Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Vannevar Bush foresaw WebLogs

Author:Micah Alpern
Posted:11/13/1999; 3:11:25 PM
Topic:Vannevar Bush foresaw WebLogs
Msg #:13036
Prev/Next:13035 / 13037

I was wandering through the library today and found myself thumbing through Jakob Nielsen’s book, Multimedia and Hypertext". In his chapter on hypertext history Nielsen discusses Vannevar Bush’s 1945 Article in the Atlantic Monthly in which he talks about a theoretical information management devices called the Memex. I had read about this visionary article and the Memex before. The artilce describes concepts that over the next 40 years evolved into hypertext, the internet, PIMs and much more. However after reading Nielsen’s commentary something new struck me.

From Page 35 of "Multimedia and Hypertext":

In addition to the establishment of individual links, Bush wanted the Memex to support the building of trails through the material in the form of a set of links that would combine information of relevance for a specific perceptive on a specific topic. He even forecasted the establishment of a new profession of "trail blazers," "who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record.

In other words, WebLogs!

That Bush guy’s was one smart cookie.

Micah

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