Report

The industrial revolution and the invention of the cast iron printing press was not only the start of great wealth, development and social reform for Europe, but through this period of great innovation, the culmination of many great ideas and ideals saw the world transform over the course of only century and brought it out of the dark ages of the old style gluten burg press with its slow wooden components, tricky, intricate and slow. To the industrialisation of large scale printing presses that could put out more and more printed materials then was thought possible only a short time before.

This stage of literary evolution laid the groundwork for many great social changes. Printing of leaflets and other small materials started to circulate and were distributed widely throughout cities and towns. The mass circulated materials banded people together to come out in support of their peers and work towards common goals, most notably printed leaflets helped people to lobby for governmental reform, great social changes, and mass circulation was even used by governments to help raise public opinion on unpopular issues.

The world is now a faster place then it was two hundred years ago, many of the ideas realised in this period are still surrounding us today. For example the production of leaflets that were first seen after the introduction of the mechanised printing press. Who has not been into the city and been bombarded with people trying to give you leaflets and pamphlets to try and persuade you into supporting something they support.

The introduction of the newspaper in the 17^th century, a group of writers putting forward their views on current events, something cutting edge back then, but has now become an integral part of most households and communities.

The invention of the printing press not only showed to the world what mass circulated materials could do, it also helped to bring people together. This is in my opinion the true legacy of industrialised mass printing, it was possible to get people rallying behind something greater then themselves. Even into the 21^st century I’m sure the idea of banding people together and working towards a collective goal will still be expressed by people handing leaflets out in the street, in the form of government letters asking you for your support or to join them, in the form of posters stuck on walls.

This assignment was a fun and interesting assignment that has helped me to work more in depth (to some extent) with the web 2.0 format. At the start of this assignment I chose to do the Industrial Revolution with an interest in the cast iron printing press.

I chose this topic not because of the link to libraries and printed materials, but because of how I envisaged the overall appearance of the blog. I thought that using the grey scale pictures on a dark backdrop would make the blog look nice and artistic.

I feel that on some levels this was accomplished and on others the desired effect did not culminate in the way that I would of liked.

In regards to my information; I should have used different sources. Looked on the gale and ebsco host databases for more in depth (and relevant) information.

Overall I am satisfied and dissatisfied with the final results of this blog. If I had put more time into the blog posts or of the web interface was easier to navigate and to manipulate I feel that the end result could have been better. However, all in all; this is the first real time I have used a blog site to create a blog post or series of posts and I am happy with my results.

As they say a craftsman can’t blame their tools.

Thanks for reading.

Andrew Ruhl

6644724

Citations:

Week 1.
1. Wikipedia 2010, Industrial Revolution (2010), U.S., viewed 30th of August, 2010  
 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution>

2.Yale New Haven Teachers Institute 2010, The Industrial Revolution (2010), U.S., viewed 30th August, 2010 :<http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html>

3.Google Images 2010, U.S., viewed 30th August 2010.
 <http://www.images.google.com>

4. Youtube 2010, [video no longer available] U.S., viewed 30th August 2010.
 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1sZIUY3jrM>

Week 2:

1. Wikipedia 2010, Industrial Revolution (2010), U.S., viewed 30th of August, 2010  

 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution>

2. Wikipedia 2010, Max Webber (2010), U.S., viewed 30th August, 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber>

3.Google Images 2010, U.S., viewed 30th August 2010.

 <http://www.images.google.com>

Week 3:

1. National University of Singapore 2010, The Industrial Revolution: A timeline (2010),Singapore, viewed, 30th August 2010.
< http://www.victorianweb.org/technology/ir/irchron.html>

Week 4:

1.  Wikipedia 2010, Gutenberg Press (2010), U.S., viewed 7th of October, 2010.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutenberg_press#Gutenberg.27s_press>

Week 5:

1. Wikipedia 2010, Industrial Revolution (2010), U.S., viewed 7th of October, 2010  
 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution>

Week 6:

1. Wikipedia 2010, Industrial Revolution (2010), U.S., viewed 7th of October, 2010  
 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution>

2. Wikipedia 2010, World War I (2010), U.S., viewed 7th of October, 2010  
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWI#Aftermath>

3.  Wikipedia 2010, United Nations (2010), U.S., viewed 7th of October, 2010  

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Nations>

The Industrial Revolution In the United Kingdom

Hi All, my name is Andrew Ruhl and this is going to be my research blog; over the coming weeks I will be adding to this blog bits of information concerning the Industrial Revolution and how this period of time saw the rise of both literacy and the access to printed information.

Research Plan:

·                     Outline the specific time period of the Industrial Revolution in Britain

·                     What events lead up to the Industrial Revolution (spirit of the times)

·                     Effect this had on production of literary materials

·                     How this affected people at ground level

·                     How this period effects us today.

·                     Into the future, a fictional blog about where Industry will lead us


* Please note blogs do not appear in a chronological order, sorry for the inconvenience*

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Blog 1: The industrial Revolution:The Industrial Revolution refers predominantly to the period from the 18th to the 19th century where there were major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transport and technology.

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This era had a profound effect on socioeconomic and cultural conditions, which starting in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spread to Europe, North America, and eventually the rest of the world. The onset of the Industrial Revolution marks the major turning point in human history; almost every aspect of daily life was influenced in some way. Most notably, average income and population began to see unprecedented and sustained growth. In the two centuries following 1800, 'the world's average income increased over 10-fold, while the world's population increased over 6-fold'.(1)
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Images collected from Google Images.

