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resources | hopper, 1998

Hopper, M. E. (1998, October). Hypertext in historical context: Vannevar Bush and Ted Nelson revisited. Presentation for the Media-in-Transition Project and MIT Communications Forum, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.

[This presentation was largely based on video clips taken from the Vannevar Bush Symposium held in October of 1995 (Bush, 1995).]

Thursday, October 1, 1998 
4:00 - 6:00 p.m. 

Bartos Theater 
MIT Media Lab 
20 Ames Street 

Abstract

This forum will feature video clips from a 1995 symposium in honor of Vannevar Bush, which included Ted Nelson as a speaker, to illustrate how hypertext evolved from conceptualizations rooted in older media towards the reality of today's World Wide Web. A discussion following the screening will focus on factors that have constrained current implementations of hypertext. 

Organizer and Moderator:
Mary Hopper, Postdoctoral Associate
MIT Compartive Media Studies

Commentator:
Mark Bernstein, Founder and Chief Scientist
Eastgate Systems, Inc. 

Presentation

One goal of the Media in Transition Project is to encourage a historical perspective of the relationships between digital media and older media.

"The goal is to sharpen our awareness of the NewMedia as a thing which emerged from history. Historically informed perspective that maps a sensible middle ground between the euphoria and the panic surrounding new media. Such an understanding of emerging communications technologies, at once skeptical and moderate is the goal of the Media in Transition Project."

"As We May Think" --
A Celebration of Vannevar Bush's 1945 Vision,
An Examination of What Has Been Accomplished,
and What Remains to Be Done."
Held at MIT on October 12 and 13, 1995 (Bush, 1995)

This event brought together many acknowledged founders of New Media including...

Hosts

Paul Penfield, Jr. (Penfield, MIT)
Andries van Dam (van Dam, Brown)

Other Credits:

Lisa Manekofsky, Administrative Coordinator, NSF/ARPA Graphics and Visualization Center
Robert McDermott, Jim Rose (Utah)
Larry Gallagher, Scott Dynes, EdMoriarity (MIT)
David Klaphank (Brown)
Other Brown and MIT Volunteers

Today's "Guest"

Paul Kahn (Bush/Memex Scholar)
Theodore Nelson (Hypertext/Xanadu Creator)

If more time., should really also include..

Douglas Engelbart (Augment//Bootstrap)
Tim Berners-Lee (WWW)

Also spoke...

Robert Kahn (Internet)
Michael Lesk (Digital Libraries)
Nicholas Negroponte (Media Lab, MIT)
Raj Reddy (CMU)
Lee Sproull (BU)
Alan Kay (Smalltalk)

Our Focus Today...

This symposium provides a unique opportunity to view hypertext from a special historical perspective. It shows hypertext, as viewed by Bush and Nelson, evolved from conceptualizations rooted in older media towards the reality of the Berners-Lee's WWW.

It seems ironic how little discussion surrounds our most recent, ongoing, period of media transformation. Even popular books, such as "Internet for Dummies," mention Vannevar Bush and Ted Nelson, but even serious books about the internet and the WWW seldom go further than a cursory history.
 

Articles About Their Technologies...

Bush