Friday, February 03, 2006

First mention of 'hypertext' unfortunately only on paper


Today the word "hypertext" reached the respectable age of 41.

The concept itself was invented by Vannevar Bush, in his famous July 1945 essay "As we may think" in The Atlantic Monthly. Vannevar Bush's essay formed the inspiration for the two actual inventors of hypertext, Ted Nelson and Douglas Engelbart.

Prof. Nelson was the one who coined the word, in a Vassar College Miscellany News article dated February 3rd, 1965. Three years later Doug Engelbart went on to design the oNLine System (NLS) at Stanford Research Institute, the first in history to implement practical use of hyperlinks and the main subject of the Mother of All Demos.

Those were days that were to have a profound influence on all our lives.

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