Now that it's nearly 2010, we are finally beginning to see the changing face of the publishing industry, which is changing due to technology. We've all heard the hype about this for years but it's now slowly becoming a reality.
The invention of the printing press and movable type (during the early sixteenth century) created a technological leap forward in communication allowing for the greatest proliferation of ideas that the world had ever seen. These ideas could now be written, printed, and widely distributed in a very brief amount of time, which created an ability to influence many people's thoughts concerning the relevant issues of the day. This was impossible before the technological development of printing with movable type, and it was the technological development of printing itself which fueled the societal changes that later occurred (e.g., the Reformation, the Renaissance) due to the widespread proliferation of ideas via the new print media.
