Re: [-empyre-] Post from cpr@mindspring.com/ forward

[noah wardrip-fruin <noah@queeg.com>]

At 11:09 PM +1000 13/1/04, Ashley Holmes wrote:
> Certainly, "hypermedia" is a term that I prefer to "New Media".

That's interesting. "Hypermedia" is a specific 
term coined by Ted Nelson, and more narrow than 
"new media." Hypermedia was first used by Ted 
Nelson in 1965, in the same article in which he 
coined the term "hypertext."

These initial coinages were offered in passing, 
almost, toward the end of an article. Then, in 
1970, Nelson published another article in which 
both were described in more detail. You can 
download the 1970 article, as reprinted in 
Nelson's 1974 _Computer Lib / Dream Machines_, 
from the NMR excerpts page 
(http://www.newmediareader.com/excerpts.html) but 
I'll paste in a few excerpts from both articles 
here as well.

The 1965 definition of hypertext:
	Let me introduce a word "hypertext"* to 
mean a body of written or pictorial material 
interconnected in such a complex way that it 
could not conveniently be presented or 
represented on paper. (NMR p.144)

The asterisk note after "hypertext" reads:
	* The sense of "hyper-" used here 
connotes extension and generality; cf. 
"hyperspace." The criterion for this prefix is 
the inability of these objects to be comprised 
sensibly into linear media? (ibid)

Then hypermedia is coined:
	The hyperfilm - a browsable or 
vari-sequenced movie - is only one of the 
possible hypermedia that require our attention. 
(ibid)

In 1970 we get a lot more detail. In this 
article, as the title ("No More Teachers' Dirty 
Looks") indicates, Nelson is writing about 
education, and particularly in opposition to 
AI-based "Computer-Aided Instruction." He writes 
of "hyper-media" (the term's concatenation 
varies):
	Hyper-media are branching or performing 
presentations which respond to user actions, 
systems of prearranged words and pictures (for 
example) which may be explored freely or queried 
in stylized ways. They will not be "programmed," 
but rather designed, written, drawn and edited, 
by authors, artists, designers, and editors. (To 
call them "programmed" would suggest spurious 
technicality. Computer systems to present them 
will be "programmed.") Like ordinary prose and 
pictures, they will be media; and because they 
are in some sense "multi-dimensional," we may 
call them hyper-media, following mathematical use 
of the term "hyper-." (NMR p.313)

Nelson then goes on to give a number of examples, 
including two kinds of hypertext (one of which is 
the "chunk style" we have on the web) and several 
types of hypermedia. I won't cut and paste much 
more from this article right now, because I'd be 
tempted to reproduce the whole PDF.

I, too, like the term hypermedia, and Nelson's 
work in general, and would be happy to discuss 
them more here.

Best,
Noah