Linear text has been the dominant form of written communication since the invention of the printing press, but new technologies are challenging this convention. The document proposes "Polyfoil documents" as a new non-linear format that is better suited to digital media and Internet publishing. Polyfoil documents would allow for cyclical, branching, and complex structures rather than strictly front-to-back linear sequences. This format is presented as an important innovation that deserves patent protection in order to promote its adoption and prevent it from remaining undeveloped.

1. .

2. 19th c. textbooks to
20th c. pulp-fiction,
magazines to blogs,readers face
linear sequences of words, sections,
ideas. We can be excused for
assuming this is natural. It’s actually
our species adapting to printing
technology.
1750 Diderot’s encyclopedia,
1500 Gutenburg's redactions to
600 AD illuminated manuscripts
200 BC wax tablets
100 AD codices to
From 2900 BC scrolls to
1600 Shakespeare’s stanzas to
1800 Dickens’s staves,
For
click-
able
links
go to
the
last
page

3. Prior to all that, Homer’s Odyssey,
like other oral traditions, cycled
motifs and repeated actions. The
same event is retold in different light,
as the teller’s mind radiates. Printed
words precipitate cognitive wave-
lengths onto 2D surfaces, where
linear sequence becomes the
organizing principal. Printing presses
disgorge books strictly paginated.
But by the 20th century, linear, 2D
processes seemed limiting.
Scientists and artists demonstrated
reality, knowledge, communcation
have fractal, multidimensional,
relativistic attributes. Photographs,

4. then film and video, eroded print’s
hegemony. New generations felt the
changes, and found conventional
print technology restrictive. Fewer
and fewer stick around to watch
writers unveil novel work-arounds, as
Proust and James Joyce managed.
Since 1900, the public rings hands
over the new generation’s reading
habits. But only century before,
Samuel Johnson was admired for
reading without moving his lips.
People adapted silent reading in the
1800s because high-speed printing
enabled mass consumption. If
reading habits peaked among 19th
c.

5. literati, it was peculiar: end to end
and wordy. The world is faster, more
complex and less directional.
An alternative to linearity has long
existed: broadsheet newspapers.
Stories are (were) written in cyclical
chunks, each fleshing out essentials
in different detail. This lets printers
cut articles between chunks during
layout. Also, users survey multiple
stories on the front page, and select
one, then another, to follow inside.
Inside they read further, or jump to a
different story. Each user constructs
their version of the paper by their
selective reading.

6. Digital documents provided writers a
tech breakthrough. Early killer-apps,
MacWrite and MS Word, let them cut
and paste, to move parts around with
a mouse click. 30 years on, word
processors look much the same, if
laden with bells and whistles. The
internet took texts one step back, to
the scroll era, but hyperlinks took two
forward, in a narrow dimension.
Until now. Let there be Polyfoils.
Polyfoil documents fit electronic
media, the internet, knowledge
workers, and international audiences.
Cyclical, branching, helical, gear-like,

7. compound, and complex, Polyfoil
formats put linear sequences in their
place. Linearity retains an essential
role, but not a limiting one.
The 20th century’s rivalry between
text and image, which ended in visual
media’s favor, is now a contest
between long- and short-form texts,
digital and physical documents, multi-
media and simple ones. Computer
displays change the document
landscape, and only the fit survive.
Polyfoil documents advance the
partisan interests of those who value
full-bodied texts, not skinny, child-

8. -length ones. Polyfoil documents
promote writer development, and
permit readers to construct versions
they prefer, without dumbing-down or
adding distraction. Hyperlinks permit
bikini knowledge: expose a lot, but
barely covered. Polyfoils promote
new document fashions that fit
genuine knowledge.
Polyfoils are not baby-steps. The
Patent Office finds giant leaps an
athema. They may encourage
monopolies over new platforms. This
invention does the heavy lifting
necessary to specify its advance in
concrete terms that discourage

9. monopolization. Entirely original,
Polyfoil documents will trigger other
peoples’ imaginations, and some
may find new document sequences
and production systems that this
invention has not contemplated,
illustrated, or specified.
On the other hand, without patent
protection, I will lack the means to
promote an important, compelling,
and probably commercial idea.
Patentability enables important
innovations to spread, instead of
remaining dormant. Polyfoils are an
important innovation to spread, and
patent protection allows it.

10. 1750 Diderot’s encyclopedia
1500 Gutenburg's redactions
600 AD illuminated manuscripts
200 BC wax tablets
100 AD codices
2900 BC scrolls
1600 Shakespeare’s stanzas
1800 Dickens’s staves

11. By Brian Coyle