In the article As we may think, Vannevar Bush first brought the issue about the idea of memory extender, a proto-hypertext system, normally known as memex. In his writing, he was tired of traditional methods of using physical power：recording and retrieving piles of documents mannually. As such, he envisioned a tool that could store the information and would allow him to be an efficient researcher by managing the annotated links he developed between the documents. Compared to the memex, I find that Weblog, Google search, and the applications we use today have resemblances in terms of the way of restoration and retrieval. Nonetheless, they are distinct because of the use of the medium. As a result, I am going to compare and contrast the memex with the following technologies and platforms.
The memex is a revolutionary piece of technology because the suppositions in the article left a tremendous influence on the following scientists, designers, and engineers in the realm of human-computer interaction. The Weblog is an extension of hypertext. The invention of Weblog helps all people searching rankings, sharing thoughts, and posting comments. In contemporary times, Google is one of the world’s largest media companies, and was always taken as a powerful search engine tool. In 2003, the function of PageRank was accelerated and executed in Google and is still used in today’s algorithms. The people can easily search the targets based on the existing structure of links, and also can copy and paste URLs to pull up indexes.
From my perspective, Weblogs and Google search engine, or even the invention of the WWW, they all share the similarities with the supposition of “an infinite extension of the brain” proposed by Bush. The function of links he mentioned can be seen in the following development of hypertext. They all emphasize the connections between information and links that make people interact with it easily. For example, “ If the user wishes to consult a certain book, he taps its code on the keyboard, and the title page of the book promptly appears before him, projected onto one of his viewing positions”, as mentioned by Bush. The way Bush was supposed to use memex is similar to the way people insert keywords into Google search tabs. Google, Weblogs, and memex operate alike in terms of user experience.
However, the present technology of knowledge restoration is totally different from the operation of the memex. The majority of applications and platforms today can be fully realized in a digital way. And the functions are completed and innovated gradually in social media we use today. For example, Bush addresses the mechanical function of the memex, like a library of stored documents and references “in a piece of furniture”. That is, the memex are perceived to work as a mechanical machine. While, both Google search engine and Weblog rely on technology and computing due to the revolution of digitization.
Interestingly, I think the modern applications and platforms indeed extend and develop dramatically based on the ideology of Bush’s memex. Most of the applications I’m using today like Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, can automatically provide me such as “what you will like”, “the video’s recommendations according to your likes”, and “The people you may know” according to their systematically PageRank algorithm. The increasing personalized functions indeed benefit people by quickly picking out efficient indexes.
In conclusion, we made a big step on establishing “a library like the brain”, our modern media platforms offer us a more efficient and complete system for restoring and retrieving. Overall, Vannevar Bush’s ideologies are similar to the design method we are using in interaction design because we all aim to build things that enable the users to achieve their goals in a better way. However, we need to consider the improvements in a digital space. Nonetheless, Bush’s theory is the cornerstone of the development of computing and design.
The connection of Google to Bush’s original idea is interesting to note, and especially the usage of keywords to find what you’re searching for.
I like how you apply references and thoughts to explain the change of Memex in the modern computing industry.
It is interesting that you point out the differences between the memex and the technology now google is using, and it is also interesting to see how perfectly modern people adopt the old concept theory.