Since I'm a fairly new owner of an iPad2, my first tablet, I've been having a blast using it with students at work as well as watching my nearly 9 month old grandson play around with it.  Although I am happy that I have this "innovative" technology at my fingertips,  I know that the concept of tablet computing has been a round for a very long time.


If you are curious to learn more about the history of ideas behind the tablet/iPad/eReader concept, take a look at the video below.  It features the work of Roger Fidler and his team at the Information Design Lab, reviewing their work between 1992-94.   Also explore the links in the "Related" section - I've included links to articles, a dissertation, and a book that mightof interest to those who are researching this topic.   (A must-read is Alan C. Kay's "A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages", written in 1972.)


The Tablet Newspaper: A Vision for the Future
Information Design Lab, 1994,  Knight-Ridder, Inc.




RELATED
History of the Tablet
Chandra Steele, PC Magazine, 8/7/11
A Short History of the Tablet Computer
Thom Holwerda, OS News, 1/15/10
A Personal Computer for Children of All Ages (pdf)
Alan C. Kay, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center, August, 1972
(Alan C. Kay came up with the concept of the DynaBook, basically an early version of the tablet PC/ iPad/eReader. I especially like the picture of students using Kay's version of tablets, located on page 2.  Be sure to take a look at the reference section.)
Tracing the Dynabook: A Study of Technocultural Transformation (pdf)
John W. Maxwell, PhD. Dissertation, Centre for Cross-Faculty Inquiry, University of British Columbia, November, 2006
Roger Fidler and his Early Vision of the Newspaper Tablet
Juan Antonio Giner, What's Next: Innovations in Newspapers, 1/4/10
The Man Who Imagined Tablets and E-Readers
Curtis Brainard, Columbia Journalism Review, 6/17/10
Roger Fidler, Journalism Futures Lab
Mediamorphosis: Understanding New Media (Book, 1997) Roger Fidler The Tablet Newspaper: A Vision For the Future
Teresa Martin, Knight-Ridder Information Design Lab, CHI '95 Proceedings
Abstract: "The Table Newspaper: A Vision for the Future overviews tomorrow's portable information appliances and the ways in which we may interact with information. It explores the role a newspaper may have in the digital era and the form a newspaper may take as an electronic product."
The Media Business;  Knight-Ridder Shuts Down Research Lab
New York Times, 8/3/95
Below is a quote from the NYT article, written in 1995:

"Knight-Ridder Inc. has closed a research lab it established to explore electronic publishing alternatives like the flat-panel newspaper. The Information Design Laboratory, which opened here three years ago, was developing a notebook-sized computer for receiving and displaying electronic newspapers. The electronic tablet weighed less than two pounds and displayed a screen image that looked like the front page of a newspaper. The lab never designed a product that was marketed by Knight-Ridder. "I.D.L. made a valuable contribution to the company's long-range vision of electronic publishing and helped to further the flat-panel newspaper concept," P. Anthony Ridder, Knight-Ridder's chairman and chief executive, said Monday. Knight-Ridder plans to concentrate its electronic publishing efforts on existing technologies like the Internet and on-line services, Polk Laffoon, vice president of corporate relations, said."