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European collaboration and the shaping of an interactive multimedia tablet
Technology In Society 21 (1999) 19–36
European collaboration and the shaping of an interactive multimedia tablet Alfonso Molina* TechMaPP, Department of Business Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Abstract This case study looks at the design process that resulted in the world’s first colour interactive digital tablet for multimedia newspapers. NewsPad resulted from the European collaborative ESPRIT/OMI Project 9252. NewsPad is still a visionary product; in a few years such a portable digital tablet will undoubtedly become commonplace, and multimedia news will be quickly and easily accessed through it. However, as yet it is too early to determine its cost-effective performance and mass-market demand. 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Visionary products; Tablet computer; Multimedia newspaper; Design process; Sociotechnical constituency; Path dependent
1. NewsPad: the vision NewsPad is envisioned as a portable multimedia receiver and player for the consumer market, capable of display broadcast information, including news, entertainment, education, advertising, and general data. NewsPad will allow users to navigate through its contents. Depending on the available means of communication, NewsPad will also allow the reader to interact with information providers. Over the long term, information will be distributed via high bandwidth digital broadcasting and delivered through a small, low-cost, lightweight portable multimedia set or receiver. This
* Tel.: 0131 650 4066; fax: 0131 668 3053; e-mail: [email protected] 0160-791X/99/$ - see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 6 0 - 7 9 1 X ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 3 5 - 9
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receiver will communicate with the information supplier through narrowband digital channels for control and specific services.
2. The NewsPad project The technical aim of the NewsPad project was to develop the prototype tablet and multimedia content of a portable ‘multimedia newspaper’, which led to the NewsPad information device shown in Fig. 1, which is the focus of this paper. NewsPad is powered by an integrated ARM microprocessor, the same chip that was at the heart of the ill-fated Apple’s Newton personal digital assistant (PDA) and several other high-performance personal computing devices. It consists of a rugged plastic enclosure about the size of an A4 sheet of paper, which houses a large, highresolution colour active matrix LCD screen. The user interacts with the newspaper content, selects and navigates information paths, and controls the system—all through a finger touch screen overlay. NewsPad is designed for maximum simplicity, and there are no user control buttons except an on/off switch. NewsPad’s display capabilities are rich in multimedia, including motion video and full 16-bit CD-quality audio, colour still images, infographics, and animated information sequences, in addition to more traditional newspaper graphics and text. NewsPad also includes a small audio speaker and has an optional integral microphone and compact colour video camera. In the future, the camera could enable users confronted with newsworthy situations to become ‘instant reporters’.
Fig. 1.
NewsPad interactive tablet.
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3. Project participants The NewsPad project involved several European organisations. The coordinator was El Perio´dico (Spain), which contributed the actual content of the multimedia newspaper as well as its advertising. Acorn Computers Ltd (UK) contributed the hardware and system software, and it also supported El Perio´dico with expertise regarding the production or authoring equipment needed to produce the content of a multimedia newspaper. CARAT Expert (France) contributed specialist knowledge in the advertising field. Archimedes Ltd (Greece) supported Acorn in the production of specialised software required for filtering broadcast multimedia news and information. Institut Catala´ de Tecnologı´a (ICT) (Spain) examined and tested the most appropriate methods of broadcasting multimedia in the context of a news service. ICT also supported the Technology Management and Policy Programme (TechMaPP) at Edinburgh University (UK) in aspects of the innovation approach implemented by the project. The methodology for the project was the responsibility of TechMaPP and was expected to generate a systematic strategic approach to design despite major market uncertainty.
4. Designing the NewsPad tablet There were three convergent strands in the design of the tablet. One came from expertise within Acorn, the company ultimately responsible for delivering the tablet and the technology expert of the project. This strand may be identified as the pathdependent strand. The second strand developed with the help of outside consultants who had expertise in aesthetics, and can be identified as the look-and-feel-of-thetimes strand. The third strand came from the European project approach to involving users and building eventual market success. This strand may be identified as the constituency-building strand. 4.1. The path-dependent strand This strand was strongly influential in shaping the design of NewsPad. It reflected the ability of the technology supplier to shape the project based on its own expertise and experience. As the technology partner, it was Acorn’s role to define technical specifications, particularly those of a technical depth beyond the domain or interest of end users. 4.2. The look-and-feel-of-the-times strand From the beginning NewsPad was envisioned as a consumer electronics product. This meant that aesthetic aspects and the general look and feel of the product would substantially influence its appeal to potential users. Such aesthetic expertise did not exist within the NewsPad consortium, and was ultimately subcontracted by Acorn to a design consultant.
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4.3. The European constituency-building strand The NewsPad project was conceived as a multi-disciplinary project that would bring together players with complementary expertise and experience who could tackle the challenge of a multimedia newspaper. It was clear that no single company could provide the range of expertise required for such a project. It was also clear that the NewsPad platform, as a component of the overall service, should not be designed in complete isolation from users in the value chain, i.e. the newspaper user (content provider) and the user ‘reader’ (mass market). For this reason, the NewsPad project adopted a constituency-building approach which explicitly acknowledged that technical factors alone do not determine the success of an emerging technology such as this multimedia newspaper. It treated the entire process as one of creating a multimedia newspaper ‘sociotechnical constituency’1 in which major constituents are readers and business organizations that are able to exploit technology such as publishing companies, advertising companies, service providers, and others. In addition, it was recognised that the essence of constituency-building is the deeper process of stimulating and promoting alignment among readers, suppliers and their technologies, and other players that are important for the emergence, development, and shaping of the technology (‘sociotechnical alignment’2). NewsPad’s activities explicitly aimed to realize this process of alignment, and this was primarily the role of TechMaPP. The overall concept of the holistic approach taken by the project is illustrated in Fig. 2. The long-term focus was to build the multimedia newspaper constituency, bringing together the range of generic technical constituents shown in the first inner ring and the range of social/organisational constituents shown in the outside ring. Of course, the project could not pursue all areas at the same depth, since its primary purpose and the focus of its resources was to advance the concept of and demonstrate the feasibility of a portable interactive tablet with multimedia newspaper content. 4.4. Mechanisms for eliciting information It was important to advance the knowledge of and, to some extent, the definition of other aspects of the process by tracking and monitoring developments in those aspects. It was also important to begin a process of dialogue in order to stimulate a two-way alignment between users and the technology. The methodology for achieving this purpose is illustrated in Fig. 3. It made use of techniques to generate and elicit visions, perceptions, and information useful to the alignment process that underpinned the development of the NewsPad constituency. The major elements in the process are placed within two integrated levels around the NewsPad project or consortium (NP). 1 ‘Sociotechnical constituencies’ are defined as dynamic ensembles of technical constituents (e.g. machines, instruments) and social constituents (e.g. institutions, interest groups) that interact and shape each other in the course of creating, producing, and diffusing specific technologies or services such as the ‘multimedia newspaper’. On the concept of ‘sociotechnical constituencies’, see [1–3]. 2 On the concept of ‘sociotechnical alignment’, see [4,5].
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Fig. 2.
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Key generic sociotechnical constituents of the multimedia newspaper.
The inner box contains the information substance (i.e. relevant information, views, perceptions, visions) and their sources (i.e. experts, readers, potential allies, and second sources). The outer box contains the eliciting mechanisms, placed close to their main target sources, although not exclusive to them. Thus, ‘Monitoring of Literature’ was largely responsible for the input of information on relevant trends and development in NewsPad’s evolution. ‘Round Tables’ and ‘Pilots’ produced relevant input taken from the views of experts and readers, respectively. ‘Contacts and Dialogue’ were the mechanism for channeling information and even encouraging possible collaborations with potential allies who shared experiences that were similar to NewsPad. Monitoring consisted of a traditional search structured around the partitioning and mapping of critical issues for the constituency (refer to Fig. 2). Issues were circulated periodically to all partners. Contacts and dialogue were part of the constituencybuilding activity geared to promoting relations with organisations that faced problems similar to NewsPad, particularly newspapers, advertisers, media labs, etc. This aspect
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Fig. 3.
