Code and Critique: Ted Nelson’s Project Xanadu and the Politics of New Media

Stevens, Hallam (2023) Code and Critique: Ted Nelson’s Project Xanadu and the Politics of New Media. Osiris, 38 (1). pp. 245-264.

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Abstract

The history of hypertext has been dominated by the history of the World Wide Web. However, the inventor of hypertext, Theodor Nelson, has long viewed the web as a deeply problematic implementation of his ideas and advocated for his own hypertext system known as Project Xanadu. This essay situates Xanadu against a background of changing ideas about media and text in the 1960s and 1970s. Based on close reading of Nelson’s work, this essay shows how Xanadu was an instance of the kind of media structure that Nelson saw as most liberating and empowering.

Item ID: 80880
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1933-8287
Copyright Information: Published Version: © History of Science Society. AAM may be made Open Access in an Institutional Repository under a Creative Commons license after a 12 month embargo.
Date Deposited: 09 Nov 2023 00:55
FoR Codes: 50 PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS STUDIES > 5002 History and philosophy of specific fields > 500204 History and philosophy of science @ 50%
47 LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION AND CULTURE > 4701 Communication and media studies > 470102 Communication technology and digital media studies @ 50%
SEO Codes: 22 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SERVICES > 2201 Communication technologies, systems and services > 220101 E-infrastructures @ 50%
13 CULTURE AND SOCIETY > 1302 Communication > 130204 The media @ 50%
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