Vannevar Bush's 1945 essay, "As We May Think," describes hypertext in all its glory. As Charlie sez, "The fact that you are able to read it this way is just one aspect of how it has changed our lives. Because, before this article, the idea of being able to work or think this way simply wasn't common (or even uncommon) currency. This is how great ideas germinate…"
All this is conventional, except for the projection forward of present-day mechanisms and gadgetry. It affords an immediate step, however, to associative indexing, the basic idea of which is a provision whereby any item may be caused at will to select immediately and automatically another. This is the essential feature of the memex. The process of tying two items together is the important thing.
When the user is building a trail, he names it, inserts the name in his code book, and taps it out on his keyboard. Before him are the two items to be joined, projected onto adjacent viewing positions. At the bottom of each there are a number of blank code spaces, and a pointer is set to indicate one of these on each item. The user taps a single key, and the items are permanently joined. In each code space appears the code word. Out of view, but also in the code space, is inserted a set of dots for photocell viewing; and on each item these dots by their positions designate the index number of the other item.
(via Charlie's Diary)
