Humanities in the Harbor: Geoffrey Turnovsky, "Permanent Ink: Why We Still Love Print in the Digital Age"

We once depended on handwriting for recording information. Then the printing press changed everything. We could record, store, and access information in thousands of copies. Five hundred years later, the digital revolution is transforming things again. Today, we get information from millions of websites in milliseconds with search engines and AI.Technology has always shaped the way we’ve stayed informed, expressed ourselves, and stayed connected as communities. What lessons do earlier technologies, like print, hold for us today in the age of AI and digital overload? And why, despite the speed and convenience of newer technologies, is print more popular than ever?At the end of the talk, audiences will get the chance to try printing on a portable press.Geoffrey Turnovsky is professor of French at the University of Washington. His teaching and research focus on the cultural history of early modern France and Europe, and the history of print, books, authorship, and reading. He is the author of Reading Typographically: Immersed in Print in Early Modern France.Geoffrey lives in Seattle.