aswemaythink

=As We May Think Notes=

Rough Notes on Vannevar Bush's As We May Think (Nov 9 Reading)

-science allows man to improve his material environment -photocells use thermionic tubes to control what is visible/usable for research -dry photography: photos without dyes -microphotography: reduces the size of the record -microfilm: can reduce/enlarge photo at full clarity -Bell's vocoder: speak and computer types for you -punch-card machines: organizes data, stored on a card or film, can select and manipulate your data, method of organization of the future? -machines for advanced analysis: one machine one task? -machines practice scientific reasoning, stores data on photocell or microfilm -example of photocells in practice: where there “may be ten thousand charge customers doing business with the store,”...one miniature card to record transactions -memex: device which stores info, a private file and library system -memex contents purchased on microfilm, ready for insertion -user can access books, pictures, etc from their microfilm which is displayed on their memex -memex also joins new material to old, creating something similar to a book -the information you join together is never lost, is retraceable, builds upon itself -why?: b/c 'civilization is so complex man needs to mechanize his records more fully'