[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Movies/Wordpress/DEC06/sketchpad.flv 400 300]
This series isn’t a history of the Internet, per se. It’s a gosh-wow look back at an article in Rolling Stone that I read in 1972, while still in high school. Part 1 showed a mock-up of a proposed personal computer called a Dynabook, that was the brainchild of Alan Kay.
Here is Kay’s original drawing for the Dynabook, which was ahead of its time, to say the least. Kay is credited with uttering the notable quote, “The best way to predict the future is to invent it.”
Another visionary whose work was discussed in the article is Ivan Sutherland, who between 1961 and 1963 created the groundbreaking computer program called Sketchpad. The video above is an excruciatingly dry, but exceedingly significant, 20-minute demonstration of Sketchpad. It was produced for Boston PBS station WGBH by Russell Morash, who introduced TV viewers to Julia Child and created the show “This Old House.”