Substance and mechanisms of NewsPad’s alignment process.
was handled cautiously given the potential for disappointment if problems developed in the early stages of the project (one has to remember that products similar to NewsPad had been announced but failed ever to see the light of day). Round Tables and focus groups captured the vision and views of experts and readers in areas related to NewsPad’s development. A variety of techniques were used depending on the focus of the gathering (e.g. brainstorming and Delphi-type nominal group techniques). Pilots and user methodology were some of the most important methodologies because of the importance of achieving alignment between the state of the technology and the type of pilot suitable for constituency-building over the long term. Pilots were conceived as the beginning of a controlled dialogue with userconsumers regarding the portable platform, the content and navigational concepts, and/or the integration of both.
5. The role of the three strands in shaping NewsPad’s design The three strands identified earlier played unequal roles in shaping the NewsPad tablet. The balance and integration of their roles were highly contextualised and changed over time. The following were of varying influence at different times: 앫 앫 앫 앫
the the the the
nature and state of development of the technology; technical depth of specific aspects or parameters of the system; health and consequent strategic definitions of the companies themselves; and resources and pressures coming from European funding sources.
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I will examine how the process actually happened, and how NewsPad finally adopted the design shown in Fig. 1. A brief outline of some of the initial conditions characterising the NewsPad experience is given in Table 1. These are useful for understanding some of the steps in the design of the tablet.
6. The early idea: envisioning NewsPad in the project proposal The first tentative shape of NewsPad appeared during the writing and negotiation of the project proposal. At this time, the path-dependent approach predominated. Acorn is the technology partner and it is expected to contribute its expertise in completing the hardware and software parts of the project proposal. The purpose was to communicate to evaluators the concept rather than offer well-defined specifications. It should be considered that an important element of the project was to define the final shape and characteristics of the platform as part of a systematic process of constituency-building which included continuing dialogue with users and experts (refer to Fig. 3). Fig. 4 shows the original shape proposed by Acorn in a drawing found in the project document agreed with the European Commission. The device was built on Acorn’s proprietary RiscOS operating system technology and a low-power consumption ARM microprocessor. In fact, the use of the ARM microprocessor was a pre-condition since the CEC funding was for applications that would pull European microprocessor technology into the market, and ARM was one of these microprocessors. Furthermore, as noted in Table 1, Acorn had already proTable 1 Initial conditions of NewsPad The Company: Acorn Acorn is an innovative technology company whose traditional business has been desktop computers and workstations for the education market. Margins in this business are very low and Acorn is redefining its market targets toward information appliances such as set-top boxes. The desktop computing market is no longer viable for the long term, but NewsPad is at present too medium to long term to become a mainstream product line. The company has produced a portable computer that can provide the foundations for the prototype NewsPad tablet computer. The Prototype Product Acorn has to produce the NewsPad portable tablet prototype out of available technology (key proprietary technology ARM and RiscOS). In the market, there is no concept of a portable multimedia newspaper or multimedia news information systems among market user-consumers. NewsPad plans to engage in dialogues with target users through pilots in the European project. Nature and Maturity of the Technology The present development of the component does not enable the company to develop a product with the cost-performance characteristics of a viable commercial product. A tablet prototype is all the project can aim for at this stage. An integrated platform/content NewsPad prototype will evolve out of the specific contributions and dialogue of EP and Acorn. The exact shape is not clear. It will be the result of a scenario-building process. Technology for low-cost, high-performance NewsPad commercial service will happen after 2000.
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Fig. 4.
Original drawing of NewsPad proposal.
duced a portable computer which could furnish the basic electronic circuitry for the prototype NewsPad. Indeed, reusability was a must for two reasons. On the one hand, the resources of the project would not permit a re-design of electronics elements, such as a new microchip. On the other hand, this was not needed for the development and demonstration of a portable interactive tablet. The challenge was more evolutionary, and it was manageable since the specifications would be driven by the architecture already present at Acorn. Advances were achieved by reconfiguring the portable computer technology to generate a much more tightly integrated device with a completely different user interface, providing easy LCD touch screen interaction with multimedia news and information. Early on it had been acknowledged that the cost of the tablet must remain low since it is most likely to be perceived as a consumer electronics rather than a computer product. Acorn’s original proposal (Fig. 4) envisaged a scroll-like shaped device made of an aluminum extrusion3 which would make the product inexpensive and rugged. The rounded scroll-like right side would serve as a handle and house battery storage. The concept of simple touch operation was apparent by the absence of any buttons, switches, trackballs, or any of the input mechanisms that abound in other consumer electronics. It was decided that to interact with (i.e. ‘read’) this multimedia newspaper, pressing a finger on the screen would be the simplest mechanism and all that would be needed. Indeed, most of the complexity was hidden in the navigational user interface inherent in the new concept of a multimedia newspaper. The design of the interface was the task of El Perio´dico. In addition, the touch-screen mechanism 3 Aluminum extrusion is a casing production method which carves aluminum cases into shape by forcing aluminum through a kind of mould. It pours out in lengths of the same shape and can then be cut. The process works well for mass production of cases.
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was not the only feature to be included; other input devices could be considered and included if a market need developed for them. At this stage, there was no direct interaction with users since it would have been difficult to obtain meaningful feedback for such a visionary product as NewsPad. User-consumers as yet had no concept of what the company was attempting to design. Acorn used its own internal knowledge, influenced by the available technology, the company’s market experience with other mass-market products (mostly computers), and a belief about the future which coincided with its other project partners: the world is moving toward a portable interactive device for accessing multimedia news and information.
7. The European project: an orderly approach When the project began in March 1993, the partnership sought to implement the systematic constituency-building approach to NewsPad. It was clear to the partnership that it was not desirable to define and freeze specifications based only on knowledge available inside the consortium. It was too early in the long-term process to ignore other emerging developments in areas concerning the eventual emergence of a multimedia newspaper. This meant that maintaining configurability and learning about developments in all relevant areas was central to enhancing NewsPad’s potential for success over the long term. This led to the attempt to create possible scenarios as a first step in the NewsPad constituency-building and design process. These scenarios would provide basic material for starting the alignment process between NewsPad and its target userconsumers. In principle, it would lead to a better, more informed definition of the platform specifications. This is the way it was presented in the project’s Strategic Plan: To define and describe the NewsPad products, in all their dimensions (technical, market, user…) creating scenarios of their future environments. These scenarios will include detailed descriptions of all the relevant aspects of the products and the required infrastructure and environment to successfully exploit them. Scenarios are a ‘live’ description of the product and its exploitation, as detailed as possible at each stage, being updated during the project in the light of new findings, discussions, developments, and trends. NewsPad starts with a technologydriven product description on one side, and a user-driven definition of product objectives on the other. Both evolve during the project to an ‘all-actor-driven’ product definition, by eliciting system requirements from professional users coming from interested business organizations, bringing them together with technologists, media experts, and final users (audiences) in open roundtables, where scenarios are explained, discussed, and refined. In the practical context of the project (rather than just the proposal), the scenariobuilding also represented an effective way to align the specific contributions of each
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partner to the long-term and holistic development of the NewsPad constituency. Since nobody could confidently state the future, El Perio´dico rightly made it clear that they could not commit to any technology at such an early stage of the longterm process; Acorn fully agreed with this position. This was important because both the tablet and its contents were not tied exclusively to each other. For Acorn it was clear that multimedia news is only one of many NewsPad applications. For El Perio´dico it was equally clear that their multimedia news content could be broadcast from any platform, not just the tablet. But by joining forces in NewsPad, they could advance their products together, reducing risks and, above all, engaging users in a systematically implemented process. It was understood that, over the long term the system as a whole could only be the result of an alignment process triggered by scenario-building, first involving NewsPad constituents and gradually embracing users into the overall dialogue. Fig. 2 presented earlier illustrates the basic conceptual framework used to partition the complex world of NewsPad into scenario-building tasks that could be allocated to the different project partners on the basis of their specific expertise. Acorn was entrusted with the task of producing the technical scenario for the tablet. This was conceived as a report containing a sort of technical ‘shopping list’, that is, a range of alternative prices and functionalities for ingredients that were critical to competitively producing the requisite architecture (e.g. screen, battery, storage, etc.). The technical shopping list would enable much more informed decision making about the specifications of the tablet. The initial scenario-building exercise did not materialise as intended. Specifically, the technical shopping list could not be produced, as Acorn entered a period of significant restructuring that affected the engineering resources assigned to the NewsPad project. Indeed, the strategic importance of the project itself hung in the balance, with the subsequent suspension of work until a resolution was achieved. The constituency-building approach emanating from the project had no direct influence on the processes occurring within the company, apart from lending support and understanding to the NewsPad project members in Acorn who argued for the importance of NewsPad as key to the future direction of the company. For all practical purposes, however, the NewsPad design process remained in a limbo, and it was not clear whether it would re-emerge from Acorn was a viable entity. Indeed, the consortium considered other alternatives, but it decided to continue to support Acorn’s NewsPad constituents.
