Ted Nelson

“Computer Lib +Dream Machines”

– Referencing The New Media Reader, Wardrip-Fruin & Montfort

About Theodore Nelson 1937 -

• Is remembered as the founder of the field of Computer Science (along with Alan Turing?). Coined the terms “hypertext” and “hypermedia.”

• His work is to make computers easily accessible to ordinary people, his motto being: “A user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within ten seconds.”

• He is the son of the Emmy Award-winning director Ralph Nelson and the Academy Award-winning actress Celeste Holm.

• Cofounded the itty bitty machine company – a small retail store in Evanston, Ill. – one of the first stores to sell the Apple 1 computer.

Mitch Kapor on Computer Lib

Mitch Kapor, cofounder of Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)* said, upon reading Computer Lib:

“Here was a man who dreamed my dreams before I did, who gave voice to a radically different concept of computers as other than giant calculating machines.”

• * EFF is the leading civil liberties group defendingyour rights in the digital world. http://www.eff.org

“Computer Lib”

• Devoted to the premise that Everyone Should Understand Computers!

• Computers are a necessary and enjoyable part of life like food and books.

• Computers are versatile gizmos that can be turned to any purpose in any style

The Computer Priesthood

• Experts in any field rarely want people to understand what they are doing … Knowledge is power and it tends to be hoarded.

• “The creeping evil of professionalism” is the control of aspects of society by cliques of insiders, in this case “computer people” (60s and 70s mistrust of “The Man.”)

• It is imperative that the appalling gap between public and computer insider be closed.

“Dream Machines”

• Computer Lib was a “come on” for Dream Machines.

• Meant to show the choice of dreams – The technologies matter a lot but the unifying vision matters more.

• Intention is to chart the right way … uniquely continues the Western traditions of literature, scholarship, and freedom.

Why does it matter?

• Because we live in media, as fish live in water.

• We can and must design the media, design the molecules of our new water … the details matter deeply.

• Hard-edged fantasy is the corner of tomorrow … the most exciting things here are those that involve computers, notably because computers will be embraced in every presentational medium and thoughtful medium very soon.”

No More Teachers’ Dirty Looks (1970)

1. The human mind is born free, yet everywhere it is in chains.

2. Everything is interesting, until ruined for us.

3. There are no “subjects”. The divisions are a matter of convenience.

4. There is no natural or necessary order of learning.

5. Anyone retaining his natural mental facilities can learn anything on his own.

(Pages 309-316)

L’informatique

• Definition: The presentation of information to people by automatic equipment. Nelson offers a translation, “Fantics.”

• Fantics is the art and science of getting ideas across, both emotionally and cognitively.

• (In ritual) … the shaman with feathers and rattle are telling us something about the continuity of society and people in it. Media performs the same function.

Thoughts about Media

1. Anything can be said in any medium.

2. Transposability.

3. Big and Small Approaches. (McLuhanism)

4. The Word-Picture Continuum.

(Pages 318 – 319)

More Thoughts about Media and Cognition

• At he remarkable things about the mind is the way it ties things together. Perceptual unity comes out of nowhere.

• Fantic space is the space and relationship sensed by a viewer of any medium. The design of computer display systems, then, is really the “artful crafting of fantic space.”

• Fantic structure is consists of its noticeable parts, interconnections, contents, and effects.

• Fantic design is the planning and selection of effects.

• For example Xanadu. (page 335 + your links!)

Your links and suggestions

• Xanadu. Thanks Frankie.

• Thanks Katy and Paula. Ted Nelson, dissident.

• Thanks Adam. Rupert Murdoch on New Media.