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Whiteboard

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Whiteboard

A whiteboard (also known as marker board, dry-erase board, dry-wipe board, and pen-board) is a glossy, usually white surface for making non-permanent markings. Whiteboards are analogous to blackboards, but with a smoother surface allowing for rapid marking and erasing of markings on their surface. The popularity of whiteboards increased rapidly in the mid-1990s and they have become a fixture in many offices, meeting rooms, school classrooms, public events and other work environments.

The term whiteboard is also used metaphorically in reference to features of computer software applications that simulate whiteboards. Such "virtual tech whiteboards" allow one or more people to write or draw images on a simulated canvas. This is a common feature of many virtual meetings, collaborations, and instant messaging applications.

It has been widely reported that Korean War veteran and photographer Martin Heit and Albert Stallion, an employee at Alliance, a leading flat rolled steel sheet supplier, should be credited with the invention of the whiteboard in the 1950s. Heit and Stallion may have popularized and/or perfected whiteboards, but in reality the history of whiteboards long precedes them. A thorough examination of the invention of whiteboards reveals that the concept was introduced two decades earlier by mechanical engineer Paul F. Born who installed one in a classroom in Elgin, Ill., in 1937.

Whiteboards became commercially available in the early 1960s, but did not become widely used until 30 years later. Early whiteboards needed to be wiped with a damp cloth and markers had a tendency to leave marks behind, even after the board was erased.

In 1974, whiteboards were proposed as additional equipment for Soviet schools.

Whiteboards began being commonly used by businesses in the early 1990s. They became more common in classrooms during the 1990s due to concerns over health problems in children with dust allergies and the potential for chalk dust to damage computers. By the late 1990s, about 21 % of American classrooms had converted from chalkboards to whiteboards.

Whiteboard material can be bought in rolls, sheets, and pre-formed boards. Adhesive whiteboards come in either a sheet or a roll and feature a stick back enabling the user to create a custom size board or project with the material. Although adhesive whiteboard material does not come in a thick, hard glass or painted steel plate, the melamine allows for a flexible material while preserving the high-quality whiteboard attributes of other surface materials. Adhesive whiteboards allow for custom projects such as dry erase wall calendars, whiteboard tables, cupboard grocery lists, indoor games for kids, and more.

One type of whiteboard pen (also called a whiteboard marker or dry-erase marker) was patented in 1971, and another was later patented by Pilot Pen in 1975.

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