Boldly Go Collection/version40.iso/TS/05B/TELEDX10.ZIP/HIST

Text File | 1990-10-02 | 5.5 KB | 94 lines

                       ┌───────────────────────────────┐
                       │  A SHORT HISTORY OF HYPERTEXT │
                       └───────────────────────────────┘

  ┌───────────┐
  │ 5th - 6th │    The Talmud, a compilation of Jewish Oral Law with
  │  century  │    commentary, made extensive use of marginalia which made
  └───────────┘    reference to other parts of the work. This "manual
                   hypertext" set the scene for later explorations of
  Jewish roots     non-linear text. Encyclopedias and annotated editions of
                   popular literature followed.

                   Vannevar Bush, President Roosevelt's Science
  ┌────────┐       Advisor, wrote an article in the Atlantic Monthly called
  │  1945  │       "As We May Think". In an era before computers Bush
  └────────┘       imagined a knowledge machine stuffed with microfiche,
                   a Xerox system and a network of levers and translucent
  A visionary      screens. A user could call up a piece of information in
  and his          one book and link it to another piece of information in
  dream            another text stored on microfiche. Bush foresaw users
                   creating information trails through the fiche tracking
                   themes, ideas or concepts through a variety of works.
  The dream        The idea was great but the mechanics were terrible.
  deferred
                   Bush's idea remained just that until the invention of
                   the microcomputer. The levers became computer keys, the
                   translucent screens became monitors and the microfiche
                   became microchip memory.

  ┌──────┐         Running on parallel tracks in the 1960s Theodore
  │ 1960 │         Nelson at Brown University and Douglas Engelbart at the
  └──────┘         Stanford Research Institute both began thinking about
                   and designing protean hypertext systems. Engelbart's
  Hypertext        system eventually came to be known as the NLS/Augment
  is born          system. Nelson, who coined the term hypertext,
                   envisioned a unified literary environment on a global
                   scale.  His ultimate goal is to place the entire world's
                   literature online in a massive, multi-user hypertext
                   network. The project's name? Xanadu. Nelson is now
                   expects to have Xanadu software available next year.

                   Since the heady 60s a number of universities, most
  ┌───────────┐    notably Brown University in the U.S., have developed and
  │ 1970 - 80 │    experimented with a variety of hypertext systems. Some
  └───────────┘    were graphic-based, multi-user or multi-tasking. Others
                   were text-based and could run on relatively simple
   The decade      equipment. Each system grappled with the problems of how
   of              to link documents (and in some cases graphics) and how
   exploration     to allow users to find their way through the system
                   easily while at the same time knowing where they were in
                   the network.

   ┌──────────┐    Out of the early research work a number of hypertext
   │ 1988 - ? │    systems have evolved. Most notable are:
   └──────────┘
    A system       NLS/Augment - A system that evolved from Douglas
    improved       Engelbart's research. The system was developed in 1968
                   and is now a commercial network by McDonnel Douglas.

    Global         Xanadu Project - Ted Nelson's dream of a global
    dreams         hypertext linked to giant satellite databases.

    Xerox          NoteCards - A sophisticated hypermedia system from Xerox
    research       PARC. One of NoteCards principle architects was Randall
                   Trigg who wrote the first Phd thesis on hypertext. He
                   also developed Textnet, a hypertext system, before
                   joining Xerox.

                   Intermedia - Intermedia is a product of two decade's
    Hypertext      research at Brown University. It's origins are in the
    in the         Hypertext Editing System designed by Ted Nelson, Andy
    classroom      van Dam and several Brown students. That was followed by
                   the File Retrieval and Editing System (FRESS) which was
                   marketed in 1969. These projects lead to The Electronic
                   Document System. The present Intermedia collection of
                   programs is being used in the teaching of English
                   literature and cell biology at Brown.

    Apple          HyperCard - Hypercard is an implementation of hypertext
    jumps          and hypermedia on the Apple Macintosh. It is a graphics
    in             based system.

                   PC-Hypertext - The system you are using now. It was
    Hypertext      designed by Neil Larson, the founder of MaxThink, a
    for            California software company. PC-Hypertext grew out of
    Everyman       Larson's interest in outline processing. It incorporates
                   many of the ideas and design principles developed at
                   Brown and other universities.

   The Future      We believe hypertext will become the next mass media.
                   Information vehicles, newspapers for example, may one
                   day be available in hypertext form. The system you are
                   reading now is one of the first steps in that direction.