成人快手

Video summary

This animated film looks at the big ideas of William Caxton and Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Both changed how we share information today, even though they lived over 500 years apart.

In 1472, William Caxton introduced the printing press to England, revolutionising how books were produced. Before then, each book was painstakingly written by hand, making them rare and expensive.

Caxton's printing press allowed him to create many copies quickly, sparking a surge in books and newspapers - and in ideas. A whole diverse range of information and theories could be shared quickly, and reach a larger audience of readers than before.

Five hundred years later, Tim Berners-Lee's invention of the World Wide Web made it easier for computers to connect using the Internet. This revolutionised how people share information globally.

Today, both Caxton's books and Berners-Lee's web pages have become integral to our lives and shape the way we communicate.

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Teacher Notes

Themes in the film include:

  • How technology has changed over centuries, and how it impacts our daily lives
  • How we share and learn information

Additional Notes

  • Literacy rates

When William Caxton arrived in London with his printing press in 1476, literacy rates weren鈥檛 high. This was partly due to the expensive nature of books. The printing press and the works created provided an impetus for people to learn and it鈥檚 reported that between 1500 and 1800, literacy rates increased drastically.

Before the video

  • What do you think a machine that makes lots of copies of books would look like?

Encourage pupils to draw their version of the machine or create them as a group activity.

Show a clip of a modern day printing press, for example the mass printing of newspapers. Show a photograph of an early, wooden printing press.

  • What differences can you see between the early printing press and the ones we have now?

Explain three bits of key vocabulary they鈥檒l be hearing:

  • Printing press
  • Internet
  • Web page

During the video

00:26 - Who had their idea first, William or Tim? (William Caxton. Tim had his idea 500 years later)
01:04 - Why did books take so long to make before Caxton鈥檚 machine? (They were written by hand)
01:18 - How many copies of a book could Caxton鈥檚 machine make? (Lots and lots of the same book, by using letter blocks)
02:00 - What did Caxton鈥檚 books lead to? (Lots of changes and new inventions)
02:23 - Why wasn鈥檛 the internet easy to use when it was first invented? (In 1989, the Internet was new and computers struggled to connect to each other)
02:47 - On the world wide web, what did every page have? (It鈥檚 own address, like a house)

After the video

  • If you could travel back to the past, what questions would you ask William Caxton about his printing press?
  • Apart from books and newspapers, what are other ways we share information with each other?
  • When Caxton's books and newspapers were printed, people had big questions about the world. What questions do you have about the world?
  • What types of books do you like reading?

This film is suitable for teaching History at KS1 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 1st Level in Scotland.

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