In 2003, I had a catastrophic equipment failure in my office. My working hard disk—including all of my manuscripts—and its backups were destroyed. Back then I never archived my projects, only backed them up, redundantly. I thought that was enough. I was mistaken. In referring to my earlier writings, I discovered that much of that writing holds up pretty well, so I’m reproducing it here for reference and the record. This article is from Macintosh Hypermedia Volume I, Reference Guide (Scott, Foresman and Company, 1990).
While Bush’s envisioned microfilm application—the memex—was never quite realized (microfilm technology still hasn’t advanced that far), the underlying concept of his vision remains intact and very much alive in hypermedia. The idea of associative thought and information indexed and readily accessible has been made possible through the evolution of the personal computer. Commercially available hypermedia products, especially those that are used with the Macintosh that are based on these ideas, currently enjoy a widespread reception.
The underlying concept of associative links and navigational trails, originally proposed by Vannevar Bush, remains intact and forms the basis for hypertext and hypermedia. Only the media itself has changed; electronic storage and display implements are used rather than the microfilm technology.
One of the most daunting obstacles to the widespread acceptance of hypermedia as a communications medium has been the high cost of mass storage.
When I purchased my first computer, I sincerely felt that I would never have need for more than 143K (the standard disk format of the Apple II) at one time and that, oh, I might need more eventually, but I could always just buy another disk. As of this writing I have in excess of 170 megabytes of data storage on-line and I spend every Sunday evening clearing space for the next week’s additions. The cost of appropriate mass storage (about 40 MBytes is a minimal configuration for an individual hyperspace) has begun to fall drastically and various vendors provide options within the reach of the individual. Optical storage systems also are becoming available at almost mass-market prices and with their capacity of easily handling in excess of 550 MBytes of material (550 million characters), the mass-storage horizon looks very bright indeed.
The near-term future also looks rosy as advancements in magneto-optical storage devices (capable of holding as much data as a CD-ROM, but gifted with much faster access speeds and the ability to both read and write) are occurring on an almost daily basis.
With the mass-storage obstacle finally being scaled, the sophistication level of the graphic displays and telecommunications abilities of personal computers continues to rise at a breathtaking level. By no means is Macintosh the last word in any of these areas, but it is the first, and most indications are that Apple will continue to advance the Macintosh technology as demand warrants.
In addition to the technological tools, individuals are becoming hyperliterate at a blinding pace as users are learning to build their own reference links, navigational trails, and indices through vast amounts of data with ease and precision. As more sophisticated hypermedia-user environments are developed that are even more intuitive and powerful, the medium will become attractive to an even wider audience. These more sophisticated environments will require, conversely, a lesser degree of sophistication on the part of the user and will, therefore, become more widespread.
Bush foresaw that memex users would correspond with each other by mailing microfilms back and forth—a precursor to today’s implementation of electronic mail. As telecommunications hardware (modems, for now, in the case of personal computers) and software become more and more advanced and less and less intimidating, its acceptance level also is assured of growing in a geometric fashion. Already we can transmit data between personal computers—over ordinary telephone wires—eight times faster today than was possible a year ago. On the very near horizon are developments that promise to preclude the need for what we now recognize as a modem, and we will collectively be wired into a network connecting with other networks across the globe.
The immediacy of information and its attendant links and indexes is the true bequest of hypermedia; as the marriage of computers and telephones is consummated, both aspects will grow at an astonishing rate. As individuals develop their own links and trails through vast stores of information and begin to share their links with other individuals, the associative power of the community’s knowledge base begins to grow exponentially and we will be gifted with a sort of mass-customization of the community’s collective intellect.
0 responses. Comments closed for this article.