. The slow activity of the monastery allowed Gutenberg his first chance in years to relax and watch the dedicated men work in the scriptorium. It was then he realized he must continue his dream and acquired a loan from the Bishop to continue his work. Before printing could actually begin, there were several problems that needed to be solved. A metal harder than lead needed to be used for the type, and he was to find a method of molding narrow letters on a narrow body and wide letters on a wide body. He needed to invent a way of making all letters of uniform height. The key to this new method was not, as is generally believed, the discovery of the value of movable type, for movable letters had been known and used for centuries. It was in the mechanism for making the type, more cheaply and more durable than letters engraved in wood, with accuracy as to the body of the letters so that they could be combined and interchanged easily. This was a problem Gutenberg labored over for years.

He finally combined lead and tin to form an alloy better suited for wear and repeatability. A manuscript book was the first test production and it set his untiring mind at ease in light of its accomplishment. Perhaps the second most important element in Gutenberg’s success, aside from paper, was suitable ink. Gutenberg, again through trial and error, developed such an ink of the right viscosity able to transfer a light film to paper from metal surfaces." The working properties of this ink were different from those of ink used for wood block printing. It finally looks as if the time was right for the introduction of his new technology.

However, it was not long before Gutenberg’s invention was denounced as a practice of deplorable evil. (This has to be one of the earliest recorded revolts against mechanization.) It finally took a statement issued by the Bishop of Strasbourg defending Johannes Gutenberg and his invention, to put to rest the fears of the scribes and guilds. Gutenberg decided to leave the suburbs of Strasbourg and his many friends and colleagues. He made his decision based upon all his troubles in Strasbourg and the gut feeling that he ought to return home. Johannes knew he could set up shop on his own family property, so he transported all of his tools and equipment back to Mainz on horseback.

Gutenberg located a suitable place near the Rhine and set up shop with the mechanical equipment he had transported by horseback. A benevolent relative loaned him money to build the printing press and the purchase of metals with which to cast additional type characters. Back at work with a fairly well equipped shop and eager apprentices being taught the trade as helpers, Gutenberg had set two goals: to make enough profits to pay for the back taxes owed to the tax collector in Strasbourg; to accomplish his fondest dream to begin work on the greatest book of all, the Bible.

The first work to be produced in the new establishment was a complete first edition of the Donatus (Life of Virgil), later followed by a second and third addition. His aim, technically and aesthetically extremely difficult, was the mechanical reproduction of the characters used in the manuscripts, i.e. the books of the time. The works printed by Gutenberg plainly prove that the type used in them was made by a casting process fundamentally the same as used into the twentieth century. The letter-patterns were cut on small steel rods and the dies thus made were impressed on some soft metal, such as copper which was cast in the mold in such a manner as to form the face and body of the type at one operation. The printing type represents therefore, a multiplicity of cast reproductions of the original die.

In addition to this technical process of type-founding, Gutenberg found himself confronted with a problem hardly less difficult, namely, the copying of the beautiful calligraphy found in the books of the fifteenth century. He had to find a way to engrave and to cast the individual forms, since the types when set, must be substantially replicas of the model. The genius of Gutenberg was that he found a brilliant solution to this problem in all its complicated details. Even in the earliest types he made (e.g. in the Calendar for 1448), one can recognize not only the splendid reproduction of the actual forms of the original handwriting, but also the extremely artistic remodeling of individual letters necessitated by technical requirements. In other words, we see the work of a calligraphic artist of the highest order. He applied the well-tested rules of the calligraphist’s art to the casting of types, observing in particular the rudimentary principle of always leaving the same space between the vertical columns of the text.

Gutenberg formed another partnership, this one with the German merchant and moneylender Johann Fust, and set up a press on which he probably started printing the large Latin Bible associated with his name as well as some smaller books and leaflets. The Bible, known variously as the Gutenberg Bible, Mazarin Bible, or 42-Line Bible, was completed sometime between 1450 and 1456. German printer Peter Schöffer, Fust’s son-in-law and Gutenberg’s apprentice, may have helped to print the work. Fust’s demands for repayment of the money he had invested in the enterprise led to a lawsuit in 1455, and Gutenberg subsequently surrendered his share of the firm.

