Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
11
Weaving the World Wide Web
We should work toward a universal linked
information system, in which generality and
portability are more important than fancy graphics
techniques and complex extra facilities. The
aim would be to allow a place to be found for
any information or reference which one felt was
important, and a way of finding it afterwards.
The result should be sufficiently attractive to use
that the information contained would grow past a
critical threshold.
Tim Berners-Lee
1
The hypertext visionaries
Vannevar Bush (
B.11.1
), creator of the “Differential Analyzer” machine,
wrote the very influential paper “As We May Think” in 1945, reflecting on the
wartime explosion of scientific information and the increasing specialization
of science into subdisciplines:
There is a growing mountain of research. But there is increased evidence that
we are being bogged down today as specialization extends. The investigator
is staggered by the findings and conclusions of thousands of other workers -
conclusions which he cannot find time to grasp, much less remember, as they
appear. Yet specialization becomes increasingly necessary for progress, and
the effort to bridge between disciplines is correspondingly superficial.2
2
Bush concluded that methods for scholarly communication had become “totally
inadequate for their purpose.”
3
He argued for the need to extend the powers of
the mind, rather than just the powers of the body, and to provide some auto-
mated support to navigate the expanding world of information and to manage
this information overload. For this purpose, he introduced the idea of a new
type of device:
Consider a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized
private file and library. It needs a name, and to coin one at random, “memex”
will do. A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his topics,
records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be
consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate
supplement to his memory.
4
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