Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Print refers to the production of text and images by applying inked types or plates with direct pressure onto paper. The process of printing, reproducing a manuscript in printed pages, allows the rapid production of multiple copies of books, pamphlets, periodicals, and newspapers that can be distributed to a reading public. A medium (pl. media) refers to the materials and format through which significant symbols are arranged, formatted, presented, and delivered from one person to others. The printed page is a medium of mass communication. Words, visual images, and other symbols are arranged on printed pages as discrete units, most often in linear sequences that cumulatively construct observations, ideas, arguments, and stories. Produced in large numbers, printed pages are bound together and dispersed to people who, if literate, read the same text. In this way, the medium of print binds people together into a larger community. Print media include books, pamphlets, periodicals, newspapers, and typewritten or photocopied manuscripts. A book is any printed publication of substantial length. Books are distinguished from pamphlets by their length, with pamphlets having fewer than 96 (or 64) pages. Books are distinguished from periodicals and newspapers not only by their length, but also because they are issued as a single unit whereas periodicals and newspapers are available with new ... log in or subscribe to read full text