From Gutenberg to Google: Media in Transition Conference (SocialComputingMagazine.com)

From Gutenberg to Google: Media in Transition Conference (SocialComputingMagazine.com): "The German organizers take inspiration from Johannes Gutenberg, who as the creator of movable type they view as a 'communication machine' pioneer.

'Gutenberg was the man of his century, igniting an information revolution leading to the Renaissance,' comments Matthias Koehler. 'The printing press business is precisely where Germany’s industrial economy launched. Printing presses required precision machinery, creating Germany’s engineering industry. Research in printing inks conceived the German chemical industry. You could make the case, therefore, that Germany derived its industrial power from an information need.'

According to this line of thinking, the Internet is the new kind of movable type, facilitating a similar information revolution: falling communication costs are changing the game.

'We want to address media pros from all industries concerned with the consequences of the clash between new and old,' Koehler adds."