Kay, A., & Goldberg, A. (1977). Personal Dynamic Media. Computer, 10(3), 31–41.

Alan Kay and Adele Goldberg envisioned a design for a “dynamic medium the size of a notebook” – laptop and tablet computers.

At the time, technologies like LCD displays and lithium-ion batteries were not yet available. Despite the absence of hardware on which their vision could be built, the team at Xerox PARC made significant progress in building the software components which could one day power diverse creative applications. The paper presents a variety of prototypes for drawing, animation, music, simulation, architecture, and more.

Typeset in King's Caslon.