Vannevar Bush and Ted Nelson were visionary thinkers seeking solutions to the problems of information overload and hierarchical storage systems that seemed to stifle human creativity and associative thought. Now that we have the World Wide Web, in what ways have these visions of Bush and Nelson been realized? What remains unrealized?
(Zocalo Public Square)
With the World Wide Web I think that there are many things that remain invisible to the common person. This space is a network of thousands of connections and resources, too much for one person to ever comprehend. Bush understands the complexity as to how this knowledge is stored, and aims for creating the task of organizing this mass of knowledge. Bush wants us to have access to this knowledge, and to use our tools to command this knowledge. This vision by Bush is quite large in my opinion. The internet allows us so much access, but I do not think it is comprehendible for a person, it is just too much. But Bush’s vision is unique in that we have begun to realize our power in creating these types of mechanism for storage of knowledge. He compares it to how we make tools to extend parts of our body. The internet or world wide web has extended the powers of the mind instead.
Nelson approaches this through systems of organization. In the lecture talk video it was discussed that Nelson sees this as a forced way of thinking. When we organize something in a particular way, we are forcing the brain to understand it and make sense of it. I may be understanding this part incorrectly, but the world wide web has certainly forced our mind to think a certain way in terms of organization. Something that is realized about Nelson’s vision is the importance for connections. My biggest observation on the effect culturally of the internet is the ease for communication. Nelson also knows that networks that are formed via the web allows for more knowledge to come together.
(E Learning Industry)
So these visionary thinkers end up working hand in hand. Bush wants to see access to this mass of knowledge, and Nelson wants to organize it in a way that will benefit the mind. I think what comes out of this is that the world wide web has opened the way for many visionaries, and all can be connected in some way.