Hello Ambiters
Sorry that this comes your way at such late notice but i just heard
of it myself....
********************************************************
Date: Monday 28th January
Time: 4 - 6 pm
Place: A17 Merchiston Campus, Napier University, 10 Colinton Road,
Edinburgh
http://www.napier.ac.uk/campusmaps/merch.asp
Coffee & Tea provided at 4pm.
TITLE:
"Ideas, the Final Frontier-- Computers Beyond
Hierarchy and the Web beyond HTML"
********************************************************
Abstract:
---------
Most uses of computers simulate either hierarchy, paper, or both
(Acrobat and the Web). Hierarchy is notably unsuited to most human
thought, creativity, and ongoing changes of projects; paper is a form
of confinement to which we have adapted for two millennia, though the
ideas have tried to escape for a thousand years-- through footnotes,
annotations, parallelism, and creative layout.
If we dare to challenge these traditions, the alternatives still need
structuring for implementation. The issue is the optimal
representation of ideas-- what relations among discrete structures can
best replace hierarchical directories, and what generalisations of
electronic document will allow profuse bidirectional connections,
track content flow from version to version, allow publishing of
annotations and ongoing parallel documents, and permit large-scale
quotation of copyrighted material? (All are vital for a true
electronic literature.)
The proposed here is simple, straightforward, and deeply different
from the prevailing paradigms.
Brief Bio:
----------
Designer, Generalist, Contrarian Theodor Holm Nelson, 1937-
Best known for: coining terms "hypertext" and "hypermedia," 1963
(first published 1965), and as founder and pursuer of Project
Xanadu, which has been widely misunderstood.
Current positions: Visiting Professor of Environmental Information,
Keio University SFC campus, Fujisawa, Japan. Visiting Professor of
Multimedia, University of Southampton, Southampton, England.
Degrees: B.A., Philosophy, Swarthmore. 1959. M.A., Sociology,
Harvard, 1963 (from the late lamented Dept. of Social Relations)
Awards etc: Yuri Rubinsky Insight Foundation Lifetime Achievement
Award, 1998, presented at WWW7, Brisbane, Australia. There is an
eponymous "Nelson award" given at the annual ACM hypertext conference
for the best paper by a newcomer (sponsored by Microcosm, Ltd.)
Ted Nelson's home page is available at:
http://www.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~ted
Other relevant web sites mentioning him are available here:
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.xml.com/pub/au/53
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~schoed/projects/hci/Nelson.html
http://www.scope.at/program/speakers/nelson.html
--
___________________________________________________________________
Andy McGregor
The Loft
77 Montgomery St
Edinburgh
EH7 5HZ, Scotland
tel + 44(0)131 558 3433
fax +44(0)131 558 7277
mobile +44 (0)7711 923955
email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
___________________________________________________________________
-------------------------------------------------
a m b i t : networking media arts in scotland
post: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
info: send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
and write "info ambit" in the message body
-------------------------------------------------
