Message to Johannes Gutenberg - Brief Article

Technos: Quarterly for Education and Technology, Winter, 2002 by George Hall

I gather from learned books I've read that your historic claims are rather overblown. But be that as it may. We are still prone to credit you with inventing the first printing press in the bustling western world.

The Chinese. of course. were at it long before you put ink to paper.

But in all events technology always moves on. toward endless change.

And page printing has already begun to lose its pre-eminence to electronic screens bearing letters of every variety the wide world over.

Their numbers and outputs staggering the mind. Disembodied although they often seem.

Magnifying mass publishing. While shattering it simultaneously. With countless personal samizdats.

On Desks. Laps. In Pockets. On hand-held Gadgets otherwise resembling tiny wireless telephones. Which also mock giddily chatty grenades.

Some publications are now leviathan. In their display dimensions. As well as scope and reach.

Giant stadia can cheer looming messages in a single glance. Right or left. Straight ahead. At the back. Or overtop.

Monochrome. Or multi-color. Still or animated. Monophonic or multi-track.

And of course. Hypertexted. Interactive. And Malleable On-demand.

I am looking forward to linking with the new TECHNOS On-line.

But I will miss the nice old magazine Lying on my coffee table. Quite Truthfully.

George Hall
Raleigh, North Carolina
24 November 2002

George Hall, a retired English professor living in Raleigh, North Carolina, is the Poet Laureate of TECHNOS.