This paper written in 1965 by Ted Nelson is one of the most famous in the history of the computer revolution. It introduces his concept of ‘hypertext’ (or links); the central concept of the web. Also, you may wish to read this 1995 article in Wired magazine called ‘the Curse of Xanadu‘; looking at the history of Ted Nelson and his project. One of the companies that they refer to in the article, Autodesk, funded Nelson for quite sometime at the same time I was working for them.
THE KINDS OF FILE structures required if we are to use the computer for personal files and as an adjunct to creativity are wholly different in character from those customary in business and scientific data processing. They need to provide the capacity for intricate and idiosyncratic arrangements, total modifiability, undecided alternatives, and thorough internal documentation. I want to explain how some ideas developed and what they are. The original problem was to specify a computer system for personal information retrieval and documentation, able to do some rather complicated things in clear and simple ways. In this paper I will explain the original problem. Then I will explain why the problem is not simple, and why the solution (a file structure) must yet be very simple. The file structure suggested here is the Evolutionary List File, to be built of zippered lists. A number of uses will be suggested for such a file, to show the breadth of its potential usefulness. Finally, I want to explain the philosophical implications of this approach for information retrieval and data structure in a changing world (link)
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