Over the past week, I've been a reading machine. Last week, I received a hard-to-find book called Literary Machines: The report on, and of, Project Xanadu concerning word processing, electronic publishing, hypertext, thinkertoys, tomorrow's intellectual revolution, and certain other topics including knowledge, education and freedom (1981), Mindful Press, Sausalito, California. Although I wish I could say I got through the entire book, I'm about half way through. The book itself is an example of a hypertext system in that it does not flow sequentially from chapter 1 through the end of the book. The author actually suggests reading the book in a non-linear form, reading some or all of Chapter 1 first, then Chapter 2, then one section of Chapter 3. Then, he suggests the reader go back and read Chapter 2 again, then a different section of Chapter 3. There are also instructions for Chapters 4 and 5. This method of reading solidifies his theory that reading and writing doesn't have to be, and shouldn't be, sequential in nature. He suggests that humans do not process information that way, so they shouldn't be forced to. I've found this book so enthralling that I haven't been able to put it down and start anything else.
However, with pending assignments and a project proposal due in a few months, I think I will have to speed up the pace I'm reading this book (and others to come). For the next week, I will be doing another review of Vannevar Bush's As We May Think. I have read this three times before, but never from a historical hypertext perspective. Also on my radar this week is to find some pertinent material from Tim Berner's Lee to help understand how Ted Nelson (and possibly others) affected his innovative product of the 1990s - the World Wide Web. In addition, I will be ordering the book, Geeks Bearing Gifts, which is a historical synopsis of hypertext beginning with the origins of the alphabet.
So I'm not sure if I'm behind or ahead, but it seems that there is a lot of relevant historical literature regarding hypertext. I want to do the best I am capable of doing on this proposal, so I think being well-versed in this material isn't such a terrible thing. Overall, I'd like to start writing in the next week or two. I just feel like I have so much more to read.
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Candace, you are on your way and approaching this project correctly. Some deep reading of key primary sources (in your case, Nelson & Bush & Berner's Lee) is appropriate. Don't worry so much about not knowing exactly what you are looking for, just keep reading.
ReplyDeleteNext step would be to begin reading some materials that cite Nelson. For example, clicking on the "718 cites" of the edition you have reveals this: http://tr.im/Ptt3. In that listing, you'll be directed to a number of interesting sources. I'd look at Bolter (Writing Space) and McKnight et al (Hypertext in Context) and other books, then move onto journals.
Books are useful because they are more likely to have extensive theoretical discussions running many pages; articles will only have one or two paragraphs of theory...
Keep moving!
(oh, on Bush: the last two sections are the most relevant, I just reread it a few days ago...)