ABSTRACT
If technologies were people, they could tell us their life stories, so that it would be easier for us to appreciate where and how they grew up and what inuenced their development. We can start a life story of the electronic document with a key transition that occurred about fty years ago when computers obtained displays as output devices, making digital documents visible and interactive. It is hard to imagine now, but at the time people were mesmerized with their new ability to change a document before printing it. Unlike the typewriter, a computer program could let users edit texts on the y. For example, instead of using scissors, glue, and strips of paper, you could copy and paste words electronically. It was a strange but exciting new use for the digital computer, originally designed as merely an advanced calculator.
