Do códige ao monitor: a trajetória do escrito

Abstract

Would texts, from now on, be fated to a mere electronic existence? Would books, in their format known since the sixteenth century, be condemned to disappear progressively and definitely? Before answering these questions we must follow the long history of books: from volumen to codex, from oriental xylography to Gutenberg's invention, from the Alexandrian bibliotheca to our great modern libraries, from codices to monitors. Our time faces a challenge: how to use appropriately the electronic support of writing, since the meanings of a text depend very much on its material support. The extravagant happiness gleamed before the production, the consultation, the immediate and universal communication of texts in the computer's screen should be in harmony with the conscience of the role reserved for the new support: protection, conservation and divulgation of the writing heritage of manking, both in its material and symbolic character.