Modern printing technology -- Opportunities and challenges

First, traditional printing technology - the past glory

Of the four Great inventions that China has made great contributions to the progress of mankind, two are related to printing, namely papermaking and printing. As far as its influence is concerned, the printing press should be the first.

1.1 Invention and spread of printing

1) The invention of printing

The source of printing -- Neolithic Age (printed pottery, painted pottery)

Engraving letterpress and missing plates. The Warring States period has been used for fabric printing, the Western Han Dynasty developed to multi-color plate printing, Sui and Tang Dynasties appeared block printing;

Movable type printing. During the reign of Emperor Renzong Qingli in the Northern Song Dynasty (1041-1048), Bi Sheng used movable type to print books. "Dream Stream Pen Talk" record.

2) Inventing the meaning of movable type

Breakthrough in the way of thinking - found the smallest unit of text printing (discretization), so that you can arbitrarily combine infinite changes in text content. This method has not changed for more than 1,000 years. Print images with dot, the principle is the same.

Greatly reduce the printing plate production process, reduce labor, improve production efficiency;

Great significance, far-reaching impact!

3) The communication vein of printing

Spread in the East - Korea was the first to adopt Chinese printing, followed by Japan. Later, it continued to spread to neighboring countries, first in Southeast Asia and later to South Asian countries.

Spread to the West - printing spread to Central Asia through Xinjiang very early. Two routes: First, the Silk Road from Central and West Asia to Europe spread to the West; Second, it was introduced into Europe through Russia.

1.2 Function and significance of the invention of printing

Marx: (Printing) was the greatest invention of the Renaissance.

Guo Yu (Master of Western literature) : Printing is "the embryo of all revolutions."

Jimmy Carter (United States) : "The inflow and dissemination of the four great inventions of the European Renaissance (namely, the four great inventions of China) played an important role in the formation of modern science." (Introduction to the Invention of Chinese Printing and Its Western Transmission)

Sun Yat-sen: "The Industrial Plan" pointed out that "according to modern civilization, there are five material elements of life, namely, clothing, food, housing, transportation and printing." "Printing is one of the needs of modern society, and there is no reason for human progress."

Personal understanding: The invention of printing, changed the way of human culture and information dissemination, is a pioneering contribution in the history of human culture inheritance and information dissemination, greatly promoted the development of human civilization, the progress of science and technology, its far-reaching significance can not be overevaluated. Printing is a historic contribution of the Chinese people to the cause of human civilization and progress, is the pride of the Chinese nation, and is a major invention worthy of the pride of every Chinese!

Second, the understanding of the essence and connotation of printing

The basic process of printing:

Form: 1 to multiple servings

Two types:

a. Print reproduction faithful to the original manuscript

b. Printing and publishing of creative manuscripts

The essence and connotation of printing can be understood from the following three aspects:

(1) Printing technology and graphic information processing

Basic point of view: The processing process from the original manuscript to the printed matter is a typical graphic information processing process. Including text information processing, graphic image processing, color information processing and so on.

(2) Printing technology and graphic information dissemination

Basic point of view: Human culture and art need to be recorded and disseminated in the way of information coding (graphic information), in order to be spread or carried forward. Printing brush is the basic means and effective way to record and disseminate graphic information.

Human beings have four great inventions in the communication of information: language, writing, pictures (maps), music (art), and printing is the most effective way to achieve the complete record and wide dissemination of these information.

Language: It can only be transmitted orally, depends on the ability of personal hearing and memory, and is prone to information loss (plot loss) and noise (embellishment), and can not ensure the integrity and accuracy of information. The extent of dissemination is also limited.

Text: It is the symbolization (visualization) of language. Things and phenomena can be accurately and completely recorded to avoid distortion of information transmission. However, the manual transcription method cannot achieve the wide dissemination of information.

Picture (map) : It is the symbolization (visualization) of spatial phenomena. It can express things and images that are difficult to describe in words and are related to spatial positions or have spatial shapes (such as records of sky observations, expressions of geographical phenomena, actual forms of animals and plants, records of dance shapes). Obviously, manual painting or transcription could not satisfy the wide dissemination of pictorial (map) information.

Music (art) : The art of expressing human emotions by auditory or visual means (dance). Music is recorded by musical scores, and dance can also be described and recorded by painting. There is still the problem of whether the information can be widely disseminated.

Obviously, before the invention of radio, television and Internet technology, printing was almost the only effective way to achieve the dissemination of information from a technical perspective!

(3) Printing technology and information visualization

Basic point of view: printing technology is an effective means to realize the visual expression of information.

