Thursday, May 8th, 2025
Today was another beautiful day in Dublin, and we had two very exciting things on the agenda – a guest speaker and a museum trip.
We started the day by walking to the Centre for a 10:00 AM presentation on the media state and regulation in Ireland from a professor from Dublin City University, Roderick (or Roddy) Flynn. Professor Flynn was a very engaging speaker and equally passionate about what he spoke of.
The overall presentation discussed the history of the media landscape in Ireland as well as the adjustments and changes media is currently making to keep up with an ever-evolving technological landscape.
One topic that stood out to me was the discussion we had about Irish culture and its heavy reliance on American media and art. For instance, Irish media consumption (including digital, movies, music, etc.) is heavily based in what is popular in America. This is because of Ireland’s limited resources to mass produce content like the United States can, therefore, most of the popular movies and musical artists in the U.S. are also popular in Ireland.
After the lecture we had about 2 hours to kill before our next activity – a visit to the National Print Museum. In that timeframe, we (myself, Sav, and Max) got coffee (from Mister Magpies) and lunch from Smythe’s (a quiet and quaint pub). I got a Caesar Salad, which to my surprise had diced bell peppers and bacon on top of it, dissimilar to the typical Caesar Salad in the United States.
At 2:00 PM, we met at the National Print Museum for a tour of the facility and demonstration of the various machines that made up the original printing press. I really enjoyed hearing about the printing press. It is something that I have learned my entire life of its importance and impact on mankind, but I never truly understood how it worked, or how people could conceptualize the idea and make it come to life. I was unaware of the complexity and all of the various moving pieces to successfully create copy for books, newspapers, posters, etc. Having the opportunity to see it in person, and in action, helped me to better understand the process of the printing press.
Additionally, I found it especially interesting to learn that vernacular utilized in day-to-day life derives from the printing industry. Including:
- “Mind your Ps and Qs”
- An expression that means to mind your manners (and some other interpretations as well), it initially came from the printing industry due to the letters P and Q looking very similar and can be easily confused during the printing press set-up (which is upside-down and backwards).
- “Coining a Phrase”
- Another way to say “introducing a phrase” or slang, “coining a phrase” came from the process of setting a phrase into place on a printing press, which is called “coining”.
- “Uppercase” and “Lowercase”
- These phrases came from the literal location that printing press letters were stored. Capital letters were always stored in the top drawers, or upper cases, and lowercase letters were (you guessed it) stored in the lower drawer, or lower case.
The experience at the National Print Museum was educational and like taking a step back in time. It is kind of sad, actually, how because of advancements in technology, old-fashioned printing is a dying art. So, it is important that places like this exist to not only preserve history but to educate others on it’s importance and impact!
Following the print museum, we made our way back to our apartments, walking beside the canal along the way and taking in the scenery. That evening we attended a choir service at Christ Church Cathedral, a beautiful and unexpectedly monumental and historical experience that I believe warrants its own blog post… so, stay tuned!