8. Survival of the constituency: the pressure cooker Toward the end of 1994, NewsPad was clearly in danger of following in the footsteps of many visionary products which never emerged after promising and exciting announcements. Indeed, the field of the portable tablet itself is peppered with announced products that never saw the light of day. This includes The Tablet, the
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original vision of R. Fidler, perhaps the best-known guru of the portable multimedia newspaper.4 At this point, NewsPad was significantly behind schedule, which prompted the European Commission’s panel of expert reviewers to issue an ultimatum for the project to show that they were capable of proceeding and delivering. Funding was frozen—the red flag was flying. NewsPad constituency-building was now clearly about survival, and the critical missing constituent at this point was the specifications for the tablet. Delivery of the requisite specification ultimately reflected both Acorn’s and the consortium’s commitment to stay the course of the project. By early 1994, Acorn had resolved its internal difficulties and was back in shape. NewsPad became the focal point for a number of longer-term products, and it received valuable engineering support from Acorn. Now the project needed to reemerge with force and commitment, despite the time lost, and above all, regain a positive perception by the Commission of the partners’ ability to deliver a visionary product. NewsPad had reached the edge of the cliff. There was no denying that the mis-alignment with the funders was at a breaking point, and this was explicitly acknowledged in alignment reports generated by TechMaPP at the time. These reports made clear the nature of the mis-alignment causes and expressed belief in their eventual resolution. This bought precious time, but now there was a ‘pressure cooker’ perception which underlay the advance of the tablet: the requirement to save the constituency. Obviously, this had implications for the design process as well. Tensions emerged between the need for constituency-building to advance quickly, and the more orderly approach to design represented by scenario-building as a first step toward developing the specifications. Resolution was not long in coming; after all, without rapid generation of the specifications there would be no constituency-building, let alone orderly design process. Acorn argued that working on the technical ‘shopping list’ would add two more months to the end date for producing the specifications. This was clearly not desirable given the survival predicament, and the consortium decided that it was vital to reinforce Acorn’s new-found momentum to deliver the specifications and prototype tablet. The specifications would then provide the base for the consortium to interact and shape the final prototype. The fact that Acorn is a leading-edge innovating company provided additional good reason for confidence in high-standard specifications. Acorn went to work, and the specification document was completed in early June 1995 and circulated to the user partner, El Perio´dico, for feedback. The most convenient cost/performance choices, among various possibilities offered by a technical shop, were outlined in the document, which also provided a more systemic, productlike technology scenario with which the consortium could interact. Indeed, El Per-
4 At one point, Fidler headed a nine-person team at Knight-Ridder’s Information Design Laboratory (IDL). IDL’s flagship project was The Tablet, but the experience came to an end (at least for the time being) after Knight-Ridder decided to close down IDL to concentrate on Internet developments.
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io´dico welcomed the specifications and provided detailed feedback which was useful to the Acorn design team. On the whole, convergence about the prototype’s specifications was not a problem. At the detailed architectural level, Acorn was applying its ARM-based laptop technology to NewsPad, with some added features on the circuit board for potential sound input, higher resolution, and touch screen. Below, we shall see that this pathdependency had some implications for the user interface, particularly in the choice between landscape and portrait display modes. But the process proceeded without major tension, leading to a second version of the specifications by the end of August 1995. These specifications became the ‘paper’ version of NewsPad, guiding the construction of the first prototype that was expected to later lead to a much wider process of user alignment. Fig. 5 shows the proposed shape of NewsPad, and Table 2 lists the main criteria pursued in the specifications.
9. From paper to prototype Following its interaction with El Perio´dico, Acorn began transforming the specifications into a tangible, functioning NewsPad prototype. At this stage, path-dependency and production limitations began to play a role, especially because the number of prototypes required was limited to ten, which had cost implications. This resulted in two shaping influences:
Fig. 5.
First schematic representation of NewsPad tablet.
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Table 2 Criteria used for defining NewsPad specifications •Adequate high performance, memory, and storage to deliver multimedia content information quickly, cleanly, and smoothly to the reader. •Acceptably small and portable commensurate with having a relatively large screen display area with high resolution. •Acceptably lightweight with a target maximum weight of 1 kg (battery included). •Sufficiently robust within the confines of weight and size. Usable in a variety of environments: hot/cold, wet/dry, and dusty/adverse conditions, including outdoors use in the rain, on the beach (sea/sand), and moveable in trains, automobiles, and planes (when allowed). •Sufficiently autonomous functionality, with a target of a full 16-hour working day at 60% average duty cycle or 8 hours of continuous use, without recharging the battery (in each case with access only to storage devices). •Fully integrated user interaction consisting of a single self-contained portable unit which requires nothing additional for normal use. User control through a touch-sensitive screen, including a ‘soft’ keyboard which may be provided on screen; also possible to connect to an external PS/2-style keyboard or keypad. •Industrial standard external connectivity through a standard PCMCIA interface as the only route to general functional expansion (except possibly for external main RAM expansion). The portable unit will also have an external docking station connector for access to other external interfaces. •Theft deterrence by incorporating a hardware/password protection system which will totally prevent unauthorised use, and which can only be factory reset.
1. the influence of the look-and-feel of the times; Acorn subcontracted a mechanical modeler to advise it on case styling for component integration and user interaction; and 2. the influence of user interface, particularly, the choice between landscape and portrait display modes. 9.1. The influence of look-and-feel When moving from paper specifications to a tangible working unit, the production realities entered the process. Acorn did no manufacturing itself, so it was necessary to engage external expertise for this new phase. An important factor was the small number of ten units to be produced for the prototype. This immediately ruled out the use of a mass production facility, since it would be completely uneconomical— in fact, impossible—to engage such a facility to produce only ten units. With only ten units in mind, Acorn engaged the expertise of a mechanical designer to advise on NewsPad’s case styling and look-and-feel. From experience, Acorn knew that styling was important for presenting the device as a viable member of today’s consumer market. This had an immediate impact on Acorn’s original vision of an aluminum extrusion for NewsPad. First, the shape and details envisaged by the designer were not easy to attain using an aluminum extrusion. It would be difficult to fit the parts inside, and the designer did not like the aluminum styling because, he argued, it
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looked more like a ’70s rather than a ’90s design.5 Second, no company would extrude the aluminum needed for only ten units. These factors combination settled the issue. The mechanical designer brought in a model maker who could make one excellent model and from that would come the mould. Then the mechanical designer needed to shape the casing style to the look of the ’90s. He also knew that a firm prerequisite was that the device had to be as easy to use as a newspaper. No user-reader would read a thick manual to figure out how to use it (as happens with desktop computers and programs), and for NewsPad this was not acceptable. It would have to be something that the user could simply pick up, switch on, and use. No buttons were permitted apart from the on/off switch. In fact, even the on/off button could have been eliminated, but its presence simplified the circuitry and reduced the assembly of components to the touch screen, the LCD panel, and the other pieces Acorn demanded such as a hard-disk drive. This translated into the device style shown in Fig. 1: a dark charcoal colour with a contemporary sleek curved shape, and a single hardware button for on-off operation. 9.2. Landscape versus portrait display Fig. 4 illustrates that Acorn’s original choice was that the display mode be portrait (i.e. vertical), which also coincides with the ‘document model’ created by Fidler for The Tablet [6]. In contrast, El Perio´dico favoured the landscape display mode (i.e. horizontal) given its connection with screens used today in computers, television, cinema, and various games. El Perio´dico reasoned that in the long-term the mass market for a product like NewsPad would most likely be about the time the present Nintendo or Game Boy generation reached adulthood. They also reasoned that, although their present newspaper is portrait-shaped, when readers open it for reading it becomes landscape. Ultimately, this will clearly be an issue for future users to settle. For now, to resolve the question for production of NewsPad, the predominance of the path-dependent approach plus ingenuity settled the issue. The re-use of the laptop computer architecture meant that the only easy alternative was the landscape mode of today’s computers. All the video drivers are designed to work on landscape displays because all scanning is in a horizontal direction. The polarisation of the panels is such that the biggest viewing angle is horizontal, not vertical, and this determines display quality which would be greatly reduced if the device was held vertically. In addition, the development of display software for portrait mode was a complex task and thus not really an option, either in terms of resources or the needs
5 According to A. Bienek, NewsPad’s designer, ’70s styles used draft aluminum, the ’80s used black and rectangular, and the ’90s used grey or charcoal with curves everywhere. Perhaps the next step will again be silver.
