From Manuscript to the Hyperlink: The Print and Digital Revolutions in Comparative Perspective

Section: Discussion

The article explores the phenomenon of media revolutions through a comparative analysis of the print revolution of the fifteenth century and the digital revolution of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The study aims to identify how these transformative shifts in media culture altered the production, circulation, and reception of knowledge, and how they reconfigured institutions of legitimacy and infrastructures of communication. The research applies an interdisciplinary methodology that combines book history, media theory, social and intellectual history, and introduces a comparative matrix designed to trace both structural similarities and cultural differences between the two epochs. Special attention is given to the conceptual evolution of the term “media revolutions,” from early notions of “communication” or “information revolutions” to later discussions of “Gutenberg’s revolution”, mediological approaches, and current typologies. The findings demonstrate recurring mechanisms of cultural adaptation to technological change, including transformations of authorship, reading and navigation practices, and public visibility. The conclusion emphasizes the need for an analytical framework that resists both technological determinism and cultural relativism, offering instead a historically grounded perspective on the dynamics of media change. The research further reveals that the outcomes of media revolutions do not follow a uniform Western script. Examining non-Western contexts uncovers multiple trajectories shaped by distinct institutions of legitimation and systems controlling access.

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To cite this article: Kozlov S. V. (2026) Ot manuskripta k giperssylke: pechatnaya i tsifrovaya revolyutsii v sravnitel’noy perspektive [From Manuscript to the Hyperlink: The Print and Digital Revolutions in Comparative Perspective]. Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seriya 10. Zhurnalistika 1: 152–175. DOI: 10.55959/msu. vestnik.journ.1.2026.152175