I read a
commentary on “As We May Think” by Len Pelletier. Pelletier points out the
resemblance between the Memex and the World Wide Web and establishes some
differences. The Memex would contain a wide array of factual information all
linked together. However, as we know, the internet allows anyone to post and
edit information which makes it a lot more chaotic than Bush would have
imagined. The ability to edit and post anything allows all viewpoints of an
issue make an appearance which would not have happened had it been the way Bush
imagined.
Pelletier is
realtively unbiased in the vast majority of his commentary, which can be a
difficult thing to do. He gives both pros and cons of the Memex the way Bush
described it. He draws connections saying where the World Wide Web has failed
to live up to the idea Bush suggested and ways that it has excelled in other
ways to be better than the Memex could’ve been. He does seem to be seem to be a
little biased when discussing the ability of “remixing” information. Pelletier
goes into a bit more detail when talking about how the World Wide Web lacks the
ability to keep the original copy of a wiki once it is edited.
https://blogs.ubc.ca/etec540sept10/2010/11/14/commentary-2-as-we-may-think/
I think it's really interesting that Pelletier points out how the Memex only contains factual information all linked together, kind of like a library archive or something along those lines, whereas the World Wide Web anybody can post to it and thus contains many opinions and banter. I really like the word "chaotic" that you chose to describe how the WWW differs from the Memex. I think the Memex was a very structured concept and was more conceptualized for the purpose of holding info in one place that was networked through links and thus, was more for learning. However, we use the WWW for so much more than that, and more typically for leisure and fun and distraction. I think that's a huge difference with so much truth behind it that was really fun for Pelletier to point out.
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