Ted Nelson - Revision history

Caseorganic at 14:00, 25 August 2026

2026-08-25T14:00:24Z

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	[[File:ted-nelson-sociologist.jpg\|200px\|thumb\|right\|Ted Nelson, American Sociologist]]		[[File:ted-nelson-sociologist.jpg\|200px\|thumb\|right\|Ted Nelson, American Sociologist]]
			[[File:Ted-Nelson.jpg\|thumb\|Ted Nelson]]

	===Biography===		===Biography===
	"Theodor Nelson (~~born~~ 1937) is an American sociologist, philosopher, and pioneer of information technology. He coined the terms "hypertext" and "hypermedia" in 1963 and published it in 1965~~. He also~~ is credited with first use of the words transclusion, virtuality, intertwingularity and teledildonics. The main thrust of his work has been to make computers easily accessible to ordinary people" [~~http~~://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nelson]. His motto is:		Theodor Holm Nelson (b. 17 June 1937) is an American sociologist, philosopher and pioneer of information technology. He coined the terms "hypertext" and "hypermedia" in 1963 and published them in 1965, and is credited with the first use of the words '''transclusion''', '''virtuality''', '''intertwingularity''' and '''teledildonics'''. The main thrust of his work has been to make computers easily accessible to ordinary people.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nelson Ted Nelson], Wikipedia.</ref>
	~~<blockquote>~~ "A user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within ten seconds" ~~[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nelson]. </blockquote>~~
			The son of the director Ralph Nelson and the actress Celeste Holm, he took a BA in philosophy at Swarthmore and an MA in sociology at Harvard, where the term hypertext was conceived during a graduate course. He later took a doctorate at Keio University. His motto: "A user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within ten seconds."

	===Projects===		===Projects===
	"Although ~~Ted~~ Nelson had many projects and platonic ideals for what the web should be, many ~~of these projects~~ never made it through to completion~~"...~~in part because "he did not possess the technical knowledge to tell others how his ideas could be implemented, and so many people simply ignored him (and have ever since)" [http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/nelson.html]		Although Nelson had many projects and platonic ideals for what the web should be, many never made it through to completion — in part because "he did not possess the technical knowledge to tell others how his ideas could be implemented, and so many people simply ignored him (and have ever since)."<ref>[http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/nelson.html Ted Nelson], ibiblio Pioneers.</ref>

	~~====ZigZag® structure====~~		'''The Xanadu® model.''' An alternative form of deep document, and the longest-running project in the history of software. Xanadu was conceived as a tool to preserve and increase humanity's literature and art: a world-wide network storing information not as separate files but as connected literature, where documents remain accessible indefinitely, users can create virtual copies of any document, and — instead of copyright enforcement — owners are automatically paid a micropayment for the virtual copying of their work.
	An alternative form of deep ~~non~~-~~hierarchical structure (multidimensional crossed lists)~~.

	~~====~~Parallel hypertext~~====~~		'''Parallel hypertext.''' Fundamentally different hypertext viewing, in which connected documents are displayed side by side with their links drawn as visible bridges between them, rather than one document at a time with links as hidden jumps.
	Fundamentally different hypertext viewing.

	~~====The Xanadu® model====~~		'''ZigZag® structure.''' An alternative form of deep non-hierarchical structure, based on multidimensional crossed lists, intended to escape the file-and-folder hierarchy Nelson regards as an unnecessary imposition borrowed from paper.
	An alternative form of deep ~~document~~.

	"Xanadu ~~was concieved as~~ a ~~tool to preserve~~ and ~~increase humanity's literature and art. Xanadu would consist~~ of a ~~world~~-~~wide network that would allow information to be stored not as separate files but as connected literature. Documents would remain accessible indefinitely. Users could create virtual copies of any~~ document~~. Instead of having copyrighted materials~~, the ~~owners of~~ the ~~documents would be automatically paid via electronic means a micropayment for the virtual copying of their documents" [http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/nelson.html]~~.		===Why the Web Is Not Xanadu===
			Nelson has been a consistent and public critic of the World Wide Web, which he regards as a degraded imitation of what hypertext should have been. His objections are specific and worth stating, because they identify real losses: web links are one-directional, so a document cannot know who cites it; links break, because they point at locations rather than at content; there is no transclusion, so quotation is copying rather than inclusion with provenance intact; there is no version history at the document level; and there is no rights or payment mechanism, which left advertising as the only available business model.

	===Further Reading===		===Further Reading===
	*[[Literary Machines]]		* ''Computer Lib / Dream Machines'' (1974)
			* ''[[Literary Machines]]'' (1981)
			* ''Possiplex'' (2010), his autobiography

			===Relevance to Cyborg Anthropology===
			Nelson is the field's most useful counterfactual. Every property of the web that feels like a fact about hypertext — one-way links, link rot, copies rather than transclusions, no provenance, no micropayment — is a design choice that someone had already argued against before it was made. Reading him is the fastest way to see the present arrangement as contingent, which is the same service [[Ward Cunningham\|Cunningham's]] wiki performs for authorship.

