5 ms·

The inventor of hypertext

7 points by isomorph 14y ago

sprobertson 14y ago
Long forgotten? I'm sure he reminds people all the time. He does have some fascinating projects though. Xanadu[1], a sort of visual hypertext browser & editor, is something I'd like to see a "real" implementation of. Any decade now... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu
tzs 14y ago
He named it hypertext, but Vannevar Bush described essentially hypertext as part of his hypothetical "memex" system in this 1945 article: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/?single_page=true http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-ma... The hypertext description starts in section 7, and continues in section 8.
vhf 14y ago
I had never heard of teledildonics. Thanks for the link, I learned a new word / concept !
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  Someone should digitally archive all those old Mondo 2000 issues as a public service.
  - vhf 14y ago
    For sure ! Bringing real life hacking to the mass could help people understand hacking culture in general !
antipax 14y ago
Read these rules for the Xanadu project: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu#Original_17_rules http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu#Original_17_rule... and to me, at least, it becomes very clear why the WWW won the race.
- snogglethorpe 14y ago
  Yup, he was very widely cited (along with Vannevar Bush) back in the '80s when people were playing a lot with this sort of thing, but almost everything he actually tried to create seemed hopelessly baroque and over-engineered. "Simple" is a very important concept in the real world, and what he churned out was anything but. [I recall his book "Computer Lib" as being almost completely unreadable too, and remember thinking that he must have doing drugs when he wrote it...]
arrakeen 14y ago
this wired article on project xanadu is a fascinating read: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.06/xanadu.html http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.06/xanadu.html
- gruseom 14y ago
  I find that article scarier than any horror movie.
johncoltrane 14y ago
Paul Otlet is an interesting character, too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Otlet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Otlet

7 points by isomorph 14y ago

Long forgotten? I'm sure he reminds people all the time. He does have some fascinating projects though. Xanadu[1], a sort of visual hypertext browser & editor, is something I'd like to see a "real" implementation of. Any decade now... [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu

tzs 14y ago

He named it hypertext, but Vannevar Bush described essentially hypertext as part of his hypothetical "memex" system in this 1945 article: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/303881/?single_page=true http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-ma... The hypertext description starts in section 7, and continues in section 8.

vhf 14y ago

I had never heard of teledildonics. Thanks for the link, I learned a new word / concept !

waterlesscloud 14y ago
Someone should digitally archive all those old Mondo 2000 issues as a public service.
- vhf 14y ago
  For sure ! Bringing real life hacking to the mass could help people understand hacking culture in general !

antipax 14y ago

Read these rules for the Xanadu project: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu#Original_17_rules http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu#Original_17_rule... and to me, at least, it becomes very clear why the WWW won the race.

snogglethorpe 14y ago
Yup, he was very widely cited (along with Vannevar Bush) back in the '80s when people were playing a lot with this sort of thing, but almost everything he actually tried to create seemed hopelessly baroque and over-engineered. "Simple" is a very important concept in the real world, and what he churned out was anything but. [I recall his book "Computer Lib" as being almost completely unreadable too, and remember thinking that he must have doing drugs when he wrote it...]

arrakeen 14y ago

this wired article on project xanadu is a fascinating read: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.06/xanadu.html http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.06/xanadu.html

gruseom 14y ago
I find that article scarier than any horror movie.

johncoltrane 14y ago

Paul Otlet is an interesting character, too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Otlet http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Otlet