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“Memex”
to Hypertext to Web Sites:
Universal Databases are Here
In 1945, Dr. Vannevar Bush, of
Carnegie Institute and head of the wartime U.S. Office of Scientific Research, published
“As We May Think” in Atlantic Monthly (July). He was imagining in this piece the very beginning
of the hypertext and computerized data retrieval revolution that we are only now finally
in a position to exploit in a practical way. In
fact, he was not thinking about computers at all. His
original concept was based on storing all information in linked microfiche-based
documents. We have surpassed, at least in
capacity, Dr Bush’s early vision.
Bush wrote:
“…Publication has been extended far beyond our present ability to make real use
of the record. The summation of human
experience is being expanded at a prodigious rate, and the means we use for threading
through the consequent maze to the momentarily important item is the same as was used in
the days of the square-rigged ships.” [No one can retain in active memory a complete
knowledge of even a single organization for even a short period of time. At SSU, dozens of persons worked doggedly for two
years to reconstruct and document just ten years of its own internal history for the
purpose of a SACS accreditation visit.]
There is a growing mountain of research [useful data & information]. But there is increased evidence that we are being
bogged down today as specialization extends. The
investigator is staggered by the findings and conclusions of thousands of other
workers—conclusions which he cannot find time to grasp, much less to remember, as
they appear. [A rule of thumb: if 100 people remember a
document, they will remember it by at least 85 different labels and there will be at least
90% disagreement about the nature of its contents.]
Truly significant attainments become lost in the mass of the
inconsequential… [How does one build an efficient and accurate memory of
a social group, a community of interests, that is accessible to all just in time to aid
their thinking, planning, and problem solving?]
A record, if it is to be useful to science [or organizations],
must be continuously extended, it must be stored, and above all it must be consulted. [To be
consulted, it must be convenient—effortless, even.
It must be permanently accessible; unable to be lost. Think of the record as an on-line community
knowledge web.]
The human mind… operates by association. With one item in its grasp, it snaps instantly to
the next that is suggested by the association of thoughts, in accordance with some
intricate web of trails carried by the cells of the brain… Man cannot hope fully to duplicate this mental
process artificially, but he certainly ought to be able to learn from it… Selection
by association, rather than by indexing, may yet be mechanized. [A useful
web is a construct of “nodes” (documents) &
“links” (hypertext)]
Consider a future device… which is a sort of mechanized private
file and library. It needs a name, and to
coin one at random, “memex” will do. A
memex is a device in which an individual stores his books, records, and
communications…. It is an enlarged
intimate supplement to his memory. [The memex has arrived; we call it the "web site." And the truly great virtues of a web site
are its voluminous storage capacity, its universal accessibility and portability, and its
suitability for electronic cross references and searches.]
The applications of science have built man a well-supplied house, and
are teaching him to live healthily therein… They may yet allow him truly to encompass
the great record and to grow in the wisdom of race experience.” [The
technology is here—at long last-- to support effective thinking and problem solving;
a social group can now hope to encompass its own record.
Human behavior need only adjust to make effective use of it. And that adjustment is the real task for education
in the 21st century. People need
to be weaned from their habitual dependence on paper.
Save a tree; build a web site; expand the memory.]
M. Crow
Institutional Research & Planning
Savannah State University
March, 2001
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