Knowledge, Media and Communications: Channels and Modes of Information Transfer, 1480-1650

In the early modern period time and space were factors that needed to be taken into account much more so than today. In a world without smartphones or connections to the internet, direct communication between individuals could take place only in their mutual, physical proximity. Because society was largely on oral, the spoken word continued to play a crucial role in communication; verbal culture reached a degree of refinement paralleled in Western culture only by Greek and Roman society. At the same time, with the rise of the printing press, texts and images implied an increasing emphasis on visual means of gathering knowledge. The growing complexity of illustrative techniques and the rise of a sophisticated print culture meant a cognitive change, with more people more often making use of their powers of abstract thought. Such changes were enabled, or strengthened, by improved mobility. The world may still have been small, especially outside the towns, but the period also saw the gradual development of a communicative infrastructure spurred on by the growth of institutions, above all the church, the market and the state. The latter were still largely assemblies of corporations, which explains the very uneven expansion of such means of communication as the postal services and roads. Yet the possibility of large-scale reproduction afforded by the printing press in combination with a more advanced infrastructure led to the first instances of mass communication in Western society. There were limitations, of course: the public sphere was based largely on a ‘monomedial’ print culture and more often than not subject to stringent censorship laws. On the other hand, the relative periodicity of the broadside, the pamphlet, the newsletter (and its successor, the newspaper) and ultimately the magazine led to a higher information density in parts of society. In turn, knowledge exchange was bolstered by novel forms of sociability, ranging from the Republic of Letters to theatrical performances catering to larger audiences. The result was a world in which groups of people sparsely spread out over Western Europe were better informed about developments beyond their immediate purview, which had consequences for their ability to engage in social action; a world that was also able to undergo a qualitative change in the nature of education itself.