Tablet Newspaper (1994)

http://www.paleofuture.com/blog/2007/5/14/tablet-newspaper-1994.html

This video was originally uploaded to Google Video on May 13, 2007.

Looking at the newspaper of the future from 1994.

(KR Information Design Lab
The Tablet Newspaper: A vision for the Future)

(Copyright 1994 Knight-Ridder, Inc)
[Printing noise]

[Off voice, female] For more than 500 years,
ink printed on paper has been the best medium

for delivering written information.

But as the world becomes increasingly digital,
all that is changing.

Here, at the Knight-Ridder information design
lab in Boulder, Colorado,

a team of journalists, designers, technologists
and researchers

is putting together the tools that will take
today's newspaper into the electronic age.

[Roger Fidler] We will have the interactive
graphic now.

So, when you click on the graphical animate
on the front page, or you click on the story

(?)

[off voice] Roger Fidler established the lab
for Knight-Ridder in the Fall of 1992.

Today, he serves as its director.

[Fidler] All human communication systems are
undergoing a transformation --

from one form to another.

And that's all being brought about by emergent
technologies and by cultural changes.

Now, several years ago, I coined the word
"mediamorphosis" to describe this transformation.

Newspapers are certainly going through that
now,

but all forms of media that we know today
will be transformed over the next 10, 15 years.

[off voice, male] The transforming inventions
are of course the computer and digital telecommunications,

We're finding that our capacity to be able
to process and deliver information

through information superhighways and computer
systems,

are increasing in efficiency and they're resulting
in reduced costs for publishing.

I do believe that for the first time, we're
going to begin seeing an alternative to ink

on paper.

It may be difficult to conceptualize, the
idea of digital paper,

but in fact, we believe that that's what's
going to happen.

[Fidler] IDL is a media think-tank:

we bring people to the lab to give us more
insights into the developments of technologies

and particularly, digital technologies and
digital communication.

Our role is to investigate the opportunities
that may be there for newspaper companies

over the next few years

and to also try to develop a long-range vision
of where the newspaper industry is headed

over the next 5, 10, 20 years.

[Off voice, female] An important part of this
evolution

is the emergence of the electronic tablet.

This device is under development at consumer
electronics companies around the world.

Tablets will be a whole new class of computer.

They'll weigh under two pounds.

They'll be totally portable.

They'll have a clarity of screen display comparable
to ink on paper.

They'll be able to blend text, video, audio
and graphics together.

And they'll be part of our daily lives around
the turn of this century.

We may still use computers to create information,

but we'll use the tablet to interact with
information: reading, watching, listening.

[Fidler] Our goal here, at the Information
Design Lab,

is to develop the appropriate interfaces and
appropriate technologies,

so that when we actually do produce electronic
editions of newspapers for these tablets,

that we could hand it to you and you would
immediately know how to use the ..... (?)

because it looks familiar to you.

In fact, what we are doing is building a bridge
of familiarity.

When we talk about human communication systems,
what we discover throughout history

is that they have evolved and new forms tend
to take on

many of the characteristics of older forms for some period of time.

Over time, of course, they do evolve and take
on their own characteristics.

I believe the same thing will happen in our
transition

from ink on paper to digital forms of newspapers
and magazines and books.

But in the beginning, they will retain many
of the familiar characteristics

of print products today.

And I think that's absolutely essential.

We don't want to have to issue people manuals
to read their newspaper.

You already know how to read a newspaper,
you know how to turn pages, pull out a section,

find things that are interesting to you.

We can enhance that with electronic technology
and make it much more useful

and add value to it.

But we believe we have to build a bridge of
familiarity first,

to get us from the ink on paper product into
the digital world.

[Off voice, female] Let's take a closer look
at the Information Design Lab's vision

of the electronic newspaper of the future.

On first glance, it looks just like a printed
newspaper.

In fact, you can browse stories and turn pages
just as you would on paper.

But if a story interests you, you can read
it more deeply.

Suppose this story about Bosnia catches your
attention.

Just touch the text, and the full story appears.

What you read is no longer limited to the
physical constraints

of the printing press and production process.

A story is edited for content and completeness,
not for news ..... (?)

And the tablet newspaper extends communication
beyond the written word.

Touch the map, and it comes alive,

using the tools of sound and animation to
tell the story.

[Off voice, male] To understand the land divisions
proposed today,

one must look at how the diverse cultures
of the Balkans, recently, were part of Yugoslavia,

which formerly held a prominent position in
Central Europe.

[Off voice, female] Access to information
concerns everyone.

This vision of an electronic newspaper lets
its readers move beyond physical barriers.

If you can't read small type, enlarge it until
the type size feels comfortable for you.

Tablet newspapers can also combine video and
audio clips with written stories.

For example, in this sports story, sound bites
and instant replays mean

you don't have to worry about missing that
exciting play.
[subs for the sports comment from here to 6:47 are guess work: someone who knows baseball should check them]

[off voice, male] The whole play is gone.

It's close (?) in the air

it might be .... the score

but underneath, he's got a great arm

Here comes the rudder here comes the draw, they got him!

he never got to the play

[Woman] Hey, look at this!