Gutenberg’s invention spread rapidly after the political catastrophe of 1462 (the conquest of the city of Mainz by Adolf of Nassau). It met in general with a ready and enthusiastic reception in the centers of culture. The names of more than 1000 printers, mostly of German origin, have come down to us from the fifteenth century. In Italy we find well over 100 German printers, in France 30, in Spain 26. Many of the earliest printers outside of Germany had learned their art in Mainz, where they were known as goldsmiths. They were undeniably pupils of Gutenberg, and probably were also assistants in the Gutenberg-Fust printing house. There were others in Rome and Venice.

Following his break with Fust, Gutenberg continued printing, either at Mainz or in the nearby town of Eltvile. In 1465 the German statesman Adolph II, a new Archbishop of Mainz and elector of Nassau, became Gutenberg’s patron, presumably in recognition of his achievement. Little more is known of Gutenberg. We are aware that his declining years were spent in the court of Archbishop Adolf of Nassau, to whose suite he was appointed in 1465. The distinction conferred on him carried with it allowances of clothing and other necessities, which saved him from actual want. In all likelihood, he died at Mainz towards the end of 1467 or the beginning of 1468 and was buried probably in the Franciscan church, no longer in existence.

Other than the court records, a cloud of deep obscurity conceals the life of the inventor, his personality, the time and place of his invention, and particularly the part he personally took in the production of the printed works that have come down to us from this period. On the other hand, expert research has thrown much light on the printed works connected with the name of Gutenberg and has established more definitely the nature of his invention. Mainly from the technical examination of the impressions of the earliest Gutenberg productions, the Poem of the Last Judgment and the Calendar for 1448, it has been shown that he effected substantial improvements in methods of printing and in its technical auxiliaries, especially in the printer’s ink and in the building of printing presses. Of course he had to invent neither letter cutting, nor the die, nor the mode of obtaining impressions from the die. All these had been long known, and were in common use in Gutenberg’s time, as is shown by the steel dies of the goldsmiths and bookbinders as well as by the punches used for stamping letters and ornamental designs in the striking of coins and seals.

During his lifetime Gutenberg must have had a clearer idea than any man living of the value of his invention, and of the work that could be done by it. Like the prophets of old, he too had visions - - visions of the marvelous future it had in store for mankind, and of the wheels which his type put in motion. Perhaps in those visions he heard the clash and roar of countless presses whirling away each day, and night, and also on Sundays with scarcely any rest. Did he see the books, the newspapers, the libraries, and schools, which his art had created? Gutenberg’s aspirations and thoughts seemed always for the betterment of his fellow men. Gutenberg did not long enjoy the leisure of his retired life to ponder over the fulfillment of his dream.

Adam Gelthus, a relative, who mortgaged his house to lend Gutenberg money, put a tablet in the church of St. Francis. It read: In perpetual commemoration of Gutenberg, as the inventor of the art of printing, deserver of the highest honor from every nation and tongue. The purpose of his commemoration was to properly identify Gutenberg’s invention as the art of printing. Compared with other methods this was the first; there was no second. So one of the earliest characters of the information and communications industry, and probably the most famous, was Johann Gutenberg. He started the history of printing which had a very slow progression.

During the Middle Ages, manuscript newsletters containing political and commercial information were circulated among the few people who could read. There were also occasional newsbooks, or pamphlets, detailing an unusual event such as a battle. The first true newspapers were derived from commercial bulletins early in the 17th century. These bulletins circulated among the merchants of port cities such as Antwerp and Venice, and they carried news brought back by ship captains and crews from distant places. These early papers were called Corantos, or currents of news. They appeared first in Holland and shortly after in England and France. Other countries also soon had their rudimentary newspapers: Switzerland in 1610, Austria in 1620, Denmark in 1634, Sweden in 1645, and Poland in 1661. These were irregular publications, coming out when the news warranted it. No sooner did the first Corantos begin carrying domestic and foreign news than censorship appeared. Serious political comment or coverage was forbidden. Foreign news was singularly censored in favor of government policy. Censorship was prevalent on the Continent, and it carried over to the American colonies.

