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I thought y'all might be interested in a new technology called
"electronic ink" that may change the technical writing field. It's in
the prototype stage now, but applications are just around the corner.
E-ink is a thin coat of film containing ink capsules that can be turned
on or off with an electric charge. The film is placed on a sheet of
*regular paper* and the grid of ink capsules is charged to form text and
images. With every new charge, the paper can be reused to show different
information. It can even be "programmed" to show moving images like
video. Basically, e-ink tries to combine the best display aspects of the
computer screen (changeable image) with the conveniences of paper (easy
to read, portable). Sounds great to me!
If you'd like to read more about it, it's at the website http://www.msnbc.com. To access MSNBC, you'll have to download their
interface stuff first. Then click Find and type in "electronic ink." Or
you *may* be able to go directly to the article at http://www.msnbc.com/news/179935.asp
The article is called "Putting a New Charge Into Paper." It mentions
that the magazines Nature, Fortune & Wired have also run articles on
e-ink, so you might be able to find more there.
Julie Brown
julbrown -at- flash -dot- net
CBT/Tech Writing Consultant
