Web History

Web Architecture and Information Management [./]
Spring 2010 — INFO 190-02 (CCN 42509)

Erik Wilde and Ryan Shaw, UC Berkeley School of Information
2010-01-25

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Contents Erik Wilde and Ryan Shaw: Web History

Contents

Erik Wilde and Ryan Shaw: Web History

(2) Abstract

The Web is, in the words of its creator Tim Berners-Lee, a "global information space." The Web is relatively new, but the vision of a global information space is at least a century old. Looking back at these early visions can give us a sense of the recurring problems in human communication and information management to which the Web was intended be a solution. Yet we must be careful to avoid seeing an unbroken line of technological progress where there was none: many of the pioneers of information management were forgotten, and later generations constructed their own pragmatic historical narratives.



Early visions

Outline (Early visions)

  1. Early visions [6]
  2. Hypertext systems [9]
  3. Birth of the Web [10]

(4) Paul Otlet & the Mundaneum

Source: Edward Vanhoutte, "Paul Otlet (1868-1944) and Vannevar Bush (1890-1974)" [http://edwardvanhoutte.blogspot.com/2009/03/paul-otlet-1868-1944-and-vannevar-bush.html]


(5) Paul Otlet & the Mundaneum



(6) Wilhelm Ostwald & The Bridge

Manifesto of The Bridge in Esperanto
Source: Michael Buckland, "Wilhelm Ostwald and The Bridge [http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/ponto.html]


(7) H.G. Wells & the World Brain

There is no practical obstacle whatever now to the creation of an efficient index to all human knowledge, ideas and achievements, to the creation, that is, of a complete planetary memory for all mankind. ... The whole human memory can be, and probably in a short time will be, made accessible to every individual. ... It need not be concentrated in any one single place. It need not be vulnerable as a human head or a human heart is vulnerable. It can be reproduced exactly and fully, in Peru, China, Iceland, Central Africa, or wherever else seems to afford an insurance against danger and interruption. ... It is a matter of such manifest importance and desirability for science, for the practical needs of mankind, for general education and the like, that it is difficult not to believe that in quite the near future, this Permanent World Encyclopaedia, so compact in its material form and so gigantic in its scope and possible influence, will not come into existence.

H.G. Wells, "World Brain: The Idea of a Permanent World Encyclopaedia" [https://sherlock.ischool.berkeley.edu/wells/world_brain.html], 1937



(8) Emanuel Goldberg

Emanuel Goldberg
Source: Michael Buckland, "Emanuel Goldberg, 1881-1970: Pioneer of Information Science" [http://people.ischool.berkeley.edu/~buckland/goldberg.html]


(9) Vannevar Bush & the Memex



Hypertext systems

Outline (Hypertext systems)

  1. Early visions [6]
  2. Hypertext systems [9]
  3. Birth of the Web [10]

(11) Hypertext / Hypermedia

"Hypertext" is non-sequentially linked pieces of text or other information. If the focus of such a system or document is on non-textual types (1) of information, the term hypermedia is often used instead. In traditional printed documents, practically the only such link supported is the footnote [really?], so hypertext is often referred to as "the generalized footnote."

(1) E.g. graphics, sound, moving images from videodisks, executable programs.

Jakob Nielsen, "Hypertext '87 Trip Report" [http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=43953]



(12) Linear text

Linear text


(13) Hypertext

Hypertext


(14) Hypertexts

The Cave of Time HyperCard


(15) Xanadu

Computer Lib/Dream Machines

(16) NLS/Augment

Engelbart’s NLS workstation

(17) NoteCards

NoteCards

(18) HyperCard

HyperCard

(19) Hypertext/Hypermedia Research



Birth of the Web

Outline (Birth of the Web)

  1. Early visions [6]
  2. Hypertext systems [9]
  3. Birth of the Web [10]

(21) A global information space

Suppose all the information stored on computers everywhere were linked, I thought. Suppose I could program my computer to create a space in which anything could be linked to anything. All the bits of information in every computer at CERN, and on the planet, would be available to me and to anyone else. There would be a single, global information space.

Tim Berners-Lee, Weaving the Web [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/41238513]



(22) CERN

Source: Oxford Brookes University, History of the Web [http://www.w3c.rl.ac.uk/primers/history/origins.pdf]


(23) Tim Berners-Lee

Source: Oxford Brookes University, History of the Web [http://www.w3c.rl.ac.uk/primers/history/origins.pdf]


(24) TBL's Requirements

Source: Tim Berners-Lee, Information Management: A Proposal [http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html], March 1989


(25) TBL's Requirements

Nicola Pellow's Line Mode Browser
Source: Tim Berners-Lee, Information Management: A Proposal [http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html], March 1989


(26) TBL's Non-requirements

Discussions on Hypertext have sometimes tackled the problem of copyright enforcement and data security. These are of secondary importance at CERN, where information exchange is still more important than secrecy.

Tim Berners-Lee, Information Management: A Proposal [http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html], March 1989

A 3rd non-requirement: link integrity. Earlier hypertext systems did not allow for broken links, and thus required central coordination. TBL's system simply returned an error when a link pointed to a non-existent node.



(27) Sidenote: The Web vs. Gopher



(28) Sidenote: The Web vs. Gopher

Graph comparing WWW and Gopher use
Source: Georgia Tech, GVU's NSFNET Backbone Statistics [http://www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/stats/NSF/merit.html], May 1995


(29) Early milestones



(30) Conclusions

Like earlier attempts at building a "global information space", the Web was designed in response to the information management needs of large-scale, institutional science. Tim Berners-Lee was able to build upon previous technologies and incorporate ideas from previous systems to meet these needs. His emphasis on decentralization, use of existing infrastructure, and decision to make WWW technology freely available enabled it to spread and grow quickly. The 1993 decision to allow commercial uses of the Internet, and suitability of Web technology for e-commerce, resulted in explosive economically-fueled growth. In the process of its remarkable growth, however, some of the properties of the early web were de-emphasized (e.g. symmetry between reading and writing).



2010-01-25 Web Architecture and Information Management [./]
Spring 2010 — INFO 190-02 (CCN 42509)