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What is Hypertext and Hypermedia?by Teemu Leinonen We may define hypertext as a text in electronic format making it possible to overcome the limits and bounds of traditional written text in paper. In its simplicity it means that in digital format we may make links into the text (words, sentences) that lead to other pieces of information. One may argue that in printed text there has always been 'links' such as list of content, indexes, list of references and so one. Right. The difference is that in hypertext, where links are embedded to the text, you may move from one association to another as you read the text. With hypertext, reading comes also more as a process of "browsing" a text than traditional linear reading from start to end. For many years the idea of hypertext and hypermedia (hypertext with other media elements) was one of the big promises of computers. In the 1960's visionaries, such as Ted Nelson thought that one day we could link all meaningful information to each other, and in this way create a web of all human knowledge and wisdom. His model involved (amongst other things) the following components: Single sources of documents, sophisticated quoting of source documents, and a royalty scheme to allow both original sources and subsequent collectors/linkers of information to profit from the use of valued information. And what have we got out of all the hype? No - we have not got Universal All on One Library of Human Knowledge, we got the World Wide Web. However, from the major World Wide Web sites of today we do not recognize many features of the original idea of hypertext. The hypertext idea in the World Wide Web died when people started to write 'click here' -links, such as the following; if you want further information about Ted Nelson click here. Form the late 1960 to early 1990 one of Ted Nelson's main project, was to developed a software framework that makes possible rich hypertext structures. The system was named to be the Xanadu. Later on Ted Nelson has been involded with the ZigZag project which main developers come from the University of Jyväskylä. The ZigZag project is trying to implement some of the main ideas presented already with the Xanadu. Want to play with hypertext? Visit our last year's WikiWiki pages available at: Networking: the Early Daysby Andrea Botero Internet does not necessarly equal "new media", but is certainly central to it. In this course we look at it from the point of view of infrastructure, networking, design ideas, proof of concept and as a basic building block to understand new media possibilities and limitations. That is why we will start with its origins. The Internet has become a familiar "place" for millions of people that every day login to exchange messages, have a chat, search for information or sell a book (to mention only but a few of the activities that take place under this platform). To trace its origins involves realizing the myriad of circumstances, people, institutions, technologies and relationships that have make it possible. Doing this could also help to clarify some of the basic concepts and design ideas behind its current shape, and the implications of its development for society in general. The internet in it's very basic conception, can be considered as a group of innovations that make it possible the communication and transmission of "data" between computers at different locations. It was born out of the idea of distribution of resources and sharing of information over computers (therefore we need computers before having internet, details in media-computer) Should it be understood as a collection of tools, people and resources and not only a virtual space? Most historical accounts seem to agree that the launching of the sputnik satellite by the Soviet Union in 1957 was an important factor determining the US government to initiate a long standing R&D effort to apply state of the art technology into US defence system. This effort channelled many resources to a program called ARPA (Advance Research Projects Agency) which will stand as the main motor and agglutinant factor in its development. ARPA’s main focus from war game scenarios to research into timesharing, computer graphics and computer language produce the first initiative for a network facility that will communicate the large amount of university based- researchers, this project was called ARPANET its specifications were ready in 1968, and it was first tested in 1969.
The internet is said to be "officially" born around 1982 when the different networks (BITNET, EARN, etc) agree on using the TCP/IP protocol ( Who had been developed by Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerf already in 1974) as a standard for their interconnections making it a more network of networks and overcoming some of the previous cacophony of standards, protocols and increasing its coverage. Time for basics: "Warriors of the Net"How TCP/IP Works (Video by Ericsson Medialab) A short movie that illustrates how the Internet works from the viewpoint of individual data packets. It was created by Gunilla Elam, Tomas Stephansson, Niklas Hanberger and Monte Reid, at the Ericsson Medialab (Sweden). More info about Warriors of the net Internet: More than the World Wide WebBy Andrea Botero Most of the time spent in the Internet nowadays is mediated through the World Wide Web (WWW) experience produced by current browsers. However this has not always been the case, if we consider the internet as a group of different innovations developed for different purposes, we can identify the different array of services that it offers. Ranging from electronic email, user group discussions (news groups), searching services, information retrieval, file transfer and some other "playful" activities like games or muds that have been present since the early days of computer process sharing experiments. Due to a phenomena some have refered to as "convergence" everything start to look like the same thing. It is therefore good to keep in mind the basic principles, differences and limitations.
How about other networks?Telephone networks, radio network, television networks, mobile phone networks? We will discuss and relate some of this issues in our face to face session. How about Social Practices?By Andrea Botero "In 1999 and 2000, I started seeing people use new technologies in new ways. In Tokyo, I saw people looking at their mobile telephones instead of talking into them. In Helsinki, I watched flocks of teenagers descend on a fast food restaurant from all directions at the same time, coordinated by volleys of SMS messages. I heard that the street demonstrators in the 1999 anti-WTO protests used dynamically updated websites, cellphones, and "swarming" tactics in the "battle of Seattle." When I learned that a million Filipinos had toppled President Estrada through public demonstrations that were organized via salvos of text messages, ...."
LinksCollected by Andrea Botero Glosary of Hypertext and -media Terms People (just a few) Pioneers of the net Other useful sites A Brief History of the Internet
The World Wide Web Where the wizards stay up late The Close World: Computers and the politics of Discourse in Cold War America “The Social Construction of Facts and Artifacts: Or How the Sociology of Science and the Sociology of Technology Might Benefit Each Other” Pinch T, Bijker W. ( Bijker, W E, & Hughes, T P & Pinch, T (Eds): The Social Construction of Technological Systems. MIT 1999) |
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