Reading #41 - LiquidText: Active Reading through Multitouch Document Manipulation

Comments
http://jip-tamuchi-spring2011.blogspot.com/2011/01/reading-41-liquidtext-active-reading.html?showComment=1295542690033#c1075053493023987973
http://jnelissen-chi.blogspot.com/2011/01/reading-1-liquidtext-active-reading.html?showComment=1295543212973#c5039208557705344327


Reference Information
Author: Craig Tashman
CHI 2010 Doctoral Consortium, Atlanta, GA April, 2010

Summary
In his paper, Craig is trying to find a suitable way to have active reading activities that would normally be done with paper cross into the digital realm. He is proposing device that will accept multi-touch input because the mouse pointer holds too little bandwidth. He states that paper was poor anyway and that his new LiquidText is the best step forward. Also he gives a status of the current work he is doing on the project and what still needs to be done.


Discussion
The idea that paper is poor and needs to be improved is somewhat flawed. It is true that when it comes to active reading that paper could be improved upon because computers bring so much more to the table. However, what is not mentioned is the fact that paper is so cheap and one of the fundamental inventions of human kind. Whatever Craig proposes I think must also address the cost issue in order for him to compete at all in cutting down on paper. Also, it seems like his device uses a backlight of some sort and that will require much power to run and also puts eye strain on the user. This will obviously need to be addressed and eliminated to become ideal. I would have liked to have seen more on the topic of the actual LiquidText because much of the paper was just on the implementation of the next steps in the research.

A specific company's implementation