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Starting in the later part of the 18th century there began a transition in parts of Great Britain's  manual labor force and saw a move away from draft-animal–based economy towards machine-based manufacturing. It all started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, 'the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways. The introduction of steam power fuelled primarily by coal, wider utilisation of water wheels and powered machinery (mainly in textile manufacturing) underpinned the dramatic increases in production capacity'. (2)
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An early printing press from the 1900's

The development of all-metal machine tools in the first parts of the 19th century facilitated the manufacture of more production machines for manufacturing in other industries. The effects spread throughout Western Europe and North America during the 19th century, eventually affecting most of the world, a process that continues as industrialisation. The impact of this change on society was enormous
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Here is a video I found on You-Tube to give a visual of what changes were going on in the United Kingdom at this time.
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It shows the experiences of the people living in this period and highlights the main areas of industrial change which made this period in history such an interesting and yet scary period of history.

Video by:  Brede Værk Museum - Copenhagen: 

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Thanks, I hope you liked my first ever Blog posting:
Date: Sunday 22nd August, 2010.
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Andrew Ruhl
6644724

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Citations:


1. Wikipedia 2010, Industrial Revolution (2010), U.S., viewed 30th of August, 2010  
 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution>

2.Yale New Haven Teachers Institute 2010, The Industrial Revolution (2010), U.S., viewed 30th August, 2010 :<http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1981/2/81.02.06.x.html>

3.Google Images 2010, U.S., viewed 30th August 2010.
 <http://www.images.google.com>

4. Youtube 2010, [video no longer available] U.S., viewed 30th August 2010.
 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1sZIUY3jrM>

Causes of the Industrial Revolution in Europe/Britain

Britain in the 17th Century saw the utilization of many of Britain natural resources, such as coal and steel production.

European trade hub mid 17th Century

Before we can talk about the Industrial Revolution, we must first take into account the massive lead that Great Britain had over other countries. Some have stressed about the importance of natural and/or financial resources that Britain received from its many overseas colonies (Britain at this time controlled around one third of the world), or about the profits taken from the British slave trade between Africa and the Caribbean. They argue that this helped fuel industrial investment. 'It has been pointed out, however, that slave trade and West Indian plantations provided only 5% of the British national income during the years of the Industrial Revolution. Even though slavery accounted for minimal economic profits in Britain during the Industrial Revolution, Caribbean-based demand accounted for 12% of England's industrial output.' (1)


Also, the freedom of trade from a large merchant base may have allowed Britain to produce and use emerging scientific and technological developments more effectively than countries with stronger monarchies, in particular China and Russia. 'Britain emerged from the Napoleonic Wars as the only European nation not ravaged by financial plunder and economic collapse, and possessing the only merchant fleet of any useful size (European merchant fleets having been destroyed during the war by the Royal Navy).' (2)


Another theory is that the British advances in the mechanization of their workforce was due to the presence of an entrepreneurial class which believed in technological advancement and hard work. The existence of this class is often linked to the Protestant work ethic (see Max Weber) and the particular status of the Baptists and the dissenting Protestant sects, such as the Quakers and Presbyterians that had flourished with the English Civil War. Reinforcement of confidence in the rule of law, which followed establishment of the prototype of constitutional monarchy in Britain in the Revolution of 1688, and the emergence of a stable financial market there based on the management of the national debt by the Bank of England, contributed to the capacity for, and interest in, private financial investment in industrial ventures.

Max Weber 1894

"The affinity between capitalism and Protestantism, the religious origins of the Western world, the force of charisma in religion as well as in politics, the all-embracing process of rationalization and the bureaucratic price of progress, the role of legitimacy and of violence as offsprings of leadership, the 'disenchantment' of the modern world together with the never-ending power of religion, the antagonistic relation between intellectualism and eroticism: all these are key concepts which attest to the enduring fascination of Weber's thinking. "

Radkau, Joachim Max Weber: A Biography 2005. (3)





Here is an interesting video about Max Weber:
Weber's most famous work relates to economic sociology, political sociology, and the sociology of religion. Along with Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim, he is regarded as one of the founders of modern sociology. In his time, however, Weber was viewed primarily as a historian and an economist. The breadth of Weber's topical interests is apparent in the depth of his social theory:

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Citations:


1. Wikipedia 2010, Industrial Revolution (2010), U.S., viewed 30th of August, 2010  
 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution>

2. Wikipedia 2010, Max Webber (2010), U.S., viewed 30th August, 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber>

3.Google Images 2010, U.S., viewed 30th August 2010.

 <http://www.images.google.com>

Social Aspects of the Industrial Revolution

In terms of socio economics, the Industrial Revolution witnessed the fast rise of a middle class of industrialists and businessmen over the landed class of nobility and gentry which represented the middle and upper classes prior to the Industrial Revolution.

Source: wikipedia

Ordinary working people found increased opportunities for employment in the new mills and factories, but these were often under strict working conditions with long hours of labour dominated by a pace set by machines. However, harsh working conditions were prevalent long before the Industrial Revolution took place. Pre-industrial society was very static and often cruel—child labour, dirty living conditions, and long working hours were just as prevalent before the Industrial Revolution

During this time living conditions during the Industrial Revolution varied from the splendour of the homes of the owners to the squalor of the lives of the workers. Poor people lived in very small houses in cramped streets.

Conditions did improve during the 19th century as public health acts were introduced covering things such as sewage, hygiene and making some boundaries upon the construction of homes. Not everybody lived in homes like these.

The Industrial Revolution created a larger middle class of professionals such as lawyers and doctors. The conditions for the poor improved over the course of the 19th century because of government and local plans which led to cities becoming cleaner places, but life had not been easy for the poor before industrialization.

Source: Google images

Citations:

1. Wikipedia 2010, Industrial Revolution (2010), U.S., viewed 7th of October, 2010  
 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Industrial_Revolution>