Visualization originally meant "the method and process of constituting objective reality into an image of the human mind, or the visual representation of something that is not directly perceptible." With the development of computer information processing technology, visualization is also understood as the process of converting original analog data into images that can be displayed, the purpose of which is to transform information into a form that can be understood by human perception system.

The role of printing in visualization includes:

As far as the characters are concerned, the non-standard handwriting is changed into standardized printing, which ensures the visual reading effect of the characters.

To realize the integration of graphic information and improve the visual expression effect of graphic information;

To realize the presentation or reproduction of color information and improve the visual cognitive effect of image information.

The essence of printing can be summarized as follows:

In a visual way (text or image), the product can be reused by many people (the public), and the purpose of disseminating information to the audience (the public) is (to play) the visual perception function of human beings.

The understanding of information and information transmission (dissemination)

(1) There have been many studies and representations of the nature and definition of information

Wiener (founder of cybernetics) :

"Information is the content and name by which we adapt to and communicate with the outside world in the process of making this adaptation perceived by the outside world."

"Information is information, not matter or energy."

Shin Nong (Founder of Information Theory) :

"Anything that reduces uncertainty in a situation is called information."

The multi-layer meaning of information (typical point of view) : one is to eliminate uncertainty, the second is the ordering and organizational form of things, and the third is the representation and reflection of things.

(2) Personal views:

a. Information is the third objective existence independent of matter and energy, that is, the real world is composed of three elements: matter, energy and information.

b. Transmission of information is the basic element of the existence of information, without transmission, information will lose its meaning of existence. That is, information exists in transmission, and there is no information without transmission.

An immature consideration of the definition of information:

Information is the result of the information source's cognition of objective things, and through the transmission channel, it is used to guide the recipient's cognition of objective things.

According to this definition, information cannot exist independently of the transmission channel or even the recipient.

Based on the above point of view to understand the role of printing: printing is the information transmission channel, is the support of information existence.

Printing is transmitted by means of visual graphics, and transforming printing into graphic information dissemination is more adapted to the characteristics of the information age.

The "printing" mentioned by Dr. Sun Yat-sen actually means "information".

Confusing the concept of "printing" and "information" is in line with The Times, according to the personal definition and understanding of information, information can not be separated from the transmission process and independent existence, when printing is the main (or even the only) technical way of information transmission at that time, it is not wrong to think that "printing" is "information".

Thus, it is concluded that Dr. Sun Yat-sen is one of the earliest advocates of information theory, which early listed "information" together with clothing, food, shelter and transportation as one of the five essential elements of human life, as a basic need of modern society. And pointed out that human beings have no reason to progress.

Paper is the carrier of recording information ---- memory

Paper is a tool for information visualization ----- display

Printing is the process of information processing and transmission ----- processor

The combination of paper and printing: ancient information technology (IT), modern computer information systems

The development and change of printing technology - opportunities and challenges

4.1 Changes brought about by the application of new technologies

Due to the development and application of computer technology and information processing technology, the progress of printing technology has been greatly promoted, and the face of modern printing technology has undergone tremendous changes. These changes include:

1) The concept of printing is changing

The application of computer technology has subverted the concept of traditional printing technology.

The methods of printing have gone beyond the scope of the traditional four printing methods. In particular, non-contact digital printing methods based on inkjet are emerging. The concept of traditional printing has been far from covering the connotation of modern printing and information dissemination, and it is necessary to expand its connotation, study its trend, and track the rapid development of its technology.

2) Traditional printing has changed from the only way of graphic information transmission to one of the ways of graphic information transmission.

3) The development of pre-press system, CTP system and digital printing system has transformed the traditional analog manual platemaking, platemaking, and even printing operations into a fully digital (partly intelligent) process, greatly improving the efficiency of platemaking and printing, and ensuring the stability and reliability of graphic publishing quality.

4) The modernization of graphic output equipment and printing equipment (high integration, high degree of automation), so that the operation is easier (close to the fool), these changes make it easier to start a printing company.

5) Remote printing, on-demand printing, personalized printing, etc., is no longer just a concept, but is gradually being realized.

6) The carrier of information storage and reproduction is not limited to printed paper.

7) The principles of printing technology are applied in a wide range of areas of life and technology, but their contributions are not attributed to the discipline of printing. Such as the photographic plate of integrated circuits, is a typical printing. Such a large role, but ignore the contribution of printing.

4.2 Existing opportunities

The huge social demand and the development of information technology, electronic technology, new materials, precision equipment manufacturing and other related disciplines have made the research and development of modern printing technology active, and there are good opportunities for rapid development of printing technology and printing industry.

