I found while reading this assignment that Eisenstein makes initial points and continues to support them throughout the essay. I found her discussion about standardizing writing particularly interesting.
Page 128:
"Concepts pertaining to uniformity and to diversity--to the typical and to the unique--are interdependent. They represent two sides of the same coin. In this regard one might consider the emergence of a new sense of individualism as a by-product of the new forms of standardization. The more standardized the type, indeed, the more compelling the sense of an idiosyncratic personal self"
This is certainly true. If there wasn't standardization, there would be no need for individualism because technically everybody would be an individual with no standards existing. Then I guess in a way everybody would be a standard individual. Hmph...
Page 130:
"The individual features of emperors and kings were not sufficiently detailed when stamped on coinds for their faces to be recognized when they traveled incognito. But a portrait engraved on paper money enabled an alert Frenchman to recognize and halt Louis XVI at Varennes."
(Trust me, you'll want to click the Wikipedia link.) My little brother, Dougie, who is 17, knew what was on the front and back of every bill and coin denomination by the time he was two. Imagine never seeing George Washington's, or if you're lucky, Benjamin Franklin's, face appear the same way twice on a bill or coin. Almost sounds a little ridiculous doesn't it? We take standardization for granted; after this reading I learned that even being an individual is a form of standardization
"Just as the act of publishing errata sharpened attention to error within the printer's workshop, so too did the preparation of copy pertaining to architectural motifs, regional boundaries, place names, details of dress and local customs/It seems likely that a new awareness of place and period and more concern about assigning the proper trappings to each were fostered by the very act of putting together illustrated guidebooks and costume manuals."
if there wasn't standardization, then what would we learn in school? we would have the basic principle textbooks and a bunch of random confusing information would be thrown at us. Plus, from standardization comes variations. Everyone would be (considered by us) individualism, but what would that be defined as if there were no standards? confusing.....