For Immediate Release (Dec. 8, 2000) Contact: Ron Kirksey [email protected]Roger Fidler, 330-672-8292
Kent State University Signs Six-Year Contract with Adobe Systems Incorporated For Electronic Content Dissemination and Display Research
Kent State University has become the first public university in the United States to negotiate a long-term research contract with Adobe Systems Incorporated, the nation's third-largest PC software company. With the sponsorship, Kent State will pursue research related to Network Publishing, a new category that refers to the vision of making visually rich, personalized digital content available anytime, anywhere on any device.
According to Roger Fidler, director of Kent State's Institute for CyberInformation, the Adobe sponsorship will be used to fund research into the future production, dissemination and display of electronic books (eBooks), newspapers, magazines, journals and other digital documents.
Fidler initiated a pilot project with Adobe and Crain's Cleveland Business in January 2000 to develop and evaluate an innovative portable electronic newspaper concept using Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) technology. That project, which received a $50,000 cash grant and approximately $30,000 in software from Adobe, successfully met the company's criteria and resulted in a long-term agreement.
"This is an important step in our effort to establish Kent State as an international as well as a regional center for Network Publishing research and development," Fidler said. "Nonetheless, this contract does not preclude Kent State from working with other companies. We are committed to partnering with publishers, organizations and technology companies with an interest in the future of publishing."
"Kent State and Roger Fidler are leaders in this area of high-tech research, and we're pleased they will help study and define the future of electronic content dissemination and display as a result of this agreement," said Peter Ullman, engineering manager, University Collaborations, Advanced Technology Group, Adobe.
The Kent State Institute for CyberInformation is a new collaborative research center whose mission is to promote the application and integration of digital content, design and technologies. The Institute draws on the expertise of scholars and professionals from multiple disciplines to conduct research, to develop and evaluate prototypes, and to facilitate workshops, roundtables and conferences.
Founded in 1982, Adobe Systems Incorporated (www.adobe.com) builds award-winning software solutions for Network Publishing, including Web, print, video, wireless and broadband applications. Its graphic design, imaging, dynamic media and authoring tools enable customers to create, manage and deliver visually rich, reliable content. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., Adobe is the third-largest PC software company in the United States, with annual revenues exceeding $1 billion.
Roger Fidler is an internationally recognized electronic publishing pioneer and visionary. Prior to joining the Kent State faculty in 1996 as a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Fidler served as Director of New Media for Knight-Ridder, Inc., and headed the company's Information Design Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., which he founded in 1992. He worked in the newspaper business for more than 34 years as a journalist, designer, technologist and executive, and has been actively involved in new media development since 1979.
Fidler began developing the idea of using portable flat-panel reader devices called tablets to display newspapers, books and other electronic documents in 1981. Ten years later, he created the first prototype electronic newspaper designed specifically for viewing on magazine-size tablets while he was a Freedom Forum Media Studies Fellow at Columbia University. He is a frequent speaker at conferences worldwide on topics relating to electronic publishing and the future of print media.
Kent State is Ohio's third-largest university, with more than 33,000 students on eight campuses. Ranked by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching as one of America's top 90 public universities, Kent State is committed to a unique and deliberate balance of research, undergraduate education, community outreach, economic development and workforce training.
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