The first thing I thought of while I was reading this essay was how much the Dynabook resembled a modern day iPad or Kindle Fire because of all of the things you could do on it. It did more than just store things; it allowed for people to interact with the documents on it and create programs that would benefit whatever you wanted to achieve with the Dynabook. Musicians, artists, businesspeople, and many other professions can use the Dynabook to do their job.
Kay and Goldberg’s idea that children should be able to experiment on them as some of the first users was genius because they are so carefree that they really can let their minds roam and they were allowed to see all of the capabilities of not only the new “tablets” but the capabilities of their skills and imagination. This gives children the sense of accomplishment and in a way gives hope to the future generations.
Another thing that caught my eye when I was reading was the presence of the word “recursion” on page 394. Recursion in this essay to me means that this allows the thinking paths of the children, and all users, really, to grow and flourish while they use the Dynabook, or any computer for that matter. Recursion allows for different skills to interact within one person so they can really see all of the alternatives and options that are available when it comes to working on a task. (That probably wasn’t the best wording for what I was trying to say, but for now, it will have to do.)
The Dynabook also helped with the speed and efficiency of using computers. With timesharing, it took much longer for things to process within the computer and children were using the computer the same amount of time as adults with timesharing. The new invention of the Dynabook allowed for users to have their own space and memory per Dynabook without having to deal with someone else’ information taking up space.
The possibilities were, and still are, endless with the Dynabook and modern day computers and tablets. The fact that there were painting tools, music tools, and other designing programs on the Dynabook was incredible to everyone because it really was the first interactive computer tool and allowed the users to see the work they had created.
The last thing I found entertaining with this essay was that the Dynabook was the first to have different fonts for different effects, which reminded me of class yesterday when Dr. C made sure we put emphasis on certain words to create the effect that the writers were trying to convey. Different fonts and certain punctuation can make all the difference when reading an essay or article, and thanks to Kay and Goldberg, that became possible with the Dynabook, and today’s computers have taken it even further.
I actually thought the exact same regarding the Dynabook and the iPad. It almost seems that Kay and Goldberg’s vision was not brought to life through the computer but was actually brought to life through the iPad. If inventors from their time were able to predict such devices it will be interesting to see what devices inventors of our time predict for the future.
Within the first few sentences I thought of the iPad too! The wide variety of activities that could be done on the Dynabook and it’s portability immediately made me think of the iPad. It is interesting to think that while the iPad is so popular, new and exciting right now, it’s basic idea was thought of by someone else years ago. It was such an innovative idea. It made me think of how convenient it is to always have the endless resources of the internet at your finger tips. It is amazing how much information we can carry around with us and how accessible it is to everyone; from adults, to teens, to kids. It is can be used and useful to not only all age groups, but also all types and groups of people. The tablet is an amazing tool and the parallels to the Dynabook are obvious.