1) Establishment and development of pre-press graphic information processing system

The digital prepress system includes the whole process from the input of graphic information, to the processing of graphic information, and then to the output of graphic information, which constitutes a complete information system. Including text and graphics image recognition, image segmentation, data compression, data format conversion, graphic editing, color processing and other information processing of high technology, is a promising research field. The combination of printing technology and modern information technology will accelerate the transformation of printing technology, and sometimes it may produce major changes.

2) The development of printing materials promotes the change of printing process

Such as laser film recording materials, direct plate making materials, etc. They, combined with related equipment, have contributed to the development and progress of printing plate making process. Inkjet printing, digital direct imaging printing, thermal recording materials, electrostatic printing and other technologies also rely on the research of new materials. This field is also more active in research, which may lead to one of the breakthroughs in printing technology.

3) Full digital workflow, information management system and whole-process quality monitoring system.

It will play an important role in promoting the development of printing technology, improving management level and work efficiency, and changing the face of printing technology.

4) The interdisciplinary characteristics of printing engineering make it easy to produce innovative results.

Examples include the rise of Peking University Founder, the invention of frequency-modulation screening technology and electronic paper technology.

4.3 Challenges Faced

1) Confusion of subject orientation.

Printing engineering - need multi-disciplinary support, is a comprehensive interdisciplinary technology application system. It involves information science, communication science, color science, aesthetics, image science, material science, precision optics, precision machine manufacturing, graphics and image processing technology, and so on.

Because it is so comprehensive and the social demand is so large, there is confusion about which discipline is more appropriate to place it in.

2) The diversification of information dissemination methods (electronic publications, wireless mobile information services) poses serious challenges to the conventional concept of printing technology.

Radio and television: the disposable dissemination of information. No storable features, no reusability.

Electronic publications: storable and reusable, requiring auxiliary display (visualization) equipment.

Network communication: The Internet, composed of servers, clients and networks, plays an increasingly important role in the dissemination of information. It is basically storable and reusable, and the visualization platform is a computer terminal.

Wireless mobile information service: composed of portable display terminal (PDA mobile phone) and wireless network. It is gradually developing, not yet mature, but the prospect is very broad.

3) Changes of information recording carrier and visualization platform

The information recording and visualization of printed media are integrated, but they are analog and cannot be connected with modern information systems.

The information recording of electronic media is the form of data, the visualization platform is the display, and there is a decoding process in the middle (that is, visual processing). It has strong dependence on equipment and complicated operation.

The mobile phone as the platform of personal information receiving, interaction and display terminal, the prospect is attractive.

4) The ultimate goal of printing is the dissemination of information. Due to the arrival of the information age and the unprecedented development of information technology, the future printing industry is facing unprecedented challenges.

Thinking about the future of printing technology

5.1 What is the future of printing?

If we extend the concept of printing to graphic information dissemination according to its essence, then it will never disappear, and even it will always be a major element of human survival. However, if we preserve the inherent and traditional concepts of printing, then its future is unpredictable.

5.2 Where is printing technology going?

Social demand is the fundamental driving force of technology development and the fundamental purpose of talent training, rather than artificially placing it in which level of discipline or industry. The use of modern technical means to meet the needs of the public for graphic information dissemination is the eternal goal of the development of printing technology!

5.3 How do I Respond to challenges?

(1) Establish a separate and perfect discipline system

Printing engineering discipline system includes: graphic information processing technology (software), information processing and recording equipment (hardware), information recording materials (materials)

Graphic information processing technology (software) includes: information technology (IT), graphics and image processing, word processing, graphic design, electronic publishing (graphic information system), software programming, color science, aesthetics

Information processing and recording equipment (hardware) includes: computer hardware principles, circuit design principles, microelectronics technology, automatic control technology, digital printing and laser typesetting equipment, digital printing equipment, printing machinery

Information recording and storage materials (materials) include: printing paper, printing ink, photosensitive materials, information recording paper, disk and optical disk materials, surface treatment, electronic paper

(2) Pay attention to the application of information technology in the printing profession, and consciously transform the traditional printing industry with information processing technology.

We should sum up the experience and lessons.

(3) The concept of large printing covers all categories that conform to the essential characteristics of printing.

Use "Information communication" to cover the existing concepts of electronic publishing, web publishing, and print publishing.

The application of digital workflow

Harness the value of digital assets

(4) Attach importance to the development of network publishing technology and its impact on the mode of information dissemination.

Wireless mobile information service, anytime, anywhere access to information;

Question: Can you create a print communication technology that has advantages over existing electronic (web) media?

(5) Pay attention to the impact of information recording carriers on printing technology and information dissemination methods

-- Existing recording carriers: data recording, analog recording