In 1476 the first printing press was set up in England. Newspapers were not printed for another 150 years. The first English publisher, Thomas Archer, was quickly imprisoned. Government management of news set in immediately. Domestic coverage was limited to trivialities. English monarchs were afraid of heresy and sedition, so they restricted the press. There were no methods of distribution, and printing was controlled by the Crown. Items printed were those ordered by the state or the church. Printing without a patent was illegal. This is known as prior restraint. In 1534, Henry VIII issued a proclamation requiring that all books had to be approved (licensed) before they could be printed. Two papers that were later published were informational sheets and were filled with informal essays. These were the Tatler and the Spectator. They began as newspapers but became magazines. Their informal essays were about people and life.

Sir Richard Steele started the Tatler. He had run up gambling debts and needed money. He wanted to appeal to a broad audience, including women. The first issue was published in April, 1709. He gave away the first four issues to start up circulation. Afterward, he priced the paper at 1 cent. The cost of the paper was a high price for the time. The average wage was only four to five cents a day for a servant. The City of London had a population of about 500 thousand. There was very little beyond the City in those times. The literacy rate was probably 10 to 20 %. This meant that there were no more than a hundred thousand Londoners that were literate. A gentleman’s house would not be considered complete without a leather bound volume of the Tatler and the Spectator. There were no bylines. All of the greater writers of the day wrote for the essay papers.

It took 100 years more for the first newspaper to be published in America. There were several reasons that it took so long. Travel was not easy between the colonies. For many years it was easier to go to England than to another colony. There was little or no education and therefore, little literacy. There was a great deal of work and no time for other pursuits. For many colonists it was a stark existence. New England had the first printing press. It was shipped to the colonies by Reverend Joseph Glover, who died en route. The press was set up at Harvard in 1636. It was used to print religious or legal books and some almanacs.

Public Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestic was published by Benjamin Harris for one issue in 1690. He was closed down the next day. He was a Whig and had published a paper in 1679 in England, where he had printed a seditious pamphlet. He was pilloried and jailed. He fled to New England and set up a coffeehouse before he attempted to put out a newspaper. The first regular newspaper in the colonies did not appear until 1704, and it was published by authority of the government. It was the weekly Boston News-Letter, published by John Campbell, the postmaster.

John Peter Zenger was a printer and published the N.Y. Weekly Journal. Although he did not write the opposition articles, he was held accountable for what was printed. On Dec. 3, 1734, his paper attacked N.Y. Gov. Cosby for allowing the French fleet in N.Y. harbor. His paper was ordered burned and copies of his paper were burned publicly. He was arrested and held in jail nine months before he went to trial. His wife and son put out the paper. His wife was the only one outside of the authorities to talk to him while he was held. His attorney was able to convince the jury that Zenger could not be held for libel when he had merely printed the truth. Libel, at that time, was any criticism of the government. This decision stopped the crown from prosecuting anyone else for libel through the courts. The provincial legislatures, however, could and did punish some for seditious libel.

This was the beginning of independent journalism in the United States. The right to criticize government was established by the Zenger trial, and by the time of the American Revolution there were daily newspapers in most cities and weeklies in smaller towns. Each of them was unafraid to engage in intelligent and often vehement debate on public issues. It also led to journalistic integrity. People believed what they read. This was a basic tenet that lasted in this country for at least one hundred years. Which leads us to Benjamin Franklin and other characters that we will discuss later.

References:

•CICS students Trevor Kelly and Nici Adams

•Compton’s Interactive Encyclopedia Scribe," Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation.

