A different vision of the computer world

Ted Nelson's motto is a user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within 10 seconds.

Fish, they say, aren't aware of water. Most people, including computer scientists, do not notice the hidden assumptions and traditions that have structured today's computer world and digital documents. These assumptions push the real problems into the laps of users and programmers.

In a Sydney Ideas event on Wednesday 6 April, Theodor Nelson, a pioneer of information technology, will describe the alternative possibilities for our computer world.

Nelson's motto is a user interface should be so simple that a beginner in an emergency can understand it within 10 seconds.

Nelson is famous for founding Project Xanadu, which inspired a generation of computer programmers, hobbyists and developers. The main thrust of his work has been to create a different kind of electronic document which allows many forms of connection, instead of the 'paper simulation' of Word, PDF and the world wide web.

Nelson will explore some of the consequences of what he describes as people's locked-in way of thinking about computers. "People are satisfied, or intimidated, because they don't know anything else is possible," he says, explaining why more people don't demand change.

Nelson gives some examples, in his own words, of problems caused by the current way computer technology is structured. "Hierarchical directories don't allow a file to be in more than one place, annotated or checked off, and don't notice when a file is moved.

"With walled databases there is no available way to represent, and keep records about, the complex interwoven tangles of real life. Everything has to be simplified and connections have to be cut in all directions. Why?

"One-way hypertext - the rulers of the world wide web say that two-way links are too difficult. Translation: they don't know how to do it.

"Files - lumps of data payload with short names. What is 'metadata'? Data which is not in the payload. A silly distinction."

Nelson coined the terms hypermedia and hypertext in 1963, and is also credited with first use of the words micropayment, transclusion, virtuality, intertwingularity and dildonics.

He is the author of Computer Lib/Dream Machine, Literary Machines and a recently published autobiography, Possiplex.

This event is co-presented with the Department of Media and Communications and Digital Cultures at the University of Sydney.

Event details

What: The Computer World Could Be Completely Different, a Sydney Ideas lecture

When: 6 to 7.30pm, Wednesday 6 April

Where: Eastern Avenue Auditorium, Eastern Ave, Camperdown Campus. See map and directions 

Cost: Free, no registration required

Media enquiries: Verity Leatherdale, 9351 4312, 0419 278 715, verity.leatherdale@sydney.edu.au