A Brief History of Hypermedia

A scientist first imagined hypermedia as a tool to mimic and extend what he felt was the way people actually thought. In 1945, Vannevar Bush, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s director of scientific research and development, was given the task of coordinating the work of 6,000 scientists contributing to the war effort. Bush noted two things. First, there was the daunting task of keeping up with an ever-expanding body of knowledge. Second, the method of storing the existing knowledge base was inconsistent with the way Bush perceived the human mind to work. Bush observed that people seem to think by association. One idea tends to make you think of others. In contrast, information in files or books is stored serially and is referenced alphabetically or numerically. Bush’s proposal was to create a form of technology capable of organizing and retrieving information in a manner more compatible with his perception of the way humans organized information in their memories. He wanted to develop physical tools that would be coordinated with and amplify human mental processes. In introducing the article in which Vannevar Bush (1945) first presented his ideas, the editor of the Atlantic Monthly magazine commented,

The proposed machine, called a "memex," was never actually built. The memex was based on the mass storage medium of the time: microfilm. Bush imagined a special adaptation of the existing form of microfilm in which a code could be added to a particular image on microfilm. He envisioned a system in which a memex user might locate two related items of information and project both simultaneously. Using a special photographic feature, the user could mark each segment with a special code. In the future, the code attached to one microfilm segment would allow the memex to go directly to the associated microfilm segment. Users could also use the photographic coding capabilities of the memex to add their own notes and attach them to existing segments of microfilm. Using present terminology, the connection between segments would be called links and the segments would be called nodes.

Douglas Engelbart is regarded as the next hypervisionary. Engelbart, a radar operator during the war, had read Bush’s classic Atlantic paper and was captivated by his ideas. When he heard about computers, he combined what he saw as the processing potential of this new technology with ideas about knowledge tools and his experience with visual displays from his background as a radar operator. In 1962, he wrote a paper describing his intentions to develop systems that would augment how individuals thought and how they worked together to solve complex problems. He proposed functional hypermedia systems for collaborative problem solving and the enhancement of writing. As the ideas were being developed, Engelbart’s Augmentation Research Laboratory also contributed to the development of the mouse, windows, electronic mail, and computer conferencing. These computer tools and applications have become integral parts of they way we use technology today.

The third hypervisionary in this brief history is Theodor Nelson. The coining of the term hypertext is attributed to Ted Nelson. He described hypertext as "nonsequential writing"–a series of text chunks connected by links allowing a reader to select different pathways at will. In attempting to communicate his vision, Nelson offered the rather metaphorical suggestion that documents be modeled after the onion and not the potato. If desired, a reader should be able to peel back the layers to explore what an author has to say at a deeper level.

Nelson strongly supported personal freedoms, and his beliefs are evident in his proposals and projects. He believed in a national and international hypertext of information that everyone could explore. He even proposed convenient establishments, called "Silverstands," which citizens could visit to explore the "universal hypertext." If you glance back at Chapter 6, on computer tools, you will note a discussion of the Internet, a present-day, fully operational system with at least some of the features in Nelson’s proposal. The World Wide Web seems very similar indeed to what Nelson proposed.

Bush, Engelbart, and Nelson did not create highly successful commercial hypermedia products or systems. Their contributions lay in concepts or in demonstrating how ideas could actually work. The first commercially successful hypermedia product for the microcomputer was called Guide. A few years later, in 1987, Apple Computer released HyperCard to run on the Macintosh computer. (Note: HyperCard and similar products will be discussed in detail in Chapter 8.) Since 1987, commercial products allowing microcomputer users to develop their own hypermedia have become commonplace. New hypermedia authoring environments show a tremendous range of power, sophistication, and cost. Some are designed as tools for elementary school children. Others allow professionals to create commercial products of great sophistication. Early forms of hypermedia resided on a single computer. Now, the World Wide Web links thousands of individual computers and millions of documents, pictures, sounds, and movies. These computers are located in every corner of the world. One sits on the corner of my desk. All have their roots in Bush’s imagination and in his proposal of a tool that would work "as we may think."

Bush, V. (1945, August). As we may think. The Atlantic Monthly, 101-108.

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