•Butler, Pierce, The Origin of Printing In Europe, The University of Chicago Press Chicago & London, Published 1940-Second Impression 1966.

•Fontana, M. John, Mankind’s Greatest Invention: and the story of the first printed Bible, Published by John M. Fontana Brooklyn 3, N. Y., Copyright 1956 & 1964.

•Gutenberg, Johannes, Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 99. © 1993-1998 Microsoft Corporation.

•Hanebutt-Benz Eva-Maria,. The Time of Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.de/english/zeitgum.htm

•Ing, Janet. Johann Gutenberg and His Bible. The Typophiles. New York; 1988.

•Man, John. Gutenberg: How One Man Remade the World with Words. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York; 2002.

•Scholderer, Victor. Johann Gutenberg: Inventor of Printing. The Trustee of the British Museum. London; 1970.

•Gutenberg, Johannes. http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/

Chapter 2

The Origin of the Computing Age

The idea of calculating mechanically has been around for a long time. The oldest surviving counting board is the Salamis tablet (originally thought to be a gaming board), used by the Babylonians circa 300 B.C., discovered in 1846 on the island of Salamis. It is a slab of white marble measuring 149 cm in length, 75 cm in width, and 4.5 cm thick.

The abacus as we know it today appeared circa 1200 A.D. in China and later in Korea and Japan. The Asian abaci used beads on rods or wires to calculate. There have been recent suggestions of an Aztec civilization that existed in what is now present day Mexico, built an abacus around 900-1000 A.D., where the counters were made from kernels of maize threaded through strings mounted on a wooden frame. No leading figures in the industry have been identified from these times, but in the mid-1500’s John Napier was born.

John Napier’s - study of mathematics was only a hobby, and in his mathematical works he writes that he often found it hard to find the time for the necessary calculations between that and working on theology. He is best known, however, for his invention of logarithms, but his other mathematical contributions include a mnemonic for formulae used in solving spherical triangles, two formulae known as Napier’s analogies used in solving spherical triangles, and an invention called Napier’s bones used for mechanically multiplying dividing and taking square roots and cube roots. Napier also found exponential expressions for trigonometric functions and introduced the decimal notation for fractions. But the bones are of great interest to the art of computing. Napier’s numbering rods were made of ivory, so that they looked like bones, which explains why they are now known as Napier’s bones. To multiply numbers the bones were placed side by side and the appropriate products read off. The bones became a practical device and were used in business. The basis for adding machines was laid.

It would be surprising if a man of such great an intellect as Napier did not appear rather strange to his contemporaries;, given the superstitious age in which he lived, therefore, strange stories began to circulate. Many traditions suggest that Napier was in league with the powers of darkness. One of John Napier’s descendants, Mark Napier, suggests that John deliberately played upon the primitive beliefs of his servants by going round with a rooster which he had covered in soot: Napier frequently walked out in his nightgown and cap. This, with some things that to the vulgar appear rather odd, fixed on him the character of a warlock. It was formerly believed and currently reported that he was in compact with the devil; and that the time he spent in study was spent in learning the black art and holding conversation with Old Nick.

Wilhelm Schickard in Tübingen University, Württemberg (now Germany), previously a universal scientist who taught biblical languages such as Aramaic as well as Hebrew, had rather a large change of subject when he was appointed professor of astronomy. His research was broad and included astronomy, mathematics, and surveying. He invented many machines, such as one to calculate astronomical dates, and one for Hebrew grammar. He also made significant advances in mapmaking, showing how to produce maps that were far more accurate than those which were currently available. Schickard invented a calculating machine in 1623. The Schickard Calculator is the first known mechanical calculator to add, subtract, multiply, and divide, but it remained unknown for 300 years.

Blaise Pascal - invented the first digital calculator to help his father with his work collecting taxes. He worked on it for three years between 1642 and 1645. The device, called the Pascaline, resembled a mechanical calculator of the 1940s. This, almost certainly, makes Pascal the second person, after Schickard, to invent a mechanical calculator. Pascal faced problems in the design of the