1 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 (KR Information Design Lab The Tablet Newspaper: A vision for the Future © Copyright 1994 Knight-Ridder, Inc) [Printing noise] 2 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Off voice, female] For more than 500 years, ink printed on paper has been the best medium 3 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for delivering written information. 4 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But as the world becomes increasingly digital, all that is changing. 5 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Here, at the Knight-Ridder information design lab in Boulder, Colorado, 6 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 a team of journalists, designers, technologists and researchers 7 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is putting together the tools that will take today's newspaper into the electronic age. 8 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Roger Fiddler] We will have the interactive graphic now. 9 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 So, when you click on the graphical animate on the front page, or you click on the story (?) 10 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [off voice] Roger Fiddler established the lab for Knight-Ridder in the Fall of 1992. 11 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Today, he serves as its director. 12 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Fiddler] All human communication systems are undergoing a transformation -- 13 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 from one form to another. 14 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And that's all being brought about by emergent technologies and by cultural changes. 15 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Now, several years ago, I coined the word "mediamorphosis" to describe this transformation. 16 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Newspapers are certainly going through that now, 17 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but all forms of media that we know today will be transformed over the next 10, 15 years. 18 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [off voice, male] The transforming inventions are of course the computer and digital telecommunications, 19 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We're finding that our capacity to be able to process and deliver information 20 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 through information superhighways and computer systems, 21 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 are increasing in efficiency and they're resulting in reduced costs for publishing. 22 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I do believe that for the first time, we're going to begin seeing an alternative to ink on paper. 23 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 It may be difficult to conceptualize, the idea of digital paper, 24 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but in fact, we believe that that's what's going to happen. 25 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Fiddler] Ideal is (? 1:54) is a media think-tank: 26 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 we bring people to the lab to give us more insights into the developments of technologies 27 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and particularly, digital technologies and digital communication. 28 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Our role is to investigate the opportunities that may be there for newspaper companies 29 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 over the next few years 30 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and to also try to develop a long-range vision of where the newspaper industry is headed 31 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 over the next 5, 10, 20 years. 32 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Off voice, female] An important part of this evolution is the emergence of the electronic tablet. 33 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 This device is under development at consumer electronic companies around the world. 34 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Tablets will be a whole new class of computers. 35 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They'll weigh under two pounds. 36 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They'll be totally portable. 37 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They'll have a clarity of screen display comparable to ink on paper. 38 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 They'll be able to blend text, video, audio and graphics together. 39 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And they'll be part of our daily lives around the turn of this century. 40 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We may still use computers to create information, 41 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 but we'll use the tablet to interact with information: reading, watching, listening. 42 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 [Fiddler] Our goal here, at the Information Design Lab, 43 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is to develop the appropriate interfaces and appropriate technologies, 44 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 so that when we actually do produce electronic editions of newspapers for these tablets, 45 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 that we could hand it to you and you would immediately know how to use the ..... 46 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 because it looks familiar to you. 47 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 In fact, what we are doing is building a bridge of familiarity. 48 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 When we talk about human communication systems, what we discover throughout history 49 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 is that they have evolved and new forms tend to take on many of the characteristics of older forms 50 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 for some period of time. 51 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 Over time, of course, they do evolve and take on their own characteristics. 52 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 I believe the same thing will happen in our transition 53 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 from ink on paper to digital forms of newspapers and magazines and books. 54 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But in the beginning, they will retain many of the familiar characteristics of print products today. 55 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 And I think that's absolutely essential. 56 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We don't want to have to issue people manuals to read their newspaper. 57 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 You already know how to read a newspaper, you know how to turn pages, pull out a section, 58 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 find things that are interesting to you. 59 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 We can enhance that with electronic technology and make it much more useful 60 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 and add value to it. 61 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 But we believe we have to build a bridge of familiarity first, 62 99:59:59,999 --> 99:59:59,999 to get us from the ink on paper product into the digital world. 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