	===External Links===		===External Links===
	*[http://www.xanadu.com.au/ted/ Homepage of Ted Nelson]		* [http://www.xanadu.com.au/ted/ Homepage of Ted Nelson]

			===References===
			<references/>

	[[Category:People]]		[[Category:People]]
	[[Category:~~Book Pages~~]]		[[Category:Computing History]]
	[[Category:~~Unfinished~~]]		[[Category:Cyberspace]]


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Caseorganic at 04:19, 26 March 2012

2012-03-26T04:19:34Z

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	[[Category:People]]		[[Category:People]]
			[[Category:Book Pages]]
			[[Category:Unfinished]]

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Caseorganic at 22:25, 27 November 2010

2010-11-27T22:25:12Z

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	===External Links===		===External Links===
	[http://www.xanadu.com.au/ted/ Homepage of Ted Nelson]		*[http://www.xanadu.com.au/ted/ Homepage of Ted Nelson]

	[[Category:People]]		[[Category:People]]

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Caseorganic at 22:25, 27 November 2010

2010-11-27T22:25:01Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:25, 27 November 2010
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	[[File:ted-nelson-sociologist.jpg\|200px\|thumb\|right\|Ted Nelson, American Sociologist]]		[[File:ted-nelson-sociologist.jpg\|200px\|thumb\|right\|Ted Nelson, American Sociologist]]
	===Biography===		===Biography===
	Theodor Nelson (born 1937) is an American sociologist, philosopher, and pioneer of information technology. He coined the terms "hypertext" and "hypermedia" in 1963 and published it in 1965. He also is credited with first use of the words transclusion, virtuality, intertwingularity and teledildonics. The main thrust of his work has been to make computers easily accessible to ordinary people. His motto is:		"Theodor Nelson (born 1937) is an American sociologist, philosopher, and pioneer of information technology. He coined the terms "hypertext" and "hypermedia" in 1963 and published it in 1965. He also is credited with first use of the words transclusion, virtuality, intertwingularity and teledildonics. The main thrust of his work has been to make computers easily accessible to ordinary people" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nelson]. His motto is:
	<blockquote> "A user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within ten seconds" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nelson]. </blockquote>		<blockquote> "A user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within ten seconds" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nelson]. </blockquote>

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	====The Xanadu® model====		====The Xanadu® model====
	An alternative form of deep document.		An alternative form of deep document.

			"Xanadu was concieved as a tool to preserve and increase humanity's literature and art. Xanadu would consist of a world-wide network that would allow information to be stored not as separate files but as connected literature. Documents would remain accessible indefinitely. Users could create virtual copies of any document. Instead of having copyrighted materials, the owners of the documents would be automatically paid via electronic means a micropayment for the virtual copying of their documents" [http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/nelson.html].

	===Further Reading===		===Further Reading===

Caseorganic at 22:23, 27 November 2010

2010-11-27T22:23:31Z

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	====Parallel hypertext====		====Parallel hypertext====
	Fundamentally different hypertext viewing		Fundamentally different hypertext viewing.

	====The Xanadu® model====		====The Xanadu® model====
	An alternative form of deep document		An alternative form of deep document.

	===Further Reading===		===Further Reading===

Caseorganic: Created page with 'Ted Nelson, American Sociologist ===Biography=== Theodor Nelson (born 1937) is an American sociologist, philosopher, and pio…'

2010-11-27T22:21:52Z

Created page with '200px|thumb|right|Ted Nelson, American Sociologist ===Biography=== Theodor Nelson (born 1937) is an American sociologist, philosopher, and pio…'

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[[File:ted-nelson-sociologist.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Ted Nelson, American Sociologist]]
===Biography===
Theodor Nelson (born 1937) is an American sociologist, philosopher, and pioneer of information technology. He coined the terms "hypertext" and "hypermedia" in 1963 and published it in 1965. He also is credited with first use of the words transclusion, virtuality, intertwingularity and teledildonics. The main thrust of his work has been to make computers easily accessible to ordinary people. His motto is:
<blockquote> "A user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within ten seconds" [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nelson]. </blockquote>

===Projects===
"Although Ted Nelson had many projects and platonic ideals for what the web should be, many of these projects never made it through to completion"...in part because "he did not possess the technical knowledge to tell others how his ideas could be implemented, and so many people simply ignored him (and have ever since)" [http://www.ibiblio.org/pioneers/nelson.html]

====ZigZag® structure====
An alternative form of deep non-hierarchical structure (multidimensional crossed lists).

====Parallel hypertext====
Fundamentally different hypertext viewing

====The Xanadu® model====
An alternative form of deep document

===Further Reading===
*[[Literary Machines]]

===External Links===
[http://www.xanadu.com.au/ted/ Homepage of Ted Nelson]

[[Category:People]]

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