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of constituency-building.6 The solution was to present the look-and-feel of portrait mode not by rotating the screen but instead rotating the picture of the NewsPad navigational interface (see Fig. 6). It is not really portrait mode because the user cannot navigate it. This can only be done with the landscape mode device, but the illusion enabled the consortium to show users what it would feel like if they were looking at the information displayed in portrait mode. In the future, the issue will likely be solved by providing the appropriate software which will enable the user to choose his or her preferred mode for accessing and interacting with the multimedia news content and information. NewsPad’s first task was to demonstrate the choices.
Fig. 6.
NewsPad—portrait mode.
6 Acorn did experiment with some software that rotated the screen image and would work with their desktop computer. It was not easy to use, especially because of the use of Macromedia Director (MD) for the rendering environment. Acorn had signed a one million dollar licensing agreement to port MD to Acorn products and NewsPad. However, to make the screen image rotate meant getting deeper into the complexities of MD, and that would have been too time- and resource-consuming. Rather than working on MD, the solution to provide the appropriate length field would require an operating system and video drivers designed from the outset to provide the required functionality. This is work for a future generation of NewsPad. In the present project, there simply was no time or funding to write an operating system; Acorn had to use what they had which was the RiscOS.
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10. NewsPad on display: the first pilot In September 1996, an array of NewsPad prototypes went on display during Edinburgh’s i-TV96 Conference. It was probably the world’s first serious demonstration of working colour, interactive, multimedia tablets. For three days visitors were able to interact with the NewsPad devices at the touch of a finger, prompting video clips and other multimedia demos, and spurred by news stories prepared by the Barcelona’s largest newspaper El Perio´dico de Catalunya. This was followed by a press release and widespread press coverage in more than 100 newspapers and professional magazines. The organizer of i-TV96 was TechMaPP, which took advantage of the event to run a pilot exhibition of NewsPad to obtain reactions from a set of potential userconsumers visiting the Acorn/NewsPad booth at the conference. This presented an opportunity to return to the systematic constituency-building approach defined by the project consortium early in its life (refer to Fig. 3). Pilots were envisioned as the mechanism that could elicit the views of potential readers in the evolutionary process of aligning the technology to users and vice versa. For the first time NewsPad was in a position to start a meaningful dialogue by demonstrating working firstgeneration machines and conveying the possibilities of a ‘NewsPad world’. The reactions of user-readers could then be utilized in shaping further NewsPad generations. During the pilot, the operating machines were all connected to electrical sockets, but they could be disconnected at any time and continue to work on battery power, a key demonstration of portability. The pilot was specifically prepared to complement the amount of content integrated into the platform. In particular, at this stage, it was not possible to fully survey the navigational interaction of the newspaper content. Instead, action concentrated on filming the interaction between visitors and the NewsPad platform. Table 3 presents the main conclusions to emerge from the observation and analysis of the video about NewsPad’s first encounter with the public. The Edinburgh show gave NewsPad’s external constituency-building a tremendous boost. NewsPad was prominently reported in The Independent, a prelude to many articles which appeared in following weeks. Above all, the critical hardware objective of the European collaborative project ESPRIT/OMI 9252 (i.e. delivering a working prototype of the tablet) had been fulfilled.
11. Conclusion The NewsPad case study clearly reveals some of the challenges facing the design processes of visionary products that will be useful for the current information society. And just as clearly, the study revealed that there are major elements of uncertainty, risk, and mortality. In the case of NewsPad, the design process was not as anticipated in the ‘planning room’, but rather evolved as the result of intense interactions with the practical opportunities and problems faced by the consortium and its players. This meant the path-dependent approach predominated, and eventually came back to a systematic
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Table 3 Observations on NewsPad’s first encounter with the public •The number and variety of people visiting the stand confirms that NewsPad is an attractive product. •People are easily encouraged to use their fingers to navigate the system content. •Students are much more comfortable with exploring the technology when they come face-to-face with it. They also seem to enjoy this exploration and become more easily absorbed, even though the pilot system offered only limited demos. Adults tend to wait for explanations and are more careful when touching the device. •There do not seem to be major differences between the attitude of men or women who visited NewsPad, although many more men visited from the school groups. •Those who lifted the device seemed to quickly find the best position for operation was resting it against the forearm. They did not appear to be uncomfortable with its weight, although this may occur with prolonged use. •The NewsPad screen became full of fingerprints because of heavy use and required cleaning. Perhaps the device will need to include some kind of cleaning cloth, as do other consumer electronics products. •NewsPad’s portability makes it more prone to theft, confirming the need for security mechanisms that will deter such efforts.
collaborative approach toward the end of the project. The process also revealed the importance of the look-and-feel-of-the-times design strand when considering the final integration, aesthetics, and user-interface concepts for a device which ultimately belongs to the consumer electronics market of the ’90s. In practice, the design process of NewsPad was inextricably intertwined with its constituency-building. In this respect, it may be difficult to fit the process to textbook principles of ‘correct’ design procedures, but it does fit the bill of successfully demonstrated visionary product prototype. NewsPad has not just survived where others have foundered; it has also laid the foundation for further advances toward fulfilling the vision of a portable interactive tablet. The concept has been demonstrated and communicated to users. Their reactions can now be used to shape further NewsPad generations. Most encouragingly, at the various exhibitions attended by project members, the number and variety of people visiting the NewsPad stand confirms that the product is an attractive concept for many users [7]. The challenge remains that (as with many other information-age applications) consumers are not yet demanding a ‘multimedia newspaper’ nor do they even know what it is or what shape it can have in the future. In this area, the process of innovation is really one of inventing the future,7 a high-risk venture at any time. For this reason, NewsPad was not conceived to produce quick market results, but rather to lay the foundations for future service, with the understanding that full-blown broadcast multimedia news will take some years before becoming profitably operational. In this process, the NewsPad constituency-building process has taken the first steps. 7 Phrase popularised by Stewart Brand of the MIT Media Lab, in his book The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at M.I.T. [8]
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Acknowledgements I wish to thank the members of the ESPRIT NewsPad consortium for illuminating interactions over the years and the UK Design Council for supporting the writing of this paper.
References [1] Molina A. Transputers and transputer-based parallel computers: sociotechnical constituencies and the build up of British-European capabilities in information technology. Research Policy 1990;19:309–33. [2] Molina A. In search of insights into the generation of techno-economic trends: micro- and macroconstituencies in the microprocessor industry. Research Policy 1993;22(5/6):479–506. [3] Molina A. Sociotechnical constituencies as processes of alignment: the rise of a large-scale European information technology initiative. Technology in Society 1995;17(4):385–412. [4] Molina A. Insights into the nature of technology diffusion and implementation: the perspective of sociotechnical alignment. Technovation 1997;17(11/12):601–22. [5] Collinson S, Molina A. Reorganising for knowledge integration and constituency building: product development at Sony and Philips. In: Coombs, Green, Richards, Walsh, editors. Technological change and organization. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 1998:76–107. [6] Fidler R. The digital newspaper: building on the document model in IFRA. Newspaper Techniques January 1994. [7] TechMaPP, NewsPAD constituency-building event and antenna pilot: methodology update III. [8] Brand S. The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at M.I.T. New York: Penguin Books, 1988. Alfonso H. Molina is Reader in Innovation and Management of Technology and Founder Director of the Technology Management and Policy Programme (TechMaPP) of the University of Edinburgh. He has authored papers and books developing the theory of sociotechnical constituencies. He has worked in numerous occasions for directorates DGIII, DCXII, DGXIII of the European Community and has written strategy documents, among others, in the areas of microprocessor, multimedia systems, implementation of the information society and telematics developments in cities. I wish to thank the members of the ESPRIT NewsPad consortium for illuminating interactions over the years and the UK Design Council for supporting the writing of this paper.
