White board technology makes its way into the mainstream every autumn with the opening of the football season. Whether you watch pro or college (or even high school) football on TV, there’s nothing like following along with an enthusiastic expert commentator as he writes over a still shot of the action to illustrate formations, coverages, and breakdowns in the offense or defense that led to whatever play you just saw. Much of today’s telestrator technology uses the touchscreen interface you’d find in a tablet PC or interactive whiteboard. In other words, computers enable you to interact with what’s on your screen, helping you and your viewers visualize the action.
Of course, white board technology wasn’t always this advanced. In a brief interview that Popular Mechanics did with telestrator inventor Leonard Reiffel, he mentions how the first telestrators consisted of glass plates that you had to put over a TV screen and write on with a special light pen. Today’s touchscreen technology involves a special glass screen with an electric signal that connects to your computer and recognizes passive objects like a stylus or even your finger. With all the video analysis that athletes and coaches do these days, you may see more and more of them drawing over different images of themselves or their team on the field instead of sketching Xs, Os and stick figures on blank white boards.
In any case, next time you see John Madden or any other announcer doodling on your TV screen, remember that high-tech white board-like applications make it possible. So sit back, relax, and grab another chicken wing as the latest in telestrator technology shows you the game behind the game every Saturday and Sunday afternoon.
(Photo via Wikipedia. Shared under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License) Posted by Taeho Lim
