Is Memex a digital media?

Not completely yes.

  • First: most obviously, the Memex (had it ever been built) would have
    operated on photo-mechanical, rather than digital technology. (As you watch the
    animation, you can hear the machanical operation sound, that sound would be a
    proof to believe that it is not digital media)
  • Second, the operation of the memex is tied to the physical presence of texts
    – a stack of densely-printed microfilms, which can be sorted and displayed
    quickly, but which must first be printed and distributed to a paying researcher.
  • Bush was fixated on the human mind. All of his initial machines and visions
    were analog devices. Furthermore, he frequently used the analogy of electricity
    to the human brain. In doing so, he believed that he could improve on the
    imperfect biological processes that existed.

Chen LiuKe and Xia Li

Is Memex a digital media? (York University CS Department)

The Memex is Vannevar Bush’s hypothetical microfilm-based document storage and retrieval system, proposed in the 1940s but never built.

The above excerpt is the conclusion to a computer science paper posted to Peter Roosen-Runge’s curricular website. The first two points in this list are plagiarized from an article I wrote earlier this year. See for yourself:

Seeing the memex as the direct precursor to the WWW is attractive, but problematic for several reasons. First, and most obviously, the memex (had it ever been built) would have operated on photo-mechanical, rather than digital, technology. Second, the operation of the memex is tied to the physical presence of texts – a stack of densely-printed microfilms, which can be sorted and displayed quickly, but which must first be printed and distributed to a paying researcher. Third, the memex is only additive – the scholar can duplicate pages, but cannot synthesize (by copying and pasting chunks) or inserting or rearranging words in a stream. “On the Trail of the Memex,” Dichtung Digital

I e-mailed Roosen-Runge two weeks ago, and got no response. I e-mailed Roosen-Runge and his department chair a week later, and still got no response.

The paper in question does include my article in its “Reference” section, but there aren’t quotation marks around the passage lifted from my work. I’m appalled at the lack of response I have received from the instructor.

While I’m at it, I don’t really think that Chen LiuKe and Xia Li know what they are talking about — the Memex is an analog storage system, which involves taking pictures on microfilm. It’s a chemical and mechanical process — it’s analog, not digital. The only answer the three bulleted points supports would be “Not in any way, no.” I see nothing that convinces me the Memex should be considered “a digital media” [sic].

7 thoughts on “Is Memex a digital media?

  1. Update, 25 Nov (a few hours later): Prof. Roosen-Runge gave me permission to cite from his e-mail:

    I’d like to assure you that I take the
    issue of unattributed quotation very seriously… I have already rejected a couple of reports for failing to correctly attribute, but obviously I didn’t catch this one… the problem is undeniably ubiquitous and very hard to correct even with strenuous effort.

    I have deleted the link to
    http://www.cs.yorku.ca/~peter/SOSC4300C/reports/Memex/Report.htm,
    and the file itself.

    I hope I have your permission to quote your e-mail in class today –
    it may have more effect than all my careful explanations of what the
    rules are and why they are necessary.

    Again, thank you for making the effort to contact me about this. It
    was entirely appropriate that you did, and very helpful for what I’m
    trying to get across.

  2. Update: 25, Nov (moments later): Prof. Roosen-Runge has apologized for giving me the impressionhe was ignoring me, has removed the file from his website, and has requested permission to use my e-mail in his class. I didn’t ask what actions he will take against the students involved, but at the very least the whole class will get a real-world taste of why college instructors demand that their students cite more fully and more accurately than the kind of sloppy citation that was acceptable in junior high school. Thank you, Dr. Roosen-Runge.

  3. Update, 25 Nov: After sending an e-mail to the president of York University, nearly 3 weeks after my first attempt to contact the professor involved, I did hear from the CS department chair, who asked for some more time. For the time being, however, the website remains up.

  4. Hi. I just posted your story (from the RSS feed) on my site. You should have received an immediate response when you emailed the professor and then others in the department.
    Dan

  5. Hi Dennie – just posted a response at Kairosnews – email me and I will also contact the dept. The material should taken off the web, and you are entitled to a reponse from the prof, a dept apology and assurance that measures were taken against the students.

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