Class #3

Chapter 11, Ted Nelson and HYPERTEXT

Nelson's hypertext: "A body of written or pictorial material interconnected in such a complex way that it could not conveniently be presented or represented on paper."

Evolutionary List File (ELF) a structure built of zippered lists. The intent was to help writers and researchers handle personal file systems and manuscripts in progress. The idea is to create a dream file.

A memex is "A device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility" proposed by Vannevar Bush. Nelson says "Two decades later this machine is still unavailable." I think it is available! It's called a computer! Obviously Nelson wrote this in the 60s, but form other readings of Nelson it looks like he still doesn't believe that this has been accomplished.

Nelson highlights the difficulties that every writer faces, then proposes certain specifications of his ELF system that would help the writer organize and think better, and constantly change and develop an outline. It has several elements: entries, lists, links, and sequences. The ELF is designed to be changed by its users. There is no correct way to use it.

PRIDE is the file and information handling language that facilitates the use of ELF.

Nelson argues that ELF is necessary because it can create media that adapts to the interests and need of the reader. ELF can help untangle material that would not be possible without aid. I agree with the philosophy behind all of this, but don't quite understand why today's advances are not satisfactory.

Hypertext is text which contains links to other texts. The term was coined by Ted Nelson around 1963 (but an article using the term was published term in 1965).

The prefix hyper- (comes from the Greek prefix "υπερ-" and means "over" or "beyond") signifies the overcoming of the old linear constraints of written text.

The term "hypertext" is often used where the term "hypermedia" might seem appropriate. In 1992, author Ted Nelson – who coined both terms in 1963 – wrote:

“By now the word "hypertext" has become generally accepted for branching and responding text, but the corresponding word "hypermedia", meaning complexes of branching and responding graphics, movies and sound – as well as text – is much less used. Instead they use the strange term "interactive multimedia": this is four syllables longer, and does not express the idea of extending hypertext. — Nelson, Literary Machines, 1992”

Posts on Nelson

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nelson

Ted Nelson said, "HTML is precisely what we were trying to PREVENT— ever-breaking links, links going outward only, quotes you can't follow to their origins, no version management, no rights management." I have to admit I believe Nelson's doomsday assessment of the World Wide Web seems exaggerated. I understand and appreciate the basic tenets of his hypertext vision, but if he could never realize them, then the World Wild Web will have to do. If you ask me, the greatest threat to Nelson's populitism is not HTML but rather those who oppose net neutrality.

http://ted.hyperland.com/

Here seems to be Nelson's argument in a nutshell, as described by the New York Times article he sites on his website: "Lost in the process [of inventing the web] was Mr. Nelson’s two-way link concept that simultaneously pointed to the content in any two connected documents, protecting, he has argued in vain, the original intellectual lineage of any object." Ted's vision seems like an idealized and noble one with academic motivations, but the Internet as we know it today is an entirely different beast. And that's OK. Most of today's users of the World Wide Web don't know what "intellectual linage" means and probably wouldn't care if they did. If the Internet were only filled with literature and essays, then I could see the point of a two-way link. But with its multiple uses including shopping, gaming, and communicating, I see little use for it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_Machines

Literary Machines is Ted Nelson's first book, published in 1980. It includes concepts such as:

• hypertext- computer text that references other text, available at the click of a mouse.
• Project Xanadu- the first project involving hypertext, found by Ted Nelson in 1960.
• tumbler- a numerical address for content, similar to an IP address.
• transclusion- the inclusion of a document or part of a document into another document.
• micropayment- a financial transaction involving small amounts of money.

Posts on Ken Perlin

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=4844

I thought the most interesting part of the story was the bit in the beginning about how the developers of The Sims imagine the end result of their work before they have the capacity to do it. It just goes to show that imagination must indeed drive innovation. I see parallels between this technique and the work of science fiction writers. Like the people at Maxis, science fiction writers "design the box", so to speak, of future innovation. Then the world eventually catches up.

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=4846

• In this post, Ken gives some examples of eccescopy.
• In "What Matters To Me" a young designer interacts with computer graphics to enforce a narrative.
• In the computer game Heavy Rain a man works using holographic computer images.
• In Bruce Brait's video, a man builds a world using the virtual tools that become available at his fingertips.
• In Magic Projection 1.0, a single piece of cardboard serves as a link between the real world and the computer.

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=4862

Here Ken says that George Lucas was a visionary in terms of using computer imagery to convey information in real time. At the end of the article he criticizes Lucas' use of both screen-based and non-screen-based visuals. I disagree with Ken. I think that there is a time and a place for 3-D holographic imagery. Text, for instance, works best on a screen. If you look at all the images that Ken chose, they all were of objects and they clearly fit best in a 3-D landscape.

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=4881

Ken decided to have a bit of fun and create a practical version of the technology we see in Star Trek and Forbidden Planet. The project, Holodust, uses dust and lasers to project a static image. Ken explains to us that his experiment was not technically eccescopic, since the image doesn't change with the viewer looking at it. This is a distinction I believe Ken didn't mention before, but it's important. It serves to differentiate eccescopy from a simple projection.

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=4996

I feel that the bulkiness and impracticality of the glasses in this post point to the fact that eccescopy is not totally necessary. Why do we need to literally "look" in order to see the computer-enhanced world? When we look at a smart phone, our "vision" of the world is altered. The transfer of information is not seemless but it works just as well. You couldn't get me into a pair of those glasses if you paid me.

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=5077

• Lots of people are invested in making eccescopy a reality!
• MIT associate professor Pattie Maes works with her students on projects including position-tracked portable projectors.
• Another MIT associate professor, Ramesh Raskar, works with face-to-face cyber-enhanced communication. No specifics here, but we'll assume he's working hard.
• In the sci-fi realm, authors continue to imagine an eccescopic world.
• Vernor Vinge writes about a world in which everyone wears a portable display.

http://blog.kenperlin.com/?p=5147

Ken certainly makes a point here: eccescopy and the prevalence of personal recording devices makes our society more democratic by making law enforcers accountable for their actions. However, I think Ken goes too far when he says, "...The incident I described suggests that this might be more of a good thing than a bad thing." Of course, the example he provided was a good one. But there are just as many bad consequences of a world with less privacy. The technology will progress regardless, but I think in our own minds we should remember to remain skeptical.