[Male voice]... swing the bat here, the
double play is gone

[off voice other male (6:28)] It goes in the
air, it might ... the score batting underneath

[Off voice, female] And unlike television,
you can watch it as many time as you want,

or slow the video down to look at just one
frame.

[off voice, some male] ... strikes the baseball, and ... is gone down and that is how...

[Off voice, female] The tablet paper even
flags items of special interest to you.

We've included a personal profile page where
you can tell the newspaper

to find ads or stories that march your interests.

You can see an index of the entire newspaper

with items that match your special interests highlighted,

turn to a set of abstracts that match your
personal profile,

and jump from the index or the abstract to
the full story.

But moving to a new form doesn't mean you
should give up anything,

including the ability to save and share pieces
of the newspaper.

Just like the printed form, with the tablet
newspaper, you can clip and save articles,

or send them electronically to a friend.

You can do all this without using a manual,

because everyone already understands how a
newspaper works.

One of the things that helps readers navigate through the newspaper

is its familiar look and feel.

We know how to find everything in our newspaper,
it's the one we read everyday.

Retaining that look and feel is very important,
because people don't buy generic news.

They buy a specific newspaper with a branded
identity.

[Fidler] For most people, a newspaper is like
a friend.

It's somebody you know, you have come to trust.

Over the last 15 years, there have been many
attempts to develop electronic newspapers

and many of the technologists who have been
pursuing these objectives

assume that information is simply a commodity

and people really don't care where that information
comes from

as long as it matches their set of personal
interests.

I disagree with that view.

People recognize the newspapers they subscribe
to.

They don't even have to see the name on the
name plate.

If it is on a news stand, they immediately
recognize the New York Times

or the Wall Street Journal or Philadelphia Inquirer.

And it's also true for the local newspapers
in small towns.

And there is a loyalty attached to those - those
names.

When you buy that newspaper and you go to
the newspaper, you know how it's organized.

It feels comfortable to you.

[Off voice, female] Advertising is an important
of the Knight-Ridder model.

It helps underwrite the cost of the newspaper,

making the news accessible to everyone -- plus,
people like advertising.

It's a part of the local information package and at times,

it can be as important as the news itself.

Most people want to know what's on sale this
week at the department store,

and they want to clip the Sunday coupons.

The tablet newspaper takes advertising to
new dimensions,

making the ad more useful to readers who are
interested in it,

without annoying readers who aren't at all
interested in it.

Just as you can go deeper into a story, you
can go deeper into an ad.

Plus, the tablet has two-way communication's
capability.

So you can buy and sell electronically,

make reservations,

or request more information.

[Ridler] Well, you have to think of ads somewhat
differently in electronic publishing.

In a sense, the are very much like a shopping
center.

In the print model, we find that, you know,
you have a surface

and it's a two-dimensional world, so what
you see is what you get.

The advertiser presents their image or their
sale

but requires you then, after you've seen the
ad, to go do something later with it.

[Fidler, off] In the electronic world, we're
really dealing with a three-dimensional world.

The advertising on the surface pages that
you browse, just like a newspaper today,

are in a sort of sense, the store front window.

If I'm interested in that ad and want to know
more,

it's simply a matter of touching that ad,

and at that point, I go through an electronic
doorway into the advertiser's space.

And in that space might be a video clip for
15 or 20 seconds, sort of a TV commercial,

but I'm in control.

[Off voice, female] The tablet makes information
100% accessible.

It goes where you go.

If you don't want to read the paper, the tablet
can read the stories to you.

[woman driver] Read story.

[Speech-to-text] Geneva. Adopting the language and locale of a bygone diplomatic era...

[Off voice, female] And you can get your news
anywhere.

We envision kiosks that would download your
publications onto electronic cards

that go inside the tablet.

So if you're doing business in Miami but your
home town is Denver,

you can still get your local paper delivered
every morning.

[Fidler] This is one of the most exciting
places to be in the newspaper industry today.

This is where, I think, we're going to play
a role in changing - changing history.

And the people that we have here, in our laboratory
are creative, energetic,

and very concerned about the newspaper industry
itself

and how to build on the strength of the industry
rather simply restarting all over again.

There are many people who believe that newspapers
are dinosaurs

and that they are going to become the road kill on the information super-highway

in a not too distant future.

We believe exactly the opposite.

We believe that newspapers, in fact, can evolve
into a new form of media

that blends the old familiar aspects of a newspaper

with the new technologies that are emerging,

so that you have the ability to read and browse
and scan, as we do today,

but at the same time, being able to interact
with the newspaper,

to interact with advertisers through your
newspaper

in ways that are not possible in print media
today.

(Presented by Knight-Ridder, Inc.)

(Producer Brian Doubleday)

(Script Teresa A. Martin)

(Camera Brad Wallace)

(Editor Izzie Jimenez)

(Off-line Editor Lily Gabriel)

(Associate Producers Deborah Fellner Bill Skeet)

(Thanks to KRT News In Motion - National Junior College Athletic Association)

(Clarion Harvest House, Boulder, Colorado)

(Executive Producer Teresa A. Martin)