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Memex
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The "memex" (a portmanteau of "memory extender") is the name given by

Vannevar Bush to the theoretical proto-hypertext computer system he proposed in
his 1945 The Atlantic Monthly article "As We May Think". The memex has
influenced the development of subsequential hypertext and intellect augmenting
computer systems.

Contents
[hide]

1 Details
1.1 A Proto-Hypertext System
1.2 Associative Trails
1.3 Other Features
1.4 Missing Features: Search and Metadata
2 Criticism
3 Legacy
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

[edit]
Details
A Proto-Hypertext System [edit]

Bush described the device as electronically linked to a library and able to display
books and films from the library and automatically follow cross-references from
one work to another.

The memex not only offered linked information to a user, but was also a tool for
establishing the links. The technology used would have been a combination of
electromechanical controls and microfilm cameras and readers, all integrated into a
large desk. Most of the microfilm library would have been contained within the
desk, but the user could add or remove microfilm reels at will.

The technology of the memex is often confused with that of hypertext. Although
Bush's idea inspired the creation of hypertext, it is not considered to be hypertext.
The memex as proposed by Bush could create links between a pair of microfilm
frames, but it could not create links in the modern sense where a hyperlink can be
based on a single word, phrase or picture within a document.

Associative Trails [edit]

Furthermore, Bush's crude notion of associative trails has generally not been
implemented in the vast majority of hypertext systems. An associative trail as
conceived by Bush would be a way to create a new "linear" sequence of microfilm
frames across any arbitrary sequence of microfilm frames by creating a chained
sequence of links in the way just described. The closest analogy with the modern
Web browser would be to create a list of bookmarks pointing to articles relevant to
a topic, and then to have some mechanism for automatically scrolling through the
articles. Modern hypertext systems with word and phrase-level linking offer more
sophistication in connecting relevant information.

Other Features [edit]

However, the memex also had other features; the user could generate new
information on microfilm, such as by taking photos from paper or from a touch-
sensitive translucent screen. As observers like Tim Oren have pointed out, the
memex could be considered to be a microfilm-based precursor to the personal
computer. The September 10, 1945 Life magazine article showed the first
illustrations of what the memex desk could look like, as well as illustrations of a
head-mounted camera, which a scientist could wear while doing experiments, and a
typewriter capable of voice recognition and of reading text by speech synthesis.
Taken together, these memex machines were probably the earliest practical
description of what we would call today the Office of the future.

Missing Features: Search and Metadata [edit]

The system had no automatic search, nor a universal metadata scheme such as a
standard library classification or a hypertext element set like the Dublin core.
Instead, when the user made an entry, such as a new or annotated manuscript,
typescript or image, he was expected to index and describe it in his personal code
book. By consulting his code book, the user could retrace annotated and generated
entries.

[edit]
Criticism
Michael Buckland suggested the memex was severely flawed because Bush did not
thoroughly understand information science, nor microfilm[1] . Buckland also
criticizes Bush for inadequate research. Bush did not mention either the related
microfilm based workstation proposed by Leonard Townsend in 1938 or the more
detailed microfilm and electronics based selector, patented by Emmanuel Goldberg
in 1931.

[edit]
Legacy
This idea directly influenced computer pioneers J.C.R. Licklider (see his 1960 paper
Man-Computer Symbiosis), Douglas Engelbart (see his 1962 report Augmenting
Human Intellect), and also led to Ted Nelson's groundbreaking work in concepts of
hypermedia and hypertext.[2]

As We May Think also predicted many kinds of technology invented after its
publication in addition to hypertext such as personal computers, the Internet, the
World Wide Web, speech recognition, and online encyclopedias such as Wikipedia:
"Wholly new forms of encyclopedias will appear, ready-made with a mesh of
associative trails running through them, ready to be dropped into the memex and
there amplified."

Vannevar's influence is still evident in research laboratories of today in both Gordon

Bell's project, MyLifeBits (from Microsoft Research) as well as Richard Furuta and
Frank Shipman's Walden's Paths project (from Texas A&M University). Both
projects have implemented path-based systems reminiscent of the Memex.

[edit]
See also
People: Vannevar Bush, Douglas Engelbart, J.C.R. Licklider, Ted Nelson
Ideas: external memory, hypermedia, hypertext, intelligence amplification,
office of the future

[edit]
References
1. ^ Buckland, Michael K. "Emanuel Goldberg, Electronic Document Retrieval,
And Vannevar Bush's Memex". Journal of the American Society for
Information Science 43, no. 4 (May 1992): 284–294
2. ^ Engines of Creation (1986) by K. Eric Drexler.

[edit]
External links
"As We May Think" - The original article from the Atlantic Monthly archives
 "As We May Think - A Celebration of Vannevar Bush's 1945 Vision", at
Brown University
Saving my life on a hard drive - Mylifebits project and Vannevar Bush's
Memex dream - a 2006 TFOT article

Preceding: As We May Think

Subsequent: Project Xanadu
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memex"

Categories: History of computing | History of human-computer interaction |

Multimodal interaction

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This page was last modified 14:04, 28 September 2006.

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