Memex

For this week's online assignment we were prompted to look into Vannevar Bush's articles about the "Memex." Bush's idea of the Memex all started in his first article in 1945. What he envisions is a giant medium that can store all of one's records, books, and information. He envisions it to be the size of a desk, and contain complicated buttons and levers. He then goes on to give an example about researching "bows and arrows." The process he describes mirrors exactly what search engines do for us now, but just in more complicated terms. At this time the idea of a Memex was revolutionary.  Twenty years later Bush revisited his original idea of the Memex and adapted his ideas to the new technology. One of the main advancements he mentions in this article is the evolution of compression. For example the use of magnetic tapes to store records. Its very interesting that this is what he chooses to single out, because we continue to see compression as a major theme today with televisions, cell phones, and other technology.  In 1995 MIT held a symposium to honor Bush's work. Overall they view Bush as a huge inspiration to the field and basically the founding father of Hypertext. Bush’s article was a big inspiration to Doug Englebart, who invented the computer mouse, who said that this made him start thinking of ways to aid people augment their intelligence. All of the keynote speakers at this event kept coming back to the idea that Bush’s paper played a role in what they did today. They might not have agreed with him on everything, but they have the utmost respect for what he did for the field. The video I found is an animation that visually shows what Bush’s original idea of the Memex would look like. It is great to actually see Bush’s vision, and it also is a great aid in understanding the original article. Most importantly however, it shows how much farther we have come than just the Memex. Of course in 1945 this would be considered revolutionary, but in 2014 everything this desk sized Memex can do, we can do with the smart phones in our pockets.

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c539cK58ees