Desktop Publishing: New Right Brain Documents
| Date | 01 January 1987 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047673 |
| Pages | 7-13 |
| Published date | 01 January 1987 |
| Author | James B. Williams,Lawrence E. Murr |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Desktop Publishing:
New Right Brain Documents
James B. Williams and Lawrence E. Murr
Laser printers and powerful word
processing, desktop publishing, and
graphic arts software for micro-
computers make it possible, and easy,
to communicate graphically as well
as textually. Research indicates that
textual communication is processed
primarily in the left lobe of the brain,
and graphic communication is processed
in the right lobe. The combination of
textual and graphic elements produces
a powerful communications structure that
facilitates simultaneous multichannel
processing by both the left and
right lobes of the brain. As a result,
communications techniques that combine
both textual and graphic elements
produce effective results.
In 1984, Apple Computer was involved in pro-
ducing and introducing a new personal computer
called the Macintosh. In introducing the computer,
Apple assured us that this was "a computer for
the rest of us." It was something different. It
was not clear to the public as a whole just why
the rest of us even wanted a computer. After
all,
computers require learning a set of new words,
jargon, and archaic codes just to use what is pri-
marily a typewriter. Shortly after the introduction
of this supposedly unique computer, a new type
of printer called the LaserWriter was also introduced.
Now the marketers once again are at our
heels pushing "desktop publishing," a term coined
by Paul Brainerd, a Seattle graphic artist. It turns
out, after some inquiry, that desktop publishing
is the use of these new personal computers, some
fancy new software, and this new-fangled laser
printer, to produce one's own publication without
the use of the people traditionally involved in creat-
ing such products. So, goodbye to the typesetter,
the graphic artist, and the pasteup specialist: after
all,
I am the author and I'd rather do it
myself!
Virtually every hardware and software company
is trying to produce machines and programs that
facilitate personal publishing. Computer-aided pub-
lishing (CAP) are the popular catchword and acronym,
respectively. Reams of fairly nice-looking printed
documents are being spit out by these new publishers
with their new, higher-quality word processors,
with all those new type fonts sprinkled over the
pages.
Is the revolution on, or is there just more
text to read?
A closer look suggests that conventional wisdom,
Williams is Director of Biomedical Communica-
tions at the Oregon Health Sciences University.
Murr is Director of the Office of Academic and
Research Programs at Oregon Graduate Center.
They are the authors of Information Highways,
one of the desktop publications that originated
the concept of the right-brain document.
ISSUE 17 7
To continue reading
Request your trial