Known as the age of discovery, the modern times of today have seen many relentless innovations that are benefiting the human kind in every possible way. Technology evolving with every passing day and we as humans feel and experience it all around us and has helped man to be more resourceful.

In cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi where which have really gotten the status of international cities due to more interest of expats and investors every service needed in these cities is a little bit more expensive than normal. The rates of these cities for every service are higher as compared to other emirates of UAE. The entrepreneurs and startups don’t want to spend money on the same services which they can get in lower rates from other cities. One main example is the low rates of printing press in Sharjah.

Similarities between the two:-

Here are few of the similarities of Gutenberg’s invented printing press which was able to create a new age of communication in the 15th century and the internet which caused similar kind of waves in the modern times according to Ian Goldin and Chris Kutarna.

Omnipresent:-

One feature of these two which no one can deny is that both of these spread exponentially and made their way into two different generations. According to figures a total of 15-20 million books were published in 50 years in the layout industries, which is a staggering number considering those old times.

Likewise the internet has also shown great pace of growth and popularity since it came to the scene in 1980s and is currently being used by billions if not trillions around the globe.

Both changed the approach of business:-

The layout industry turned the slow and tedious way of composing books in to more speedy, attractive and efficient ways. Because of this the book became common and cheaper as it was earlier due to it being mass produced.

The internet became an effective way in lowering the cost of information distribution which clearly meant that anybody could be author of new stories and publisher of ideas and discoveries. This has not only made publishing sector more efficient but has changed the media landscape to being more competitive.

Information has become mobile and easy to spread:-

Publishing became easy and books turned out to be cheap that could be carried any where over long distances. Traders, missionaries and explorers carried books to places like Latin America, Japan, India and china where they were pretty much liked, and the trend started in these areas.

Stories, photos, news and videos spread all across the globe in a matter of few seconds. A common example of it is the picture of Ellen DeGeneres’s selfie in which he is holding his Oscar was downloaded on 26 million devices in a matter of 12 hours.

Emergence of new media forms:-

Printing press in Sharjah invented pamphlet of 16th century that can be called as the tweet (twitter post)of current times. Pamphlets were common amongst intellectuals and scholars at that time who claimed the credit of a certain discovery.

The internet gave birth to social media, YouTube channels and lot more that are like oxygen to the new generation as well as the millennials who express themselves and seek any information as well as spread anything.