Before Class 02/26/10

The impacts of the Industrial Revolution are almost immeasurable. It changed our world and the way we can manipulate, create, and produce commodities at a much faster rate. For the first time, farming was not the main source of income for most people. Mass amounts of people left the rural areas and flooded into the cities. Animal power was replaced by machines and steam-power. The machine was not the most resourceful tool in society. It was faster and more efficient than humans. Because of this, handicrafts and skilled tradesmen were no longer needed. Machines mass produced everything at cheaper costs. As far as communication goes, this was the beginning of Mass Communication. Friedrich Koenigh developed the high speed printer. It was also the beginnings of advertising. Posters were hung around towns in vibrant colors. Producing and consuming was the main goal of the industrial revolution. With faster printmaking, typeface also changed. The new fonts were BOLD. "Fat Face", "Egyptian or slabface" both had "load-bearing slabs." They were huge letter forms that got your attention right away. To people these days, they might look like the typical "Wild West" fonts. Also, letter forms in newspapers and books were "sans serif." To us, this is MUCH easier to read, but to people back then they had a difficult time reading the smaller, thinner, letter forms. It is quite amazing that from 1450-1800 there were virtually no changes in the printing press. In one machine, the way we communicate, and how quickly we can receive information is changed. This was the beginning of the world becoming "faster."
I would be curious to know what happened to all the land that people left to go to the city? Did countries buy it up? or did other rich people? Land used to mean wealth and power, and it is surprising people would move away from it.