Like any concise work of prophecy, "As We May Think" supports numerous interpretations and leads to issues of extrapolation. We gather today to pay homage, and quibble as to whose idea most loyally expresses what was originally said.Bush foresaw a publicly accessible, fast-access connected literature which would allow people to publish connections among already-existing materials. But the structure he foresaw, which he called the "trail," was rather different from today's spaghetti hypertext; Bush's structure was based on transclusion (virtual inclusion) rather than links. It deserves detailed study.
Suitably extrapolated and polished, I believe this idea leads to transparallel media (connected objects seen together with their connections), and the design of a widespread copyright arrangement for unfettered re-use.
on the web
abstract
http://www.eecs.mit.edu/AY95-96/events/bush/r11.html