COM125 Week 2: History of the Internet

The most important aspect all began with an invention by two men, Ted Nelson and Douglas Engelbart in the 1960s. In the 1980s, Tim-Berners Lee invented the World Wide Web in response to the constantly changing computer industry. Today, Nelson and Engelbart’s very invention is being used in what the World Wide Web, and that invention of theirs is called – hypertext.

Hypertext is “a special type of database system, in which objects (text, pictures, music, programs, and so on) can be creatively linked to each other” (“What is hypertext?”, August 20, para. 1). Another definition of hypertext would be that it “is a way of organizing material that attempts to overcome the inherent limitations of traditional text and in particular its linearity” (“Hypertext”, January 26, para. 1).

The first system to implement hypertext was the NLS or “oNLine System” that was a “revolutionary computer collaboration system designed by Douglas Engelbart and the researchers at the Augmentation Research Centre (ARC) at Stanford Research Institute (SRI)” (“NLS (computer system)”, January 13, para. 1) in 1968. One of the biggest features of the NLS was The Journal. It was a hypertext-based program that supported “collaborative document creation” (“NLS (computer system)”, January 13, para. 7). However, NLS was difficult to learn, and it ended in 1976.

In the same year that NLS was introduced, the Hypertext Editing System (HES), which also used hypertext, was introduced. This system was a research project that was conducted by Nelson, Andries van Dam and several students from Brown University. The system mainly organized data into two groups – links and branching text. Although HES was considered to be the pioneer of modern hypertext concepts, it focused more on printing and text formatting.

After the failure of the NLS system and the Hypertext Editing System, Tim-Berners Lee, a CERN scientist, invented ENQUIRE, which was an early hypertext database system in 1980. However, in the later part of the 1980s, Tim-Berners Lee addressed “the issue of issue of the constant change in the currency of information and the turn-over of people on projects” (“Computer History Museum”, 2006, para. 48). Hence resulting in the invention of the World Wide Web. The “demand for automatic information sharing between scientists working in different universities and institutes all over the world” was met by the World Wide Web. (“Hypertext”, January 26, para. 15).

The current World Wide Web is very much influenced by hypertext. Hypertext in the World Wide Web has “reduced the sharp distinction between [the] reader and [the] writer” (Pathak, December 1999, para. 14). Hypertext has enabled the readers to create their own paths when scanning through pieces of texts. When this happens, a part of the “writer’s power is thus effectively transferred to the reader” (Pathak, December 1999, para. 14).

As the current World Wide Web is filled with information, it is not easy for someone to search for a particular webpage or item. With the hypertext, it has enabled users of the World Wide Web to develop search skills necessary sifting through all the information. For example, in the past, when people needed to find information about a particular subject, they would very likely have to read through a lot of documents on the computer or from books. Nowadays, with implementation of hypertext in the World Wide Web, all we have to do now is to type a few keywords in a search engine and we will be able to find the information that we need.

Although hypertext has made the World Wide Web a lot easier for us to look for things on the Internet, it has also caused problems like users feeling lost or disoriented while searching for things. However, learning the proper ways to use hypertext in the World Wide Web can solve such problems.

In ending, hypertext has influenced the World Wide Web and how we use it to a great extent. As technology, the Internet and the World Wide Web further advances, one thing is for certain – hypertext is an integral part of the entire system that will not be gotten rid off anytime in the future.

References:

Computer History Museum. (n. d.). [On-line]. Retrieved January 25, 2007 from the World Wide Web: http://www.computerhistory.org/exhibits/internet_history/index.shtml

Hypertext. (2007). [On-line]. Retrieved Jauary 25, 2007 from the World Wide Web:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext

NLS (computer system). (2007). [On-line]. Retrieved January 25, 2007 from the World Wide Web:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NLS_(computer_system)

Pathak, A. (1999). [On-line]. Retrieved January 25, 2007 from the World Wide Web:http://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/asalpathak/millenium-paper.htm

What is hypertext? (2003). [On-line]. Retrieved January 25, 2007 from the World Wide Web:http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/H/hypertext.html

Images:

Tim-Berners Lee: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Berners-Lee.jpg

Hypertext Model:www.pcd-innovations.com/EDIT797/Carma/hypertext.htm

NLS System:http://www2.iicm.tugraz.at/cguetl/education/projects/mischitz/images/nls.jpg