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Contrary to suggestions made in some articles and on some Web sites, the article was not about a world brain, it was not about libraries (except for personal ones), and it did not foresee networks of Memex devices, let alone the Internet. The Memex was not the Rapid Selector, the Memex section did not describe a computer, and the article did not foresee the digital revolution. It also did not envision handwriting recognition, it did not envision machine searching of the information itself, and it was not a multi-media For Peer Review machine (everything was on microfilm only). It described only a limited notion of what we call hypertext (i.e., just linked lists), and it was only marginally related to collaborative research (i.e., sharing a trail with a colleague is along the same lines as sharing a digital folder). 2t-S-1Ed-D-P The article could have gone into some of the above areas, but did not. For example, a good deal of space (18 percent of the article) is devoted to analog computers used for repetitive thought processes ranging from calculating machines to formal logic processors (Bush had, after all, gained fame as the creator of the Differential Analyzer at MIT). But these analog machines were described only as a means of creating information. There was no connection in the article between what these machines might be capable of and the task of selecting desired information from the stored collection. The article also explicitly stated that it was not about libraries. Bush acknowledges in the article that some of the same ideas could be applied to libraries (and by extension to organizational collections of knowledge), but he says, “that is another story.” And he meant it. Perhaps he did not blame libraries, but he definitely was 15 John Wiley & Sons Page 16 of 38
Page 17 of 38 disappointed by their slowness to adopt technology, even if it was due to lack of funds. The MIT Rapid Selector was initially intended for libraries but no library was willing to pay for one. Bush’s real feelings about libraries may be in his comments in “The Inscrutable Thirties,” published originally in 1933 and again in a slightly revised form in 1946 (reprinted in Nyce & Kahn, 1991b). In that essay, Bush describes a researcher in a library who has to “paw over cards, thumb pages, and delve by the hour. It was time- For Peer Review wasting and exasperating indeed,” especially so given the idea that with improved microfilm thousands of volumes could be housed in a couple of cubic feet, with any page almost instantly selectable. He then went on to grumble about some people being slow to accept a basically sound idea. 2t-S-1Ed-D-P In the case of electromagnetic recording, Bush was well aware of Valdemar Poulsen’s device in 1898 for electromagnetically storing speech onto steel wires, and he mentioned in the Memex article the possibility of similarly storing data as “magnetic dots on a steel sheet.” Nevertheless, he believed microfilm was better because it could be projected and it could be transmitted (between the researcher and the desk) using a television-like process. He apparently did not see any way to use that same television- like process to display and transmit information stored as magnetic dots. The article also describes using radio so that a researcher in the field could communicate with the recording device in the office. However, as in the case of the brief mention of television transmission, the article does not see any use for a wireless connection beyond a point-to-point connection so that the researcher is not necessarily 16 John Wiley & Sons
Page 1 and 2: Page 1 of 38 For Peer Review Journa
Page 3 and 4: Page 3 of 38 Introduction Thomas Wa
Page 5 and 6: Page 5 of 38 The interest in the ar
Page 7 and 8: Page 7 of 38 Some commentators have
Page 9 and 10: Page 9 of 38 techniques for extreme
Page 11 and 12: Page 11 of 38 The second aspect of
Page 13 and 14: Page 13 of 38 quickly (on rails) in
Page 15: Page 15 of 38 One of the largest si
Page 19 and 20: Page 19 of 38 format that would be
Page 21 and 22: Page 21 of 38 Today’s Manifestati
Page 23 and 24: Page 23 of 38 2t-S-1Ed-D-P The desk
Page 25 and 26: Page 25 of 38 that they can process
Page 27 and 28: Page 27 of 38 2t-S-1Ed-D-P And just
Page 29 and 30: Page 29 of 38 want to refer back to
Page 31 and 32: Page 31 of 38 Acknowledgments I wou
Page 33 and 34: Page 33 of 38 Johnson, Steven. (200
Page 35 and 36: Page 35 of 38 2t-S-1Ed-D-P For Peer
Page 37 and 38: Page 37 of 38 2t-S-1Ed-D-P not as m

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