This week there are two key readings by Vannevar Bush and Ted Nelson, both of which in some way speculate on technological futures by extrapolating the affordances of current technologies.  ‘Literary Machines’ is structured in such a way as to emulate hypertext navigation through information, so it will be beneficial to think about how you are absorbing its contents as you read it.

Key Readings

Bush, Vannevar. “As We May Think.” The Atlantic July 1945. The Atlantic. Web. 19 July 2013. (Link)

Nelson, Theodor Holm. Literary Machines 91.1: The Report on, and of, Project Xanadu Concerning Word Processing, Electronic Publishing, Hypertext, Thinkertoys, Tomorrow’s Intellectual Revolution, And Certain Other Topics Including Knowledge, Education and Freedom. Sausalito: Mindful Press, 1992. Print. (PDF)

Recommended Reading

The recommended reading comes from David Weinberger and contains some relevant take-away ideas that are applicable to today’s technological landscape.  Try thinking about what kind of principles are universally applicable to interactions with types of technology and how these can apply to your own potential futures.

Weinberger, David. Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web. New York: Perseus Books, 2002. Print. (PDF)