Through my research I came across this article/website that did a great job of explaining why Memex was such a visionary idea and gave comparisons to various other technology leaders at that specific time in history. Although it wasn't necessarily a commentary on whether they believed or didn't believe in the Memex idea, the article brings up a variety of issues and positives within the Memex idea. For instance, "In the article of Bush is not described any automatic search, nor any universal metadata scheme such as a standard library classification or a hypertext element set. Instead, when the user made an entry, such as a new or annotated manuscript, or image, he was expected to index and describe it in his personal code book." When I first read this it clarified exactly what the entire device/system was aiming to do. As far as agreeing with or dissenting with the topic itself, I believe that the memo was a futuristic idea thats effects can be seen in modern times. It served as a building block for a variety of technology mediums and is the reason the majority of screens and touch screens are in place today. Although Bush's idea was influential to early tech-adopters, I don't believe that it was the sole reason for technological evolution, but rather an inspiration for great minds to build off of.
Here is the link: http://history-computer.com/Internet/Dreamers/Bush.html
Interesting topic!
-Will
1 comment:
I completely agree with what you said about how Bush's idea wasn't the only reason for technological evolution. I think his ideas were a minor part of how technology evolved, but they served as a great building block for other ideas to evolve.
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