Print or not print: is that still the question?
Abstract
This paper aims to shed light on some of the reasons that might have caused the rejection of the printing press in the first place, and subsequently have caused the delay in adopting of printing and dissemination of knowledge in the Modern Middle East. It will also investigate similar issues that affect manuscript digitisation projects in the Middle East focusing on Egypt where enormous collections of manuscripts are still not accessible to the world. A comparison of the attitudes towards the printing press in the Middle East and the attitudes towards manuscript digitisation should help in understanding these phenomena.
This paper has been withdrawn.