It is safe to say that the printing industry is the most dynamic, fastest growing industry in the world. Its development is rapid, despite the tremendous success of the even more rapidly developing information industry, and perhaps even in spite of its development. Printing, however, has already been integrated into it, as an important part of the information and communications industry. It quickly, if not at lightning speed, absorbs everything new that is created by mankind, implementing these achievements in publishing and printing technologies. That is why we periodically learn about new equipment, new technologies, new software solutions in the field of printing and in a short time we see them in action at printing and publishing companies.
Two decades ago, printers could not have imagined what their industry would become in the future. From the perspective of the 1980s, the speed of the printing industry’s development in recent times seems truly cosmic.
All sectors of the industry are changing before our eyes: what was a novelty yesterday is now obsolete and being replaced by something even newer and more attractive. Therefore it is easy to speak and write about modern technologies of printing, on the one hand, knowing the current state of technology, and on the other hand, it is difficult, because you imagine that soon today’s novelties will be replaced or already replaced by something newer.
The development of science and technology makes it possible to constantly improve printing technologies in accordance with market needs, creating favorable conditions for globalization and internationalization of printing.
Improvement of printing methods depends on such branches as informatics, computer science, cybernetics, automation, as well as physics, chemistry, mechanical engineering.
There are three stages in the printing process: prepress, the printing process, and postpress. Everyone knows this. But this division is no longer enough. The use of computer technology in printing has become commonplace. Some new computer solutions for printing are appearing all the time.
We do not aim in this review to tell about all the new technological processes, equipment and printing materials, but we would like to emphasize a number of novelties which primarily attract the attention of specialists in the field.
And yet: the boom or bust of the printing industry?
Along with the increasing availability and necessity of electronic and online media, the time that people can afford to spend on reading is decreasing. This is especially true for young people and the poorly educated. Books are increasingly giving way to television, radio, video and the Internet. The accessible, interactive, worldwide information diversity has created a surfeit of information. People are especially eager nowadays to turn to electronic directories, catalogs and other publications on CD-ROM, which are used primarily to search for specific information.
Today it is possible to hear the opinion that the development of information media in the next 10-15 years may lead to the decline of the printing industry. However, experts, referring to the still insufficient development of the media, predict that in the foreseeable future there will be no real threat to the printing industry. They also predict a new orientation of the industry. Proof of this is the slight decline in demand for print media of various topics. The main reason for this is the fact that television largely satisfies society’s need for information and entertainment. However, print media are necessary for groups of people with common interests.
Compared to electronic media, print products such as daily newspapers and informative magazines offer a variety of materials, providing individual information needs of the reader.
Moreover, these publications can be read at the reader’s convenience at any time and in any environment, without the use of special devices. Needless to say, this is a big plus for print media. This is understood by the owners and developers of electronic media, who create electronic books to make it convenient for the reader to use them at any time, not when the information will be released on the air. Otherwise, why would it be necessary to create huge digital libraries and develop electronic paper now?
As for daily newspapers, they make big profits because of the high relevance of the information provided and delivered to the reader on time.
Information and entertainment are among basic human needs. The role that interactive media will play in this respect depends primarily on whether they meet these needs better than conventional media do. This is most likely to be the case with information media and decision-oriented processes such as telecommunications retailing (Teleshopping) and e-commerce (e-Commerce).
Thus, we can conclude that online services are a viable complement to print products. If they consolidate their position and purpose, they will have a major impact on the content of news magazines and daily newspapers.
In general, it is obvious that the media that can best meet human needs will win.
From this we can conclude about the prospects for the continued existence of books and print media in general. And this conclusion is that no new media will ever replace printed sources of information. Cinema, television, video and DVD did not lead to the closure of theaters, just as after the invention of radio, gramophone records, audio cassettes and audio CDs, concert activities safely continue their existence.
Moreover, there are areas of the printing industry that have only begun to develop rapidly in recent years, but without which human life has become unthinkable. Here it is appropriate to think of packaging and label printing. It is clear to everyone that packaging and labels are indispensable products, and their development has accelerated and will continue as the general development of printing technology continues. This once again confirms that each individual medium has its specific functions, their coexistence is not always conflict-free, but in the end, in the competition, all media develop along their own lines, generally ensuring the harmonious development of the information society.
