Disruptive Technological History: Papermaking to Digital Printing

Disruptive technologies have been crucial to the shaping of publishing history. Paradoxically, while each of the technologies—specifically, the evolution of papermaking in Europe starting in the late thirteenth century, Gutenberg’s printing press and type-casting from metal in the fifteenth century, lithographic offset printing in the twentieth century, and digital printing in the twenty-first century—has, on its own, been indeed revolutionary in nature, together they have served their role in the evolution of the publishing industry. Simply put, the present publishing industry would not be where it is without them.

Key Words: disruptive technology, publishing history, printing, digital printing