For a brief history of interfaces and the web

see Datacloud.

It's available in the library: http://fsu.catalog.fcla.edu/fs.jsp?st=Datacloud&ix=kw&fl=bo&V=D&S=2281405645129817&I=0#top

Here's a blog post highlighting key points in the book: http://www.rachaelshapiro.net/backup/?p=702

You might also look here for a broader, less dense, and more personal history of text technologies: http://www.rhetcomp.gsu.edu/~bgu/8121/Reading-Porter.pdf