1936

Canned library

Made to have print in libraries take up less space but still being accessible

Facsimile print

Early form of accessibility

Not rapid enough, and the quality of images was low and it could only print on a small size of paper

1956

Electronic home library

Future thinking and creative

Not very available for all households very high threshold

1960

Microfilm

Widespread improvement of canned libraries

1989

Smart Design

Early iPad idea

1990

Xerox ePaper

New technology using electrically charged microspheres

Email no trees were harmed

Boost to the digital edition market, customers felt they were harming the environment less

Caused people to print more as more content was made printable such as email

1992

Knight Ridder
Newspaper

Aim to explore the future of news, tablet prototype.
News;updateable, read out loud

Too early, a lot of these technologies weren't advanced enough yet

1993

PDF

Adobes widespread format still used by a large audience and compatible with pretty much all devices

1994

CD ROM

Novelty, slow,
took 5 seconds to flip the page

1999

Blog live journal

Big change in how information
was being produced and consumed online.
Anyone could access and produce

Need internet to access

2002

Book mobile

Simple technology (computer, printer, binding machine) stored inside a van to produce books in print for the public

Not a widespread audience

2006

Email flyer

Performative way of showing how email works in terms of spamming, however made more of a statement in the physical context

Printed vs online texts trust being put to the test

2007

Mobile phone novels

Accessible at all times, big profits lead to more sales in physical books also

Limited to one format only able to be viewed in the latest available format of the medium

2008

Kindle

Suitable for our society who are always on the go and cheaper than print. Accessible via download

Not the same feel as real book, needs to be charged, flipping takes long, no colour, fragile, books can be removed by the author

USB

Limited edition, special item with content, offline, physical but still digital

Can get corrupted or overridden, only accessible to people who are in possession of this

Human Printer

Increases craftsmanship in a digital society, Special as it is limited edition

Time needed to create something like this, and precision

2009

Pirating

Increases sale, circulation and interest of printed books.

Digital checkouts

Keeps some of the aspects of the experience of a physical library,fast growth

Only one copy of each still available, not the same library experience

Antonio Canova

Making a book a luxury item to possess, uniqueness, higher value

Not available to everyone, crazy high prices, can be considered kitsch

Sharp, Aquos TV

Early version of a Smart TV

Screen too far away and too large for reading

Blogpaper

Gives the user a say in what should be published and the user being in charge of the content

2010

iPad

Personal device,organized,compliance with existing formats, really good screen resolution

WWF

As too much material was being printed this was there to make sure that not all materials could be printed causing harm on the environment

Reading on screen is strenuous for the eyes