Everything about Memex
Hypothetical proto-hypertext system
A memex is a hypothetical electromechanical device for interacting with microform documents and described in Vannevar Bush's 1945 article "As We May Think". Bush envisioned the memex as a device in which individuals would compress and store all of their books, records, and communications, "mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility". The individual was supposed to use the memex as an automatic personal filing system, making the memex "an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory". Wikipedia →
🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path
- Read the overview: MemexA 5-minute orientation
- Pick up a classic book: GlutThe most-reprinted book on the subject
- Read the landmark paper: Focal Visual-Text Attention for Memex Question AnsweringCited 61 times
- Go sideways: As We May ThinkA closely related topic
- Go sideways: History of hypertextA closely related topic
📖 Definitions
Noun A proposed computer system, implemented with electromechanical controls and microfilm equipment, that would permit a researcher to follow and annotate topics of interest, analogous to later hypertext technologies.
🗂️ The subject at a glance
🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)
Focal Visual-Text Attention for Memex Question Answering
Material memex
Still building the memex
Codex, Memex, Genex: The Pursuit of Transformational Technologies
Emanuel Goldberg, electronic document retrieval, and Vannevar Bush's Memex
Reframing a Novel Decentralized Knowledge Management Concept as a Desirable Vision: As We May Realize the Memex
Innovation, pragmaticism, and technological continuity: Vannevar Bush's memex
Technology, cluelessness, anthropology, and the memex: the future of academic reference service
📚 Books worth reading
GlutRanked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.
🔗 Related topics
- As We May Think "As We May Think" is a 1945 essay by Vannevar Bush which has been described as visionary and influential, anticipating many aspects of information society…
- History of hypertext Hypertext is text displayed on a computer or other electronic device with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately access…
- Hypertext Hypertext is text displayed on a computer display or other electronic devices with references (hyperlinks) to other text that the reader can immediately…
- Office of the future The office of the future is a collection of ideas for redesigning the office. As technology and society have evolved, the definition of the office of the…
- Intertwingularity Intertwingularity is a portmanteau of the words intertwined and intermingled, coined by information-technology theorist Ted Nelson in 1974 to express the…
- Search engine (computing) In computing, a search engine is an information retrieval software system designed to help find information stored on one or more computer systems. Search…
- Vertical search A vertical search engine is distinct from a general web search engine, in that it focuses on a specific segment of online content. They are also called…
- Trexy Trexy was a London-based Internet metasearch engine established in early 2006. The website was founded by Nigel Hamilton and Megan Hamilton. It allowed…