Vannevar Bush’s Vision

In the 1930s, a man named Vannevar Bush suggested a memory augmentation device which would allow the user to link multiple ideas together and encourage the access of information based on association and context rather than rigid indexing. The user would be able to build a trail of many items and add to the statements made in books using their own annotations. A modern echo of this concept which most of us are familiar with is Google. What started as a web annotation tool turned into the best page-ranking algorithm on the internet, and thus became a core and integral part of the online experience.

For his time, Bush’s idea was fresh and revolutionary, but because the advent of the computer had not occurred yet, it feels a little dry and limited to us today. The trail-building he spoke of is comparable to hyperlinking and search histories, and we often overlook the importance of those web features. Many of the internet’s programs, however, have always been incredibly resonant with Bush’s conception. The idea of grouping information together based on content and allowing the user to add their inputs as well can be seen as basic functions in many online platforms today. On almost every website, you can find a comment section or a form in which you can type out your opinions. Blogs and journaling sites will often refer to other pieces of material through hyperlinks and embedding content, and use menus to further the grouping of content based on association. 

Social media such as Instagram and Tik Tok differ in that they don’t focus on the publication of written words, but pictures and videos with supplementary text. When you are aware of the full range of possibilities, it might seem as though Vannevar Bush’s vision was timid, but it was the start of this thought process that contributed to where we are today.