The
touch screen as we know it is a technology that has become widespread and widely
used. It has made technology more accessible and versatile than ever. There are
multiple types of touchscreens, the most widespread being resistive and
capacitive. Resistive touchscreen depends specifically on pressure being placed
onto its screen by anything, this could be a finger, a nail, or even a stylus. Capacitive
touchscreen is dependent upon the friction from something specific, in the case
of smartphones it relies on the touch of your skin. Touchscreen has created a
more diverse range of technologies and is a large part of our everyday lives,
but it didn’t appear out of thin air.
When
you think about what could have influenced Touch screen it doesn’t go back
quite as far as you would think. Touch screen was first touched upon in 1945 by
Vannevar Bush in the book As we may think,
in which he speaks of a book that when you touch the runes within it shows
the path ahead. Another touchscreen technology from a book comes from Foundation by Issac Asimov (1951) where
he speaks of “calculator pads which are touch screen calculators. While other
more intricate and advanced technologies such as “opton” touch interfaces in Return From the Stars by Stanislaw Lem
(1961) where they are used for spaceships. The first time these technologies
were introduced was much sooner than that.
The first finger-driven touchscreen was created by E.A
Johnson, an English scientist in 1965. He described it as a “novel input/output
device for computers”, as it was a basic concept that created lines when
someone touched the screen and removed them when they removed them. In 1970 the
first resistive touchscreen was created almost by accident by Dr. G. Samuel
Hurst. This sparked a great change as touchscreen was being implemented into assistive
technologies such as PLATO IV in 1971. Finally in 1982 the first human
controlled multitouch device was developed at the University of Toronto. This sparked
what some call “The decade of Touch” which was the explosion of touchscreen technology.
The commercial industry began taking advantage of the new touchscreen
technology and creating their own products. In 1990 touchscreen technology
became more accessible than ever. PDA started booming and with that the use of touchscreen
as a communication and personal data device. Towards the end of the 90’s came the
invention of multitouch screen by Wayne Westerman and John Elias. With their
invention came the creation of Fingerworks which developed the multitouch
technology we know and use today. From 2000 forward came the creation of a huge
variety of other touch screen technologies such as smartphones, tablet
computers, and interface free touch drive computer monitors. The creation of
the Microsoft Surface Table which used touch capable surface tech was a turning
point in touch technology. Originally the Surface table was a touchscreen interface
placed into an IKEA table and used as an open surface. This technology later
rebranded as PixelSense created a revolution in touchscreen technology as it
opened for even more ideas of implementing touchscreen into everyday life.
In todays world touchscreen exists in everything from our
phones to art. This change from what was an exclusive and specific technology to
something implemented in everyday life was slow until it exploded suddenly after
advances during the 1980’s. Ideas and inspiration behind touchscreen technology
have existed since the 1950’s and are even to this day being used for the
development of future technologies. Through trial and error, commercialization,
and brilliant minds that continue to push the advancement of this technology it
will do nothing but prosper and grow.
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