European collaboration and the shaping of an interactive multimedia tablet Alfonso Molina* TechMaPP, Department of Business Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Abstract This case study looks at the design process that resulted in the world’s first colour interactive digital tablet for multimedia newspapers. NewsPad resulted from the European collaborative ESPRIT/OMI Project 9252. NewsPad is still a visionary product; in a few years such a portable digital tablet will undoubtedly become commonplace, and multimedia news will be quickly and easily accessed through it. However, as yet it is too early to determine its cost-effective performance and mass-market demand. 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Visionary products; Tablet computer; Multimedia newspaper; Design process; Sociotechnical constituency; Path dependent
1. NewsPad: the vision NewsPad is envisioned as a portable multimedia receiver and player for the consumer market, capable of display broadcast information, including news, entertainment, education, advertising, and general data. NewsPad will allow users to navigate through its contents. Depending on the available means of communication, NewsPad will also allow the reader to interact with information providers. Over the long term, information will be distributed via high bandwidth digital broadcasting and delivered through a small, low-cost, lightweight portable multimedia set or receiver. This
* Tel.: 0131 650 4066; fax: 0131 668 3053; e-mail: [email protected] 0160-791X/99/$ - see front matter 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S 0 1 6 0 - 7 9 1 X ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 3 5 - 9
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receiver will communicate with the information supplier through narrowband digital channels for control and specific services.
2. The NewsPad project The technical aim of the NewsPad project was to develop the prototype tablet and multimedia content of a portable ‘multimedia newspaper’, which led to the NewsPad information device shown in Fig. 1, which is the focus of this paper. NewsPad is powered by an integrated ARM microprocessor, the same chip that was at the heart of the ill-fated Apple’s Newton personal digital assistant (PDA) and several other high-performance personal computing devices. It consists of a rugged plastic enclosure about the size of an A4 sheet of paper, which houses a large, highresolution colour active matrix LCD screen. The user interacts with the newspaper content, selects and navigates information paths, and controls the system—all through a finger touch screen overlay. NewsPad is designed for maximum simplicity, and there are no user control buttons except an on/off switch. NewsPad’s display capabilities are rich in multimedia, including motion video and full 16-bit CD-quality audio, colour still images, infographics, and animated information sequences, in addition to more traditional newspaper graphics and text. NewsPad also includes a small audio speaker and has an optional integral microphone and compact colour video camera. In the future, the camera could enable users confronted with newsworthy situations to become ‘instant reporters’.
Fig. 1.
NewsPad interactive tablet.
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3. Project participants The NewsPad project involved several European organisations. The coordinator was El Perio´dico (Spain), which contributed the actual content of the multimedia newspaper as well as its advertising. Acorn Computers Ltd (UK) contributed the hardware and system software, and it also supported El Perio´dico with expertise regarding the production or authoring equipment needed to produce the content of a multimedia newspaper. CARAT Expert (France) contributed specialist knowledge in the advertising field. Archimedes Ltd (Greece) supported Acorn in the production of specialised software required for filtering broadcast multimedia news and information. Institut Catala´ de Tecnologı´a (ICT) (Spain) examined and tested the most appropriate methods of broadcasting multimedia in the context of a news service. ICT also supported the Technology Management and Policy Programme (TechMaPP) at Edinburgh University (UK) in aspects of the innovation approach implemented by the project. The methodology for the project was the responsibility of TechMaPP and was expected to generate a systematic strategic approach to design despite major market uncertainty.
4. Designing the NewsPad tablet There were three convergent strands in the design of the tablet. One came from expertise within Acorn, the company ultimately responsible for delivering the tablet and the technology expert of the project. This strand may be identified as the pathdependent strand. The second strand developed with the help of outside consultants who had expertise in aesthetics, and can be identified as the look-and-feel-of-thetimes strand. The third strand came from the European project approach to involving users and building eventual market success. This strand may be identified as the constituency-building strand. 4.1. The path-dependent strand This strand was strongly influential in shaping the design of NewsPad. It reflected the ability of the technology supplier to shape the project based on its own expertise and experience. As the technology partner, it was Acorn’s role to define technical specifications, particularly those of a technical depth beyond the domain or interest of end users. 4.2. The look-and-feel-of-the-times strand From the beginning NewsPad was envisioned as a consumer electronics product. This meant that aesthetic aspects and the general look and feel of the product would substantially influence its appeal to potential users. Such aesthetic expertise did not exist within the NewsPad consortium, and was ultimately subcontracted by Acorn to a design consultant.
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4.3. The European constituency-building strand The NewsPad project was conceived as a multi-disciplinary project that would bring together players with complementary expertise and experience who could tackle the challenge of a multimedia newspaper. It was clear that no single company could provide the range of expertise required for such a project. It was also clear that the NewsPad platform, as a component of the overall service, should not be designed in complete isolation from users in the value chain, i.e. the newspaper user (content provider) and the user ‘reader’ (mass market). For this reason, the NewsPad project adopted a constituency-building approach which explicitly acknowledged that technical factors alone do not determine the success of an emerging technology such as this multimedia newspaper. It treated the entire process as one of creating a multimedia newspaper ‘sociotechnical constituency’1 in which major constituents are readers and business organizations that are able to exploit technology such as publishing companies, advertising companies, service providers, and others. In addition, it was recognised that the essence of constituency-building is the deeper process of stimulating and promoting alignment among readers, suppliers and their technologies, and other players that are important for the emergence, development, and shaping of the technology (‘sociotechnical alignment’2). NewsPad’s activities explicitly aimed to realize this process of alignment, and this was primarily the role of TechMaPP. The overall concept of the holistic approach taken by the project is illustrated in Fig. 2. The long-term focus was to build the multimedia newspaper constituency, bringing together the range of generic technical constituents shown in the first inner ring and the range of social/organisational constituents shown in the outside ring. Of course, the project could not pursue all areas at the same depth, since its primary purpose and the focus of its resources was to advance the concept of and demonstrate the feasibility of a portable interactive tablet with multimedia newspaper content. 4.4. Mechanisms for eliciting information It was important to advance the knowledge of and, to some extent, the definition of other aspects of the process by tracking and monitoring developments in those aspects. It was also important to begin a process of dialogue in order to stimulate a two-way alignment between users and the technology. The methodology for achieving this purpose is illustrated in Fig. 3. It made use of techniques to generate and elicit visions, perceptions, and information useful to the alignment process that underpinned the development of the NewsPad constituency. The major elements in the process are placed within two integrated levels around the NewsPad project or consortium (NP). 1 ‘Sociotechnical constituencies’ are defined as dynamic ensembles of technical constituents (e.g. machines, instruments) and social constituents (e.g. institutions, interest groups) that interact and shape each other in the course of creating, producing, and diffusing specific technologies or services such as the ‘multimedia newspaper’. On the concept of ‘sociotechnical constituencies’, see [1–3]. 2 On the concept of ‘sociotechnical alignment’, see [4,5].
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Fig. 2.
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Key generic sociotechnical constituents of the multimedia newspaper.
The inner box contains the information substance (i.e. relevant information, views, perceptions, visions) and their sources (i.e. experts, readers, potential allies, and second sources). The outer box contains the eliciting mechanisms, placed close to their main target sources, although not exclusive to them. Thus, ‘Monitoring of Literature’ was largely responsible for the input of information on relevant trends and development in NewsPad’s evolution. ‘Round Tables’ and ‘Pilots’ produced relevant input taken from the views of experts and readers, respectively. ‘Contacts and Dialogue’ were the mechanism for channeling information and even encouraging possible collaborations with potential allies who shared experiences that were similar to NewsPad. Monitoring consisted of a traditional search structured around the partitioning and mapping of critical issues for the constituency (refer to Fig. 2). Issues were circulated periodically to all partners. Contacts and dialogue were part of the constituencybuilding activity geared to promoting relations with organisations that faced problems similar to NewsPad, particularly newspapers, advertisers, media labs, etc. This aspect
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Fig. 3.
