resources | nelson, 1995
Nelson, Theodor Holm (1995). Where the Trail Leads [Abstract, Transcript, Video].
Presentation at As We May Think -- A Celebration of Vannevar Bush's 1945 Vision,
An Examination of What Has Been Accomplished, and What Remains to Be Done.
(Nelson, 1995)
Topologies of Writing and Dimensionality [Transcription of Video]
Nelson: The notion of transparallel media was always central to my way of thinking. Intercomparison. I talked about the movie Rashomon, and being able to see things side by side. To me, the Macintosh is a step back. We must take media beyond two dimensionality. We must allow the dimensionality and topology of the media to follow the structure of the ideas. I think that, to a certain extent, some engineers are slightly naive about the structure of ideas. I regard word processing as an abomination, because it just reduces everything to corn flakes and loses all structure and previous connection, so every byte is like a new born babe. Rather than cutting our ideas to fit the shape of the software, such as hierarchical directories and word processing, we should design the space in which the media subsists to fit the structure of the ideas, and that's why I say, new topologies of writing and new topologies of media structure.
© Mary E. Hopper [MEHopper] |
MEHopper@TheWorld.com
[posted 01/01/01 | revised 02/02/02]