Die Zukunft hat eine Vergangenheit

 Die Memex (1945)

A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.

[...]

It consists of a desk, and while it can presumably be operated from a distance, it is primarily the piece of furniture at which he works. On the top are slanting translucent screens, on which material can be projected for convenient reading. There is a keyboard, and sets of buttons and levers. Otherwise it looks like an ordinary desk.

In one end is the stored material. The matter of bulk is well taken care of by improved microfilm. Only a small part of the interior of the memex is devoted to storage, the rest to mechanism.

Vannevar Bush: "As We May Think" (1945)

Über den Memex-User bei der Arbeit schreibt Bush folgendes:

He has dozens of possibly pertinent books and articles in his memex. First he runs through an encyclopedia, finds an interesting but sketchy article, leaves it projected. Next, in a history, he finds another pertinent item, and ties the two together. Thus he goes, building a trail of many items. Occasionally he inserts a comment of his own, either linking it into the main trail or joining it by a side trail to a particular item. [...] [H]e branches off on a side trail which takes him through textbooks on elasticity and tables of physical constants. He inserts a page of longhand analysis of his own. Thus he builds a trail of his interest through the maze of materials available to him. (Bush: "As We May Think", 1945, Hervorhebung MF)

Trails und mazes anno 1945? Bush setzt dem noch seine Vorstellungen nach, wie die Memex den Arbeitsalltag einzelner Professionen verändern könnte. In dem Zusammenhang fällt der folgende Satz:

There is a new profession of trail blazers, those who find delight in the task of establishing useful trails through the enormous mass of the common record. (Bush: "As We May Think", 1945)

"Trail Blazers" -- das könnte genau so gut William Gibson geprägt haben. Von Gibson stammt denn auch der folgende Ausspruch aus einem Salon-Interview, 1996:

Pretty soon I think there'll be people who make a living pre-surfing it [i.e., the web, MF] for you. There's a real need for that -- otherwise it becomes this monster time-sink.

Interessante Anmerkungen zur Memex finden sich in Steven Johnson: Interface Culture, S.116ff. 1997, im Veröffentlichungsjahr, existierte der Begriff "weblog" m.W. noch nicht -- insofern ist es klar, dass Johnson darauf nicht eingeht. Wikis allerdings gibt es seit Anfang der 90er, und interessanterweise erwähnt Johnson auch diese nicht im Zusammenhang mit Bushs trail blazers.

mf