The Origin of Information Science

handwriting texts does not establish a greater sense of the identity of the author. altough it establishes a physical connection between the author, tool and the medium (or information source, transmitter and channel in shannon’s model) does not create a greater sense of the author or copyist, but less.

Every hand-copied book, it is sometimes said, ‘was a personal achievement.’ Actually, a great many hand-produced books were farmed out piecemeal to be copied and worked over by several hands. But even where a single hand runs from incipit to colophon and full signature is given at the end, there is almost no trace of personality left by the presumably ‘personal achievement’ Paradoxically, we mast wait for impersonal type to replace the individual signature, before singlular experiences can be preserved for posterity and distinctive personalities can be permanently separated from the the group or collective type. (Elizabeth Eisenstein, The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe, 134)