Substance and mechanisms of NewsPad’s alignment process.
was handled cautiously given the potential for disappointment if problems developed in the early stages of the project (one has to remember that products similar to NewsPad had been announced but failed ever to see the light of day). Round Tables and focus groups captured the vision and views of experts and readers in areas related to NewsPad’s development. A variety of techniques were used depending on the focus of the gathering (e.g. brainstorming and Delphi-type nominal group techniques). Pilots and user methodology were some of the most important methodologies because of the importance of achieving alignment between the state of the technology and the type of pilot suitable for constituency-building over the long term. Pilots were conceived as the beginning of a controlled dialogue with userconsumers regarding the portable platform, the content and navigational concepts, and/or the integration of both.
5. The role of the three strands in shaping NewsPad’s design The three strands identified earlier played unequal roles in shaping the NewsPad tablet. The balance and integration of their roles were highly contextualised and changed over time. The following were of varying influence at different times: 앫 앫 앫 앫
the the the the
nature and state of development of the technology; technical depth of specific aspects or parameters of the system; health and consequent strategic definitions of the companies themselves; and resources and pressures coming from European funding sources.
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I will examine how the process actually happened, and how NewsPad finally adopted the design shown in Fig. 1. A brief outline of some of the initial conditions characterising the NewsPad experience is given in Table 1. These are useful for understanding some of the steps in the design of the tablet.
6. The early idea: envisioning NewsPad in the project proposal The first tentative shape of NewsPad appeared during the writing and negotiation of the project proposal. At this time, the path-dependent approach predominated. Acorn is the technology partner and it is expected to contribute its expertise in completing the hardware and software parts of the project proposal. The purpose was to communicate to evaluators the concept rather than offer well-defined specifications. It should be considered that an important element of the project was to define the final shape and characteristics of the platform as part of a systematic process of constituency-building which included continuing dialogue with users and experts (refer to Fig. 3). Fig. 4 shows the original shape proposed by Acorn in a drawing found in the project document agreed with the European Commission. The device was built on Acorn’s proprietary RiscOS operating system technology and a low-power consumption ARM microprocessor. In fact, the use of the ARM microprocessor was a pre-condition since the CEC funding was for applications that would pull European microprocessor technology into the market, and ARM was one of these microprocessors. Furthermore, as noted in Table 1, Acorn had already proTable 1 Initial conditions of NewsPad The Company: Acorn Acorn is an innovative technology company whose traditional business has been desktop computers and workstations for the education market. Margins in this business are very low and Acorn is redefining its market targets toward information appliances such as set-top boxes. The desktop computing market is no longer viable for the long term, but NewsPad is at present too medium to long term to become a mainstream product line. The company has produced a portable computer that can provide the foundations for the prototype NewsPad tablet computer. The Prototype Product Acorn has to produce the NewsPad portable tablet prototype out of available technology (key proprietary technology ARM and RiscOS). In the market, there is no concept of a portable multimedia newspaper or multimedia news information systems among market user-consumers. NewsPad plans to engage in dialogues with target users through pilots in the European project. Nature and Maturity of the Technology The present development of the component does not enable the company to develop a product with the cost-performance characteristics of a viable commercial product. A tablet prototype is all the project can aim for at this stage. An integrated platform/content NewsPad prototype will evolve out of the specific contributions and dialogue of EP and Acorn. The exact shape is not clear. It will be the result of a scenario-building process. Technology for low-cost, high-performance NewsPad commercial service will happen after 2000.
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Fig. 4.
Original drawing of NewsPad proposal.
duced a portable computer which could furnish the basic electronic circuitry for the prototype NewsPad. Indeed, reusability was a must for two reasons. On the one hand, the resources of the project would not permit a re-design of electronics elements, such as a new microchip. On the other hand, this was not needed for the development and demonstration of a portable interactive tablet. The challenge was more evolutionary, and it was manageable since the specifications would be driven by the architecture already present at Acorn. Advances were achieved by reconfiguring the portable computer technology to generate a much more tightly integrated device with a completely different user interface, providing easy LCD touch screen interaction with multimedia news and information. Early on it had been acknowledged that the cost of the tablet must remain low since it is most likely to be perceived as a consumer electronics rather than a computer product. Acorn’s original proposal (Fig. 4) envisaged a scroll-like shaped device made of an aluminum extrusion3 which would make the product inexpensive and rugged. The rounded scroll-like right side would serve as a handle and house battery storage. The concept of simple touch operation was apparent by the absence of any buttons, switches, trackballs, or any of the input mechanisms that abound in other consumer electronics. It was decided that to interact with (i.e. ‘read’) this multimedia newspaper, pressing a finger on the screen would be the simplest mechanism and all that would be needed. Indeed, most of the complexity was hidden in the navigational user interface inherent in the new concept of a multimedia newspaper. The design of the interface was the task of El Perio´dico. In addition, the touch-screen mechanism 3 Aluminum extrusion is a casing production method which carves aluminum cases into shape by forcing aluminum through a kind of mould. It pours out in lengths of the same shape and can then be cut. The process works well for mass production of cases.
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was not the only feature to be included; other input devices could be considered and included if a market need developed for them. At this stage, there was no direct interaction with users since it would have been difficult to obtain meaningful feedback for such a visionary product as NewsPad. User-consumers as yet had no concept of what the company was attempting to design. Acorn used its own internal knowledge, influenced by the available technology, the company’s market experience with other mass-market products (mostly computers), and a belief about the future which coincided with its other project partners: the world is moving toward a portable interactive device for accessing multimedia news and information.
7. The European project: an orderly approach When the project began in March 1993, the partnership sought to implement the systematic constituency-building approach to NewsPad. It was clear to the partnership that it was not desirable to define and freeze specifications based only on knowledge available inside the consortium. It was too early in the long-term process to ignore other emerging developments in areas concerning the eventual emergence of a multimedia newspaper. This meant that maintaining configurability and learning about developments in all relevant areas was central to enhancing NewsPad’s potential for success over the long term. This led to the attempt to create possible scenarios as a first step in the NewsPad constituency-building and design process. These scenarios would provide basic material for starting the alignment process between NewsPad and its target userconsumers. In principle, it would lead to a better, more informed definition of the platform specifications. This is the way it was presented in the project’s Strategic Plan: To define and describe the NewsPad products, in all their dimensions (technical, market, user…) creating scenarios of their future environments. These scenarios will include detailed descriptions of all the relevant aspects of the products and the required infrastructure and environment to successfully exploit them. Scenarios are a ‘live’ description of the product and its exploitation, as detailed as possible at each stage, being updated during the project in the light of new findings, discussions, developments, and trends. NewsPad starts with a technologydriven product description on one side, and a user-driven definition of product objectives on the other. Both evolve during the project to an ‘all-actor-driven’ product definition, by eliciting system requirements from professional users coming from interested business organizations, bringing them together with technologists, media experts, and final users (audiences) in open roundtables, where scenarios are explained, discussed, and refined. In the practical context of the project (rather than just the proposal), the scenariobuilding also represented an effective way to align the specific contributions of each
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partner to the long-term and holistic development of the NewsPad constituency. Since nobody could confidently state the future, El Perio´dico rightly made it clear that they could not commit to any technology at such an early stage of the longterm process; Acorn fully agreed with this position. This was important because both the tablet and its contents were not tied exclusively to each other. For Acorn it was clear that multimedia news is only one of many NewsPad applications. For El Perio´dico it was equally clear that their multimedia news content could be broadcast from any platform, not just the tablet. But by joining forces in NewsPad, they could advance their products together, reducing risks and, above all, engaging users in a systematically implemented process. It was understood that, over the long term the system as a whole could only be the result of an alignment process triggered by scenario-building, first involving NewsPad constituents and gradually embracing users into the overall dialogue. Fig. 2 presented earlier illustrates the basic conceptual framework used to partition the complex world of NewsPad into scenario-building tasks that could be allocated to the different project partners on the basis of their specific expertise. Acorn was entrusted with the task of producing the technical scenario for the tablet. This was conceived as a report containing a sort of technical ‘shopping list’, that is, a range of alternative prices and functionalities for ingredients that were critical to competitively producing the requisite architecture (e.g. screen, battery, storage, etc.). The technical shopping list would enable much more informed decision making about the specifications of the tablet. The initial scenario-building exercise did not materialise as intended. Specifically, the technical shopping list could not be produced, as Acorn entered a period of significant restructuring that affected the engineering resources assigned to the NewsPad project. Indeed, the strategic importance of the project itself hung in the balance, with the subsequent suspension of work until a resolution was achieved. The constituency-building approach emanating from the project had no direct influence on the processes occurring within the company, apart from lending support and understanding to the NewsPad project members in Acorn who argued for the importance of NewsPad as key to the future direction of the company. For all practical purposes, however, the NewsPad design process remained in a limbo, and it was not clear whether it would re-emerge from Acorn was a viable entity. Indeed, the consortium considered other alternatives, but it decided to continue to support Acorn’s NewsPad constituents.
