Hypertexts

Discussion of Readings:

• Vannevar Bush, As We May Think
• Conklin, HyperText

I'll begin with Conklin's article, since it describes the general concept of hypertexts, while Bush's "As We May Think" is an example of one. The most difficult part of reading "Hypertext" for me was that, being published in 1987, the ideas and examples it lists are at least 25 years old at this point. Computer displays and input devices have changed so much in this time that I have trouble visualizing what he means, or, in cases where screenshots are provided, understanding how the programs would have been used. I am going to start, therefore, by trying to provide modern examples of the "four broad applications" Conklin names, though this is as much to solidify the ideas in my own mind as it is to comment upon them.

The 'macro literary systems' are simple enough to compare (unless I've completely missed the mark) to a wiki: a database that holds multiple text-based articles (files), with links providing shortcuts between files, as well as within a file. I don't know where the graphical representation of the links that Conklin maintains must be present (although he goes on to list numerous examples where it isn't) comes in, but maybe there is such a feature that I have just never used.

The 'problem exploration tools' are somewhat more difficult for me to understand. Conklin describes them as "early prototypes of electronic spreadsheets", easy enough to picture as a user of Excel, and says that users can hide sections and subsections, which makes me think of iTunes and showing only the song information you care about as columns in a playlist. He goes on, however, first to discuss "teleconferencing" and moving between threads, then ranking other people's posts, which sounds like a message board: a series of posts and comments provided by multiple users which form a tree structure as people comment and then comment on comments. The last example he gives, though, 'outline processors' are effectively interactive table of contents, such as can be found on some Adobe pdf files, suggesting that the technology he's describing split into two streams (quite possibly before this article was written, though no one was aware of it yet).

Examples Conklin provides describing 'structured browsing systems' explain fairly clearly what they are; the help manuals attached to word processors apparently haven't changed much (except to add search functions, perhaps). The processes he outlines also sound very similar to how internet browsers work as well though: the user follows a series of links through different pages, and the browser keeps track of the path followed to allow backtracking.

In the 'general hypertext technology' section, the first few examples seem to have aspects of a course management system, or bibliographic tools such as Zotero, in that it is a place to electronically collect webpages, pdfs, files, etc. that re relevant to a topic, and to organize them into a tree structure using headings and subheadings. These do not, however, have what I would call links between the files, rather links to the files from a main page. Furthermore the later examples vary from this significantly. As Conklin says, this section represents tools meant to explore hyperlink capabilities, not to perform any specific task, so trying to find a general modern counterpart is a futile effort. It remains interesting though that some modern applications did apparently evolve from these tools.

These modern counterparts having been established, it is incredible to think, if Conklin's assertion is correct, that computer scientists were wary for decades of implementing hypertext technology, as it is now one of the most widely used forms of text analysis. Whether this change started out of increased computer use (as a result of reduced cost) or from a few programmers having faith enough in the technology to undertake projects showing what it could do, it certainly continued because of the capabilities and advantages Conklin lists. The ability to navigate through multiple arts of multiple texts with a few clicks or keystrokes was a genuine step beyond printed reading, one I'm not sure has been matched by any other developments.

The discussion of hierarchical vs. non-hierarchical structures takes me back to HTML and XML theory, where all boxes must fit inside other boxes for the system to function, and the limitations this leads to for overlapping features (eg. paragraphs spanning multiple pages). In many ways this is the same, of course; non-hierarchical arrangements are effectively just a series of empty tags, but the parallel concerns are intriguing. 

On to Bush's article:

I once went on a trip to England with a girl who would take in the ballpark of 1000 pictures a day of everything from architecture, to people, to her meals. The only real reason for most of the photos was that there was no reason not to take them: the memory card in her camera could easily accommodate them, taking each snapshot needed only a moments time, and at the end of the day she could instantly erase any she no longer wanted with no added expense incurred. Bush's example of advances in photography allowing scientific process to be easily recorded is apt. As is his assertion that the problem then becomes slogging through such a plethora of data. 

With computers and the internet we face a similar problem. SLIS courses extol to there students that online access to resources will not replace librarians precisely because someone needs to organize and catalogue the information. Bush wrote this article with no idea what was to come, but in his own terms still hit upon a "a future device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library". His prophetic descriptions of hypertexts are almost eerie, but they make me wonder whether there is a subconscious collective concept as to how information should be displayed and interacted with, or if there is rather an unbroken line of scholarship extending back this far: if Burns had conceived of his memex differently, would computers and hypertexts look as they do today?

Finally, I also need to point out a few fantastic lines. If Burns' other works are similar to this one in writing style a book of quotations could be made.

"truly significant attainments become lost in the mass of the inconsequential"

"for at that time and long after, complexity and unreliability were synonymous"

"One might as well attempt to grasp the game of poker entirely by the use of the mathematics of probability"