Bush envisioned the memex as a device that would compress and store all of an individual's books, records, and communications for fast and flexible retrieval. The memex was intended to provide an "enlarged intimate supplement" to human memory. It would have used a combination of electromechanical controls, microfilm cameras and readers integrated into a large desk, allowing the user to link, annotate, and organize microfilm content in a personalized web of associations. However, some critics argue that Bush did not fully understand information science and that arbitrary associations without indexing would not scale effectively.

1. Power point presentation on
Memex
by
Aabid hussain

2. Memex
• The memex is the name given by” vannever bush” to the
hypothetical proto-hypertext system he described in his 1945
“The Atlantic Monthly” article “As We May Think”. Bush
envisioned the memex as a device in which an individual
would compress and store all of their books, records, and
communications, "mechanized so that it may be consulted
with exceeding speed and flexibility". The memex would
provide an "enlarged intimate supplement to one's
memory".The concept of the memex influenced the
development of early hypertext systems

3. Working
• The technology used would have been a combination
of electromechanical controls, microfilm cameras and
readers, all integrated into a large desk. Most of the
microfilm library would have been contained within
the desk, but the user could add or remove microfilm
reels at will.
• The article was a reworked and expanded version of
Bush's 1939 essay Mechanization and the Record.
Here, he described a machine that would combine
lower level technologies to achieve a higher level of
organized knowledge (like human memory processes).

4. • The memex would have features other than
linking. The user could record new
information on microfilm, by taking photos
from paper or from a touch-sensitive
translucent screen. A user could "... insert a
comment of his own, either linking it into the
main trail or joining it by a side trail to a
particular item. ... Thus he builds a trail of his
interest through the maze of materials
available to him."

5. Criticism
• Michael Buckland, in an article published in 1992,
suggested that the memex was severely flawed because
Bush did not thoroughly understand information science
and had a bad opinion of indices and classification
schemes: "Bush thought that the creation of arbitrary
associations between individual records was the basis of
memory, so he wanted 'mem(ory-)ex', or 'Memex instead
of index'. The result was a personalized, but superficial and
inherently self-defeating design.“
• Buckland also states that Bush's idea should be viewed
from the historical perspective of microfilm technology
developed prior to 1945 rather than based on the power
and versatility of digital computer technology developed
after 1945.

6. Thank you