Share
a life in pen computing.

Who to write about

Yourself, a colleague, or a mentor.

Engineers, designers, product managers, journalists, founders, marketers -- anyone whose work touched pen-based computing. Subjects can be living or deceased; for deceased subjects we welcome submissions from family, colleagues, or biographers.

Scope

The pen-computing era (~1985-2005).

Emphasize the subject's pen / tablet / handwriting-recognition work. A broader career is fine to mention, but the pen-computing chapter is what the museum is here to preserve -- give it the most words and the most sources.

01

Length

1,500-3,000 words. The exact length depends on the subject's historical role in pen computing -- a founder gets more room than a marketing lead, who in turn gets more room than a beta tester.

02

Structure

Break the biography into 8-15 short sections, each with a heading like "Early Life," "Career," or "Legacy." The template below shows the typical set. The headings auto-generate a table of contents on the published page, so use them generously.

03

Tone

Third person, factual, encyclopedic. Avoid marketing language ("visionary," "revolutionary," "industry-leading") and first-person voice. Let the achievements speak for themselves; readers can decide whether they were revolutionary.

04

Footnotes

Cite every non-obvious factual claim with a numbered reference like [1] or [2] inline, and list the sources at the end. We convert these to proper HTML footnotes during editing -- you don't need to write any markup.

05

Sources

Prefer primary sources: contemporaneous magazine articles, press releases, patents, conference proceedings, recorded interviews. Wikipedia is a useful starting point but not a citation -- chase its references instead.

06

Photos

Send one portrait photo plus any historical photos (at the demo booth, on stage, with the prototype) as separate attachments -- don't embed them in the draft. Include a one-line caption per photo and note who took it if you know.

BIOGRAPHY OF [FULL NAME]
========================

ONE-LINE SUMMARY
[Born]-[Died]. [Role they're best known for in pen computing], at [Organization].
Example: 1958-2019. Founding engineer of GO Corporation's PenPoint OS.


EARLY LIFE
[2-3 paragraphs: where/when born, family context relevant to later career,
schooling through high school. Cite anything non-obvious with [1], [2], etc.]


EDUCATION
[Universities attended, degrees, advisors or thesis topics if relevant.]


EARLY CAREER
[First job(s) before the pen-computing work. Keep brief unless directly
relevant -- this section exists to set up the pen-computing chapter.]


PEN COMPUTING WORK
[The main section. Multiple paragraphs. Cover: which company/companies,
which products, role/title, technical contributions, key dates. This is
the part the museum cares about most -- be specific and cite sources.]


KEY CONTRIBUTIONS
[Bulleted or paragraph form. Patents, papers, products shipped, specific
technical innovations. Each non-obvious claim should have a footnote.]


ORGANIZATIONS
[List of companies / labs / standards bodies the person was part of during
the pen-computing era, with dates.]


LATER CAREER
[What they did after pen computing wound down -- only if notable.]


LEGACY
[How their pen-computing work influenced subsequent products, people,
or ideas. This is the "why does this person matter to the museum"
paragraph.]


SOURCES
[1] Author, "Article Title," Publication, Date, page or URL.
[2] ...
[3] ...

(Use plain numbered references like [1] [2] in the prose -- we will
convert them to proper HTML footnotes during editing.)

---
SEND THIS DRAFT TO: [email protected]
Subject line: Biography submission - [your name or the subject's name]

Attach photos separately. If the subject is deceased and you have permission from the family or estate to publish, note that in your email so we can credit appropriately. Expect a reply within a few days; once accepted, the biography typically goes live within a week or two after light copy-editing.