Changing our textual minds by Adriaan van der Weel

Author:Adriaan van der Weel [Weel, A. van der]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Inf.
ISBN: [2012.01.20]
Publisher: [Côte d’Azur]
Published: 2010-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Here we find the functionality of text manipulation during the composition process clearly articulated for the first time. That Engelbart’s flight of fancy resembles the idea of a word processor is hardly startling from a twenty-first-century perspective. What is surprising is that the concept was apparently still so new in 1963. Engelbart was looking for a way to use language, in combination with certain technological ‘artefacts’, methodology, and training, for ‘increasing the capability of a man to approach a complex situation, gain comprehension to suit his particular needs, and derive solutions to problems’.23

23: Engelbart,‘A conceptual framework’, p. 1.

Like the rest of the volume in which it appeared, Engelbart’s article is an example of remarkably advanced thinking. From a present-day vantage point, however, Engelbart is providing a needlessly complicated technological solution to something that is regarded as a basic and rather obvious functionality. It is tempting to wonder why he made it so difficult for himself with his special ink and optically readable characters.24

24: Such optically readable characters characters were in actual use, for example in banking, for a long time.

Apparently Engelbart was not aware of the tremendous progress that was already being made in the office environment. Obviously Engelbart’s way of thinking resembled that of Leibniz more than that of an office clerk: like Leibnitz, he was a scientist. But what most people do with text on the computer today resembles the work of a secretary more than it does the scientific ambitions of people like Leibniz or Engelbart. In the world of office machines there was obviously less consideration of scholarly needs, and ambitious ideas such as Engelbart’s about the computer as a tool for thinking were certainly not being addressed there. But the office environment did produce very concrete results. It was office automation that ultimately yielded a decisive contribution to solving Engelbart’s technical problems, even though it meant a radical simplification compared with the functionality that Engelbart had in mind.

The first machine to be actually called a ‘word processor’was a very mundane machine intended for office use, the IBM magnetic tape Selectric typewriter of 1964. It was followed in 1969 by the magnetic card Selectric typewriter (which could also be used as a computer terminal). Such single-function machines that could perform only word-processing remained on the market at least until the beginning of the 1990s.The early word processors still did not make text manipulation very easy. The office environment was focused mainly on the basic input and output functionality, and much less on the manipulation function. In many respects these word processors resembled very much the way typewriters worked. For example, separation of the text entry and editing functions long remained a feature of word processors. This is quite likely attributable to the passive role of the office typist, who was not required to think but simply to record a text faithfully from manuscript or dictation.

The office environment may not have had much of an eye for Engelbart’s ideals, but conversely Engelbart, who was so committed to

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