Power point presentation on Memex

by Aabid hussain

Memex • The memex is the name given by” vannever bush” to the

hypothetical proto-hypertext system he described in his 1945 “The Atlantic Monthly” article “As We May Think”. Bush envisioned the memex as a device in which an individual would compress and store all of their books, records, and communications, "mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility". The memex would provide an "enlarged intimate supplement to one's memory".The concept of the memex influenced the development of early hypertext systems

Working • The technology used would have been a combination of

electromechanical controls, microfilm cameras and readers, all integrated into a large desk. Most of the microfilm library would have been contained within the desk, but the user could add or remove microfilm reels at will.

• The article was a reworked and expanded version of Bush's 1939 essay Mechanization and the Record. Here, he described a machine that would combine lower level technologies to achieve a higher level of organized knowledge (like human memory processes).

• The memex would have features other than linking. The user could record new information on microfilm, by taking photos from paper or from a touch-sensitive translucent screen. A user could "... insert a comment of his own, either linking it into the main trail or joining it by a side trail to a particular item. ... Thus he builds a trail of his interest through the maze of materials available to him."

Criticism• Michael Buckland, in an article published in 1992, suggested

that the memex was severely flawed because Bush did not thoroughly understand information science and had a bad opinion of indices and classification schemes: "Bush thought that the creation of arbitrary associations between individual records was the basis of memory, so he wanted 'mem(ory-)ex', or 'Memex instead of index'. The result was a personalized, but superficial and inherently self-defeating design.“

• Buckland also states that Bush's idea should be viewed from the historical perspective of microfilm technology developed prior to 1945 rather than based on the power and versatility of digital computer technology developed after 1945.

Thank you