Verbum was an early personal computer

Personal computer

A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...

 and computer art

Computer art

Computer art is any art in which computers play a role in production or display of the artwork. Such art can be an image, sound, animation, video, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, videogame, web site, algorithm, performance or gallery installation...

 magazine focusing on interactive art

Interactive art

Interactive art is a form of installation-based art that involves the spectator in a way that allows the art to achieve its purpose. Some installations achieve this by letting the observer or visitor "walk" in, on, and around them; Some others ask the artist to become part of the artwork.Works of...

 and computer graphics

Computer graphics

Computer graphics are graphics created using computers and, more generally, the representation and manipulation of image data by a computer with help from specialized software and hardware....

. It was published from 1987 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3065/is_n1_v20/ai_9242554/ until the late 1990s. It, along with Info 64, was one of the first periodicals to be entirely based on desktop publishing

Desktop publishing

Desktop publishing is the creation of documents using page layout software on a personal computer.The term has been used for publishing at all levels, from small-circulation documents such as local newsletters to books, magazines and newspapers...

 techniques. It was laid out in PageMaker 1.2 on Macintosh Plus

Macintosh Plus

The Macintosh Plus computer was the third model in the Macintosh line, introduced on January 16, 1986, two years after the original Macintosh and a little more than a year after the Macintosh 512K, with a price tag of US$2599...

 computers and generated camera-ready 300 dpi printout from an Apple LaserWriter Plus. It grew from early black and white content to include color and make use of the growing fields of image manipulation and multimedia

Multimedia

Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...

. In 1989, Verbum held the first Digital Be-In

Digital Be-In

The Digital Be-In is an ongoing San Francisco-based event that began with a mission to carry forth the ethos and values expressed at the 1960s' Human Be-In, and bring them into the world of multimedia and Internet technology. It served a role through the 1990s as a venue for the San Francisco Bay...

, which sought to meld the ideals of the 1960s counterculture

Counterculture

Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...

 with the emerging cyberculture

Cyberculture

Cyberculture is the culture that has emerged, or is emerging, from the use of computer networks for communication, entertainment and business. It is also the study of various social phenomena associated with the Internet and other new forms of network communication, such as online communities,...

 of the early 1990s.

Referring to iself as a "journal of personal computer aesthetics," Verbum was notable for placing more emphasis on creative aspects of its subject matter in contrast to the overwhelmingly technical content of other publications. In 1991 the magazine began publishing Verbum Interactive, which was billed as the "first CD-ROM

CD-ROM

A CD-ROM is a pre-pressed compact disc that contains data accessible to, but not writable by, a computer for data storage and music playback. The 1985 “Yellow Book” standard developed by Sony and Philips adapted the format to hold any form of binary data....

 periodical."http://www.caruso.com/work/dm-index/digital-media-august-1991/verbum-interactive/ Verbum Interactive was produced using MacroMind Directorhttp://www.streettech.com/bcp/BCPgraf/StreetTech/verbum.html and was hailed as a groundbreaking product, but criticized for the high cost of the equipment needed to view it, and for the slow performance of the CD-ROM technology it relied upon.http://www.caruso.com/work/dm-index/digital-media-august-1991/verbum-interactive/