Description:

Week 14 Overview

This week we will examine the question, "As we leave the grip of the Black Death, what are we to make of Gutenberg's device -- the printing press? How did it work and why might it change our world?"

This week we need to accomplish two tasks:

Learn who was Johannes Gutenberg.
Learn about Gutenberg's printing press and the first media revolution.

What we will learn?

That Gutenberg's printing press made "media" avaialable to everyone.

Read

"The Gutenberg Bible", The British Library. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/gutenberg-bible
"The Gutenberg Bible", Britttanica Online. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gutenberg-Bible
Browse images of the Bible at: https://digital.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/objects/bea56620-793f-4dee-875d-ff051563292a/

View (Required. 56 minutes)

" The machine that made us"
- Wavelength Films
- Summary: In an age of sophisticated technology, this film helps us appreciate the enormous contribution to culture, politics, industry and even human psychology of Johann Gutenberg's 15th century achievement - the printing press. Stephen Fry, writer and actor, energetically explores the story of the machine, and of the man who created it. To really understand the man and his machine Stephen gathers a team of craftsmen to help him build a copy of Gutenberg's printing press and sets himself the task of learning how to make the paper and type to print as Gutenberg once did. It is through these practical trials and tests that Stephen demonstrates the brilliance of Gutenberg's invention and brings the man and his machine to life. The film also investigates why printing mattered so much to Gutenberg and his contemporaries. It explores the political and religious turmoil which shaped Gutenberg's world, and was affected by this invention.
- Video link 1 (Please use this link to authenticate through UCCS): https://library.uccs.edu/record=b2138883
- Or, try this link, Video link 2: https://video-alexanderstreet-com.libproxy.uccs.edu/watch/the-machine-that-made-us

Submit:

Tuesday December 7, 2021
Digital Diary Prompt: “As we leave the grip of the Black Death, what are we to make of Gutenberg's device -- the printing press? How did it work and why might it change our world?" (Required Length, 300 words).
Be sure to:
- Be sure to submit this assignment as an assignment AND
- Post your new diary entry to the Discussion Board" "A New History of the Medieval Plague: Student Diary Entries" - A New History of the Medieval Plague: Student Diary Entries
- Please find one other student's diary entry and comment on it.