d-projects   projects   organizations   people   content   technology   resources   [home | site map]

technology [index] | Xanadu

In his book, Literary Machines, Ted Nelson described several types of hypertext structures. Chunk hypertext is a traditonal form of node-link hypertext with no explicit structure. Collateral hypertext provides annotations or althernative points of view. Stretch text can change form continuously. Grand hypertext consists of everything a bout a subject or pertinent to it collected in a single system. He has worked for years on Project Xanadu (after "the magic place of literary memory" in "Kubla Khan"), in which he hopes to eventually place all of the world's literature online in a giant hypertext system. His system even includes a means for protecting copyrights by accounting for use and distributing royalties.
 
The real vision of Xanadu is a repository of everything that anybody has ever written, thus comprising a "truely universal hypertext" also called a "docuverse."
 
Also See...
(Nelson,1987). Computer Lib/Dream Machines. Redmond, Wash.: Microsoft Press.

© Mary E. Hopper [MEHopper] | MEHopper@TheWorld.com [posted 01/01/01 | revised 02/02/02]