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I started out explaining that the internet is one of the greatest examples of sustained investment and commitment to research and development of an information infrastructure. What you may find more intriguing is that it was thought of as early as 1945. In an article written by Dr. Vannevar Bush in July of 1945 for the Atlantic Monthly he coined the term "Memex" for what he envisioned as a pacifistic way of using the technology of the day that was being used for slightly more cataclysmic purposes associated with WWII. This was the very first time a concept like this had been put forth.
Following that over the intervening years it was a long step forward until 1960 when J.C.R. Licklider wrote his paper, "Man Computer Symbiosis". It is the first recorded description of social interactions that could be enabled through networking. In a series of memo's leading to his paper Licklider envisioned a global network of interconnected computers, which would have been the precursor to what the internet was becoming as he studied at MIT.
It was funny reading through Dr. Bush's article (especially the part where he describes department store purchases, databases for stock and manipulating them, crediting sales clerks, making notations for accounting and of course charging the customer appropriately). And you wondered if I'd forgotten why I wanted to show you why a good web site designer should know some of this background.
Read the article from the Atlantic Monthly, circa 1945 here
Licklider's paper was so far developed for academia that unless you really wanted to understand what he envisioned you would probably avoid it. It's one mans treatise in what he envisioned as a very different (from the day) way of manipulating information over distances.
Read J. C. R. Licklider's paper here soon...
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