If you are familiar with the concept of "hypertext", then most likely you have already heard about the hero of our story. This is Ted Nelson - a philosopher, sociologist, one of the pioneers in the world of information technology. Let's get acquainted with his projects, life history in more detail.
Who is Ted Nelson?
Theodor Holm Nelson celebrated its 80th anniversary this year - the scientist was born on May 17, 1937. This American sociologist and philosopher is best known to the world as the inventor of the term "hypertext" and a number of similar concepts of the information sphere, the creator of the Xanadu system. He also worked on the ZigZag framework, XanaduSpace. He, the "literary romanticist and idealist" (as he calls himself), is also considered the "second father of the hyper environment" after Vannevar Bush.
The term “hypertext” itself, which brought him popularity, was first proclaimed by Ted Nelson in 1962 and used in print in 1965. He is also the author of such well-known and widespread today concepts as "hypermedia", "television dildonics", "hypermedia" and so on.
The main goal of Ted Nelson's work is to make computers understandable to ordinary people. He said that the interface of this device should be so logical that even in a critical situation, a beginner could figure out what's what, within 10 seconds.
Ted Nelson, whose photo we presented in the article, negatively refers to HTML, XML and browser systems created on the basis of his invention. He spoke out that HTML is something that he and his team tried to prevent when creating Xanadu. However, let's talk about everything in order.
Biography of T. Nelson
Theodore Nelson was born in New York, USA. His father is a Grammy Award-winning director Ralph Nelson, and his mother is an Academy Award-winning Hollywood actress Celeste Holm.
From childhood, he tried to understand the essence of things, the relationships between them. At the same time, Theodore did not do very well in school. Next, Ted Nelson continued his studies at Sworthmore College, where he graduated with a bachelor of philosophy. Already in high school, he was engaged in the publication of his school essays. Looking ahead, we also note that Nelson is a Master in Sociology (1963) and holds a Ph.D. in Media and Management (2002).
Ted then enters Harvard University's Department of Sociology. There he was also carried away by computer courses for humanities. So much so that the theme of his diploma assignment he chooses a specific information processing system that would allow the writer to compare the texts of his works, change them, and then return to earlier variations.
In 1965, the first printed work in the biography of Ted Nelson was published, where he talked about relatively related data, and for the first time used the term "hypertext" for non-linear documents.
Xanadu Project
Xanadu is an unfinished project that Theodor Nelson has devoted over 30 years to his life. He took such an unusual name from the mystical poem of S. Coleridge Kubla Khan. There Xanadu is a fabulous possession of the Mongol khan, where Marco Polo stayed for 12 years. And it was precisely this name that Nelson gave to his creation, because he wanted to emphasize that he was creating such a system, a magical place where nothing would ever be forgotten.
Xanadu is a text search and storage system whose main elements are interconnections and “windows”. The document in it is a fundamental unit. Using the "windows" from it, you can draw a route to any other. Thus, during use, more and more new connections appear, “windows” between documents, which expands the entire system and allows it to evolve.
As films about Ted Nelson testify, the ultimate goal of his work is to translate completely all world literature online! However, the project was not completed for the reason that it turned out to be incapable of either existence or development. T. Nelson fought for many years to justify the right to life of his creation, but in vain.
Xanadu and WWW
Although the bold Xanadu project was not widely used, it was he who inspired the creators of WWW to develop his brainchild, as Tim Berners Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, himself admits.
In fact, WWW was the realization of Nelson’s plans, but the scientist, as we mentioned, underestimates this project. In particular, he disapproves of the ever-changing nature of this network. And he says bluntly that the World Wide Web is something he never wanted to allow in his work.
Theodore Hill Nelson's current activities
After Xanadu, the programmer begins work on a new information structure called Zig Zag. Today, he is more involved in philosophy, is a professor at Oxford University. He worked at the Japanese universities of Hokkaido and Sapporo, where he was the head of laboratories for the study of hyperstructures.
Also, Ted Nelson continues to work in the field of information technology, computers, various user interfaces. At a conference in 2000, he said that the first fragments of the code for his Xanadu project appeared in the public domain.
T. Nelson Awards
The first award for his project, Ted Nelson received in 1998 at the 17th conference of the World Wide Web Consortium, which was held in Australia. It was the Yuri Rubinsky Memorial Award (Y. Rubinsky award).
In 2001, he was ordained a French knight as "Officer of Letters and Arts". In 2004, Theodore Nelson was named Wadham College Man, located in Oxford.
So we got acquainted with the life of an amazing person of his time - Ted Nelson. Besides the fact that he is the recognized "father" of the term "hypertext", the well-known programmer was also famous for the Xanadu project, to which he devoted a considerable part of his life. We owe something to this creation when it’s so customary to go to the World Wide Web, look at various sites, and surf on the links.