Internet, the World Wide Web and the computer changed the way we do business, work, and communicate. Formal knowledge started in Athens before the time of Christ, then it moved to Alexandria Egypt in the early centuries AD, then to the House of Wisdom in Baghdad in the 9th and 10th century AD , and then to Europe before the Renaissance period. And now major libraries in the United States are planning to put all of their books on line.

Personal computers and the World Wide Web

Tim Berners-Lee.
IBM introduced the first Personal Computer in1981, andTim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web, an internet based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing in 1989.
This happened at CERN, the European research Center for Elementary particles.
HTML(Hypertext Markup Language) was used to write the web documents, HTTP(Hypertext Transfer Protocol) was used to transmit the pages, and a web browser to interpret and display results on any computer.

Computers, communications and information

Computers, information and communication. In 1948 Claude Shannon a scientist at The Bell Laboratories wrote his opus major "A Mathematical Theory of Communications". This book compares to Euclid's elements, or Newton's Principia in that it formalized the science of information and communication.

Television came after cinema in black and white and small screens. Color, stereo and larger screens came later, and now high defenition TV. 

Cinema followed photography

First movies were silent and in black and white. Then came sound and color, and then wide screen and stereo sound. Early film was based on cellulose nitrate which was extremely fllamable, but soon plastics replaced the old film.

Next major invention in mass communication was the invention of photography

Beatrice-1866 by Julia Margaret Cameron. The albumen print was invented in 1850 and was the most common type of print for the next 40 years. An albumen print was made by coating paper with a layer of egg white and salt to create a smooth surface. The paper was then coated with a layer of silver nitrate. The salt and silver nitrate combined to form light sensitive silver salts. This double coated paper could then be placed in contact with a negative and exposed to the sun to produce a print.

A page from the Gutenberg Bible printed in 1456

A page from the Gutenberg Bible printed in 1456. The print uses the Gothic style used in the production of hand written manuscripts.

Papyrus, Parchment and Paper

Papyrus (from the plant papyrus) was used for writing in about 3000BC in Egypt.

Parchment or vellum (animal skin) was used about 150 BC, and continued to be used by the Christian monks in Europe in the Middle Ages. The original copy of the book of Kells is written on vellum.

Paper( mulberry tree bark, and bamboo pulp) was invented by the Chinese in 105 AD, developed further in Korea and then Japan( shortly after the arrival of Buddhism in Japan) in 610 AD, arrived in Samarkand and Baghdad along the Silk Rout in the 8th Century AD, and Europe by 1200's

Paper was widely used in Europe after the invention of printing by Gutenberg in 1452.

Phoenicians gave us the gift of alphabetic writing

Samples from Arabic, Syriac (christian) and Hebrew alphabets

Leaf from a Quran manuscript. 9th to 10th century AD 

10th century Syriac gospel on vellum 

Hebrew Illumination 15th century 

Phoenicia, 1000-200BC

Phoenicians spoke a Semitic language and lived along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in today's Lebanon. They were conquered by the Persians ( Cyrus the Great in 539 BC), and later by Alexander the Great in 333BC. They were finally defeated by the Romans during the Punic wars (238) in Carthage in todays Tunisia.

Evolution of the main European and Semitic alphabets from the Phoenician alphabet

Click on this image to see how the Phoenician alphabet was adopted by the languages of Europe and the Middle East.

Phoenician alphabet was the basis of the European and the Semitic Alphabets

The phoenician alphabet was introduced about 1000 BC. Later Greeks copied the letters and some how modified them, and then the Romans created their alphabet based on the Greek alphabet. Semitic languages such as Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic (Syriac) also based their alphabet on the Phoenician alphabet

Calligraphy and the art of Illumination in early Middle Ages

The book of Kells, the book of Durrow and the Lindisfarne Gospels are among the most beatiful Illuminated art from the early Middle Ages. In the next few pages I will be reflecting on the invention of alphabet, writing, papyrus, parchment and paper, invention of printing, photography and mass communications and the internet, as these ideas have profoundly affected the way we view the world.

Book of Kells-800 AD 

Lindinsfarne Gospel-698AD

Book of Durrow-675 AD