8. Survival of the constituency: the pressure cooker Toward the end of 1994, NewsPad was clearly in danger of following in the footsteps of many visionary products which never emerged after promising and exciting announcements. Indeed, the field of the portable tablet itself is peppered with announced products that never saw the light of day. This includes The Tablet, the
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original vision of R. Fidler, perhaps the best-known guru of the portable multimedia newspaper.4 At this point, NewsPad was significantly behind schedule, which prompted the European Commission’s panel of expert reviewers to issue an ultimatum for the project to show that they were capable of proceeding and delivering. Funding was frozen—the red flag was flying. NewsPad constituency-building was now clearly about survival, and the critical missing constituent at this point was the specifications for the tablet. Delivery of the requisite specification ultimately reflected both Acorn’s and the consortium’s commitment to stay the course of the project. By early 1994, Acorn had resolved its internal difficulties and was back in shape. NewsPad became the focal point for a number of longer-term products, and it received valuable engineering support from Acorn. Now the project needed to reemerge with force and commitment, despite the time lost, and above all, regain a positive perception by the Commission of the partners’ ability to deliver a visionary product. NewsPad had reached the edge of the cliff. There was no denying that the mis-alignment with the funders was at a breaking point, and this was explicitly acknowledged in alignment reports generated by TechMaPP at the time. These reports made clear the nature of the mis-alignment causes and expressed belief in their eventual resolution. This bought precious time, but now there was a ‘pressure cooker’ perception which underlay the advance of the tablet: the requirement to save the constituency. Obviously, this had implications for the design process as well. Tensions emerged between the need for constituency-building to advance quickly, and the more orderly approach to design represented by scenario-building as a first step toward developing the specifications. Resolution was not long in coming; after all, without rapid generation of the specifications there would be no constituency-building, let alone orderly design process. Acorn argued that working on the technical ‘shopping list’ would add two more months to the end date for producing the specifications. This was clearly not desirable given the survival predicament, and the consortium decided that it was vital to reinforce Acorn’s new-found momentum to deliver the specifications and prototype tablet. The specifications would then provide the base for the consortium to interact and shape the final prototype. The fact that Acorn is a leading-edge innovating company provided additional good reason for confidence in high-standard specifications. Acorn went to work, and the specification document was completed in early June 1995 and circulated to the user partner, El Perio´dico, for feedback. The most convenient cost/performance choices, among various possibilities offered by a technical shop, were outlined in the document, which also provided a more systemic, productlike technology scenario with which the consortium could interact. Indeed, El Per-
4 At one point, Fidler headed a nine-person team at Knight-Ridder’s Information Design Laboratory (IDL). IDL’s flagship project was The Tablet, but the experience came to an end (at least for the time being) after Knight-Ridder decided to close down IDL to concentrate on Internet developments.
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io´dico welcomed the specifications and provided detailed feedback which was useful to the Acorn design team. On the whole, convergence about the prototype’s specifications was not a problem. At the detailed architectural level, Acorn was applying its ARM-based laptop technology to NewsPad, with some added features on the circuit board for potential sound input, higher resolution, and touch screen. Below, we shall see that this pathdependency had some implications for the user interface, particularly in the choice between landscape and portrait display modes. But the process proceeded without major tension, leading to a second version of the specifications by the end of August 1995. These specifications became the ‘paper’ version of NewsPad, guiding the construction of the first prototype that was expected to later lead to a much wider process of user alignment. Fig. 5 shows the proposed shape of NewsPad, and Table 2 lists the main criteria pursued in the specifications.
9. From paper to prototype Following its interaction with El Perio´dico, Acorn began transforming the specifications into a tangible, functioning NewsPad prototype. At this stage, path-dependency and production limitations began to play a role, especially because the number of prototypes required was limited to ten, which had cost implications. This resulted in two shaping influences:
Fig. 5.
First schematic representation of NewsPad tablet.
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Table 2 Criteria used for defining NewsPad specifications •Adequate high performance, memory, and storage to deliver multimedia content information quickly, cleanly, and smoothly to the reader. •Acceptably small and portable commensurate with having a relatively large screen display area with high resolution. •Acceptably lightweight with a target maximum weight of 1 kg (battery included). •Sufficiently robust within the confines of weight and size. Usable in a variety of environments: hot/cold, wet/dry, and dusty/adverse conditions, including outdoors use in the rain, on the beach (sea/sand), and moveable in trains, automobiles, and planes (when allowed). •Sufficiently autonomous functionality, with a target of a full 16-hour working day at 60% average duty cycle or 8 hours of continuous use, without recharging the battery (in each case with access only to storage devices). •Fully integrated user interaction consisting of a single self-contained portable unit which requires nothing additional for normal use. User control through a touch-sensitive screen, including a ‘soft’ keyboard which may be provided on screen; also possible to connect to an external PS/2-style keyboard or keypad. •Industrial standard external connectivity through a standard PCMCIA interface as the only route to general functional expansion (except possibly for external main RAM expansion). The portable unit will also have an external docking station connector for access to other external interfaces. •Theft deterrence by incorporating a hardware/password protection system which will totally prevent unauthorised use, and which can only be factory reset.
1. the influence of the look-and-feel of the times; Acorn subcontracted a mechanical modeler to advise it on case styling for component integration and user interaction; and 2. the influence of user interface, particularly, the choice between landscape and portrait display modes. 9.1. The influence of look-and-feel When moving from paper specifications to a tangible working unit, the production realities entered the process. Acorn did no manufacturing itself, so it was necessary to engage external expertise for this new phase. An important factor was the small number of ten units to be produced for the prototype. This immediately ruled out the use of a mass production facility, since it would be completely uneconomical— in fact, impossible—to engage such a facility to produce only ten units. With only ten units in mind, Acorn engaged the expertise of a mechanical designer to advise on NewsPad’s case styling and look-and-feel. From experience, Acorn knew that styling was important for presenting the device as a viable member of today’s consumer market. This had an immediate impact on Acorn’s original vision of an aluminum extrusion for NewsPad. First, the shape and details envisaged by the designer were not easy to attain using an aluminum extrusion. It would be difficult to fit the parts inside, and the designer did not like the aluminum styling because, he argued, it
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looked more like a ’70s rather than a ’90s design.5 Second, no company would extrude the aluminum needed for only ten units. These factors combination settled the issue. The mechanical designer brought in a model maker who could make one excellent model and from that would come the mould. Then the mechanical designer needed to shape the casing style to the look of the ’90s. He also knew that a firm prerequisite was that the device had to be as easy to use as a newspaper. No user-reader would read a thick manual to figure out how to use it (as happens with desktop computers and programs), and for NewsPad this was not acceptable. It would have to be something that the user could simply pick up, switch on, and use. No buttons were permitted apart from the on/off switch. In fact, even the on/off button could have been eliminated, but its presence simplified the circuitry and reduced the assembly of components to the touch screen, the LCD panel, and the other pieces Acorn demanded such as a hard-disk drive. This translated into the device style shown in Fig. 1: a dark charcoal colour with a contemporary sleek curved shape, and a single hardware button for on-off operation. 9.2. Landscape versus portrait display Fig. 4 illustrates that Acorn’s original choice was that the display mode be portrait (i.e. vertical), which also coincides with the ‘document model’ created by Fidler for The Tablet [6]. In contrast, El Perio´dico favoured the landscape display mode (i.e. horizontal) given its connection with screens used today in computers, television, cinema, and various games. El Perio´dico reasoned that in the long-term the mass market for a product like NewsPad would most likely be about the time the present Nintendo or Game Boy generation reached adulthood. They also reasoned that, although their present newspaper is portrait-shaped, when readers open it for reading it becomes landscape. Ultimately, this will clearly be an issue for future users to settle. For now, to resolve the question for production of NewsPad, the predominance of the path-dependent approach plus ingenuity settled the issue. The re-use of the laptop computer architecture meant that the only easy alternative was the landscape mode of today’s computers. All the video drivers are designed to work on landscape displays because all scanning is in a horizontal direction. The polarisation of the panels is such that the biggest viewing angle is horizontal, not vertical, and this determines display quality which would be greatly reduced if the device was held vertically. In addition, the development of display software for portrait mode was a complex task and thus not really an option, either in terms of resources or the needs
5 According to A. Bienek, NewsPad’s designer, ’70s styles used draft aluminum, the ’80s used black and rectangular, and the ’90s used grey or charcoal with curves everywhere. Perhaps the next step will again be silver.
