You will be able to fold it up and put in your briefcase like a magazine, and it’s so durable you’ll never break it. It will have all the interactive applications of an iPad or Kindle but it will be easier to carry and at some point, even be wearable. It’s made possible by a new super-material called gra- phene, and those real-world applications may not be as far off as you think.
Paper One, Two and Three were the first through third generations of paper and they are the products we are familiar with: graphics and printing paper (Paper One), paper used in packaging (Paper Two), and paper used in hygiene products (Paper Three), according to a group of researchers at the Fiber Science and Communications Network at the Mid Sweden University in Sundsvall.
Paper Four is a paper-and-ink process in- vented at Mid-Sweden University that goes beyond Paper One, Two, and Three. Way beyond that.
Paper Four is interactive paper. And it’s not science fiction.
Paper Four is actually touch sensitive, allowing a reader to touch a spot on pa- per and make sounds play. Touch to hear music. Touch to hear speech.
The technology behind this radical new form of paper is called conductive ink (an ink that conducts electricity) and it is printed on paper via specialised print-
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ers or screen-printing.
Paper Four is actually several layers of pa- per. The first layer of paper is screen-print- ed with the special ink while the overlaying second layer contains the design and text. An additional layer serves as a ‘printed loudspeaker’ by stretching the paper like a speaker cone behind the other layers to am- plify the sound produced by the conductive ink. This is all backed by three centimeters of Wellboard, a super-strong cardboard, for stability.
The print uses for this technology would appear to be endless.
A company called Navalia is using conduc- tive ink to make prototypes of what they call ‘paper apps’ — paper products that do much more than you would imagine.
One product is called Listening Post, an in- teractive poster for music venues. Instead of a traditional poster listing upcoming shows, Listening Post allows passers-by to