印刷數位化對印刷產業之衝擊與探討

The Impact and Review of Digital Printing on Printing Industry

本文就1930-1990年代間印刷產業的演進過程中，描繪數位化對印刷業的衝擊與轉型，進而省思印刷的未來。我們可以了解在1930年代至1960年代，活版曾扮演相當重要的角色，從啟蒙、成熟到鼎盛而轉型、開啟其他平凹版及網版的應用時代。1990年代數位資訊的時代，影響整個印刷產業不得不轉型發展，電腦科技軟硬體的發展促進印刷生產機材設備的研發突破，推翻印刷業傳統技術與生產製程，不論是印刷產品、市場或印刷作業程序及產品品質要求，皆有不同於以往的革命性轉變，數位化印刷成為必然趨勢。從大方向來看，印刷業愈是使用新科技，愈是代表印刷產業的成長，然而另一個面向也就是指出印刷產業面臨另一個嚴格的生存考驗。印刷數位化面臨的挑戰甚多，文中分別從數位化技術改變圖文傳播方式、改變用感覺工作的方式、研發技術、人才培育及中文印刷字體的標準等五個方向探討。數位化對印刷業最大的衝擊，莫過於電腦成為普遍化的生產工具，顧客也可以自行製作出版物，在平面媒體市場上，促使跨行業與專業知識紛紛結合，造成印刷業者極大的不安全感。這種不安全感來自於傳播科技數位化的時代，印刷媒體逐漸與電腦通訊結合一體後，不再是資訊傳播的主角，接連而來的危機將是，傳統印刷科技是否會被電子媒體取代？印刷業在數位化資訊社會中如何自我定位？個人化印刷傳播的流行對未來有何影響？印刷產業數位化後，為了重新定位，必須花更多時間與金錢去解決問題，這些將值得我們省思。

This paper discusses the impact and transformation of digital printing on the printing industry since the printing revolution from the 1930s to the 1960s and examines the future of the industry. We know that from the 1930s to the 1960s, letter press printing, from its beginning, mature, and declining stages, used to play an important role in inspiring, encouraging, and helping the application of other lithographic printing, gravure printing, and screen printing. In the digital era of the 1990s, the whole printing industry had no choice but transformed itself. The development of computer hardware and software technology pushed the breakthrough in R&D of printing equipment and overturned traditional printing techniques and production procedures. Printing products, market, operational procedure, and demand of quality have changed dramatically and digital printing became the inevitable trend. Judging from the whole development direction, we found that the adoption of new technology went along with the growth of printing industry; however, the printing industry also faces a harsh arena for survival. Digital printing technique faces quite a number of challenges. This paper addressed the issue from the change of photo and text brought by digital technique, change of job done by impression, R&D technology, personnel cultivation, and standard of Chinese printing letters. One of the most important impact brought by digitalization is that computer now has become the most common production tool and customers are able to publish on their own. In the market of non-electronic media, trans-industrial and professional knowledge integration caused the insecurity of the printing operators. The insecurity resulted from the communication technique in digital time. After integrating with computer communication, traditional printing technique is no longer the main character of information communication and it also faces the risks: whether it will be replaced by electronic media, what the self identification of printing industry in digital information society is, what impact of the popularity of personalized printing communication will bring to us in future, and how much time and money we will need to spend to solve the problem once digital printing industry has found its identification. These issues all deserve more thoughtful consideration.