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of constituency-building.6 The solution was to present the look-and-feel of portrait mode not by rotating the screen but instead rotating the picture of the NewsPad navigational interface (see Fig. 6). It is not really portrait mode because the user cannot navigate it. This can only be done with the landscape mode device, but the illusion enabled the consortium to show users what it would feel like if they were looking at the information displayed in portrait mode. In the future, the issue will likely be solved by providing the appropriate software which will enable the user to choose his or her preferred mode for accessing and interacting with the multimedia news content and information. NewsPad’s first task was to demonstrate the choices.
Fig. 6.
NewsPad—portrait mode.
6 Acorn did experiment with some software that rotated the screen image and would work with their desktop computer. It was not easy to use, especially because of the use of Macromedia Director (MD) for the rendering environment. Acorn had signed a one million dollar licensing agreement to port MD to Acorn products and NewsPad. However, to make the screen image rotate meant getting deeper into the complexities of MD, and that would have been too time- and resource-consuming. Rather than working on MD, the solution to provide the appropriate length field would require an operating system and video drivers designed from the outset to provide the required functionality. This is work for a future generation of NewsPad. In the present project, there simply was no time or funding to write an operating system; Acorn had to use what they had which was the RiscOS.
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10. NewsPad on display: the first pilot In September 1996, an array of NewsPad prototypes went on display during Edinburgh’s i-TV96 Conference. It was probably the world’s first serious demonstration of working colour, interactive, multimedia tablets. For three days visitors were able to interact with the NewsPad devices at the touch of a finger, prompting video clips and other multimedia demos, and spurred by news stories prepared by the Barcelona’s largest newspaper El Perio´dico de Catalunya. This was followed by a press release and widespread press coverage in more than 100 newspapers and professional magazines. The organizer of i-TV96 was TechMaPP, which took advantage of the event to run a pilot exhibition of NewsPad to obtain reactions from a set of potential userconsumers visiting the Acorn/NewsPad booth at the conference. This presented an opportunity to return to the systematic constituency-building approach defined by the project consortium early in its life (refer to Fig. 3). Pilots were envisioned as the mechanism that could elicit the views of potential readers in the evolutionary process of aligning the technology to users and vice versa. For the first time NewsPad was in a position to start a meaningful dialogue by demonstrating working firstgeneration machines and conveying the possibilities of a ‘NewsPad world’. The reactions of user-readers could then be utilized in shaping further NewsPad generations. During the pilot, the operating machines were all connected to electrical sockets, but they could be disconnected at any time and continue to work on battery power, a key demonstration of portability. The pilot was specifically prepared to complement the amount of content integrated into the platform. In particular, at this stage, it was not possible to fully survey the navigational interaction of the newspaper content. Instead, action concentrated on filming the interaction between visitors and the NewsPad platform. Table 3 presents the main conclusions to emerge from the observation and analysis of the video about NewsPad’s first encounter with the public. The Edinburgh show gave NewsPad’s external constituency-building a tremendous boost. NewsPad was prominently reported in The Independent, a prelude to many articles which appeared in following weeks. Above all, the critical hardware objective of the European collaborative project ESPRIT/OMI 9252 (i.e. delivering a working prototype of the tablet) had been fulfilled.
11. Conclusion The NewsPad case study clearly reveals some of the challenges facing the design processes of visionary products that will be useful for the current information society. And just as clearly, the study revealed that there are major elements of uncertainty, risk, and mortality. In the case of NewsPad, the design process was not as anticipated in the ‘planning room’, but rather evolved as the result of intense interactions with the practical opportunities and problems faced by the consortium and its players. This meant the path-dependent approach predominated, and eventually came back to a systematic
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Table 3 Observations on NewsPad’s first encounter with the public •The number and variety of people visiting the stand confirms that NewsPad is an attractive product. •People are easily encouraged to use their fingers to navigate the system content. •Students are much more comfortable with exploring the technology when they come face-to-face with it. They also seem to enjoy this exploration and become more easily absorbed, even though the pilot system offered only limited demos. Adults tend to wait for explanations and are more careful when touching the device. •There do not seem to be major differences between the attitude of men or women who visited NewsPad, although many more men visited from the school groups. •Those who lifted the device seemed to quickly find the best position for operation was resting it against the forearm. They did not appear to be uncomfortable with its weight, although this may occur with prolonged use. •The NewsPad screen became full of fingerprints because of heavy use and required cleaning. Perhaps the device will need to include some kind of cleaning cloth, as do other consumer electronics products. •NewsPad’s portability makes it more prone to theft, confirming the need for security mechanisms that will deter such efforts.
collaborative approach toward the end of the project. The process also revealed the importance of the look-and-feel-of-the-times design strand when considering the final integration, aesthetics, and user-interface concepts for a device which ultimately belongs to the consumer electronics market of the ’90s. In practice, the design process of NewsPad was inextricably intertwined with its constituency-building. In this respect, it may be difficult to fit the process to textbook principles of ‘correct’ design procedures, but it does fit the bill of successfully demonstrated visionary product prototype. NewsPad has not just survived where others have foundered; it has also laid the foundation for further advances toward fulfilling the vision of a portable interactive tablet. The concept has been demonstrated and communicated to users. Their reactions can now be used to shape further NewsPad generations. Most encouragingly, at the various exhibitions attended by project members, the number and variety of people visiting the NewsPad stand confirms that the product is an attractive concept for many users [7]. The challenge remains that (as with many other information-age applications) consumers are not yet demanding a ‘multimedia newspaper’ nor do they even know what it is or what shape it can have in the future. In this area, the process of innovation is really one of inventing the future,7 a high-risk venture at any time. For this reason, NewsPad was not conceived to produce quick market results, but rather to lay the foundations for future service, with the understanding that full-blown broadcast multimedia news will take some years before becoming profitably operational. In this process, the NewsPad constituency-building process has taken the first steps. 7 Phrase popularised by Stewart Brand of the MIT Media Lab, in his book The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at M.I.T. [8]
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Acknowledgements I wish to thank the members of the ESPRIT NewsPad consortium for illuminating interactions over the years and the UK Design Council for supporting the writing of this paper.
References [1] Molina A. Transputers and transputer-based parallel computers: sociotechnical constituencies and the build up of British-European capabilities in information technology. Research Policy 1990;19:309–33. [2] Molina A. In search of insights into the generation of techno-economic trends: micro- and macroconstituencies in the microprocessor industry. Research Policy 1993;22(5/6):479–506. [3] Molina A. Sociotechnical constituencies as processes of alignment: the rise of a large-scale European information technology initiative. Technology in Society 1995;17(4):385–412. [4] Molina A. Insights into the nature of technology diffusion and implementation: the perspective of sociotechnical alignment. Technovation 1997;17(11/12):601–22. [5] Collinson S, Molina A. Reorganising for knowledge integration and constituency building: product development at Sony and Philips. In: Coombs, Green, Richards, Walsh, editors. Technological change and organization. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 1998:76–107. [6] Fidler R. The digital newspaper: building on the document model in IFRA. Newspaper Techniques January 1994. [7] TechMaPP, NewsPAD constituency-building event and antenna pilot: methodology update III. [8] Brand S. The Media Lab: Inventing the Future at M.I.T. New York: Penguin Books, 1988. Alfonso H. Molina is Reader in Innovation and Management of Technology and Founder Director of the Technology Management and Policy Programme (TechMaPP) of the University of Edinburgh. He has authored papers and books developing the theory of sociotechnical constituencies. He has worked in numerous occasions for directorates DGIII, DCXII, DGXIII of the European Community and has written strategy documents, among others, in the areas of microprocessor, multimedia systems, implementation of the information society and telematics developments in cities. I wish to thank the members of the ESPRIT NewsPad consortium for illuminating interactions over the years and the UK Design Council for supporting the writing of this paper.