MetaFilter posts tagged with tednelson

Are you a Dummy, naive and gullible? If so, there are thousands of books for the likes of you. Go elsewhere, and drink in the lies called "computer basics".

bigbigdog — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 12:52:39 -0800

"If you're clever and sophisticated, you may enjoy my new YouTube series, Computers for Cynics." Ted Nelson talks about The Myth of Technology, The Nightmare of Files and Directories, how It All Went Wrong at Xerox PARC, The Database Mess, The Dance of Apple and Microsoft, Hyperhistory, The Real Story of the World Wide Web, and CLOSURE: Pay Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain.

Mother of All Demos

honest knave — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 19:06:57 -0800

Forty years ago, Douglas Engelbart gave the Mother of All Demos. In this demo, he introduced the mouse (the trackball had been around for 16 years already), the hyperlink (simultaneously invented by Ted Nelson), word processing conventions, expanding hierarchical views of files, image links, group annotations of documents, collaborative editing, separation between views and models, and user testing of productivity software. SRI went on to Xerox PARC, where the Graphical User Interface and laser printing were later developed. Those of you in the Stanford area may wish to attend the 40th anniversary bash from 1-5:30pm on 9 Dec at the Stanford University Memorial Auditorium. Engelbart pioneered research into the use of computers for the augmentation of human capabilities. In the academic world, this research is continued by researchers in Human Computer Interaction and Hypertext. The original computer systems which ran Engelbart's demo are very rare now, which is why the Computer History Museum is working on a preservation project to clone NLS. Speaking of history, Engelbart participated in an oral history a few years back. Modern software which is similar to NLS or descended from it would include Tinderbox, NoteTaker, NoteBook, and MyInfo. Ted Goranson at ATPM has a wonderful series of reviews on NLS-alikes and what makes good ones good. All of this innovation from Doug did not make him a rich man. But he carries on his initial vision toward an Open Hypermedia System under the auspices of the Bootstrap Institute. Others have taken the idea of augmentation in completely different directions. (previously here, and here)

The web isn't proper hypertext

walrus — Tue, 09 Oct 2001 05:52:10 -0800

The web isn't proper hypertext says Ted Nelson, who probably invented the idea.

"I define hypertext as non-sequential writing ... the World Wide Web is not what we were trying to create. The links only go one way. There's no permanent publishing. There is no way you can write a marginal note that other people can see on what's in front of you. There is no way that you can quote freely. "

So is everyone fully comfortable with the idea of a "two way web", or are we still too hung up on picket fence territorialism? And how would it work, anyway?

Ted Nelson rocks!

grant — Wed, 24 Nov 1999 12:02:11 -0800

Ted Nelson rocks! This article from Interactive Week is a month old or so, but it was so enjoyable, I re-read it recently and had to post it. The HyperTextual Man writes and rants about breaking free from the conceptual shackles of interfaces and metaphors. Let the web do its own thing. Let anyone program. Of, course he's talking in terms of his Xanadu project, but nevertheless, some provoking commentary.