Web 0.01 - Engelbart's 1968 oNLine system being built in 2006!
Brad Neuberg announced today that he's starting a project called Hyperscope, together with Internet pioneer Douglas Engelbart, Eugene Kim, and Johnathan Cheyer. Hyperscope is a project funded by the National Science Foundation and its aim is to rebuild portions of Douglas Engelbart's NLS system on the web, using current Web technologies such as AJAX and DHTML. NLS, or oNLine System, was the very same system demonstrated by Engelbart in his famous 1968 'Mother of All Demos'. This is the demo at which he unveiled the mouse and demonstrated a hypertext system for the first time.
Brad describes the first phase of the project:
"In the first phase of the Hyperscope project, mapped out to be the following six months, we are going to implement Engelbart and his team's advanced hyperlink system on the web, including some of the user interface of NLS."
The great thing is that Brad and team will be implementing Hyperscope inside the web browser, using 21st century Web technologies:
"In this first six months, we will be creating the shell of the Augment UI, described above, including the hyperlink, jumping, and viewspec functionality. We will probably be doing this using AJAX and DHTML, possibly using the Dojo Toolkit, so you can run Augment right within your browser without downloading anything. In addition, there will be a server-side component, written in Java or Ruby, that the AJAX/DHTML component will interact with.
The deliverable will be a URL you can go to "run" the Augment/Hyperscope system in your browser; you will be able to view Hyperscope documents, issue Hyperscope commands into the command bar, and use the advanced jumping, linking, and viewing capabilities of Hyperscope."
It'll be an open source project and Brad will be blogging progress. Interestingly, Brad says Hyperscope isn't just about re-creating the past. It'll also create new value for the present:
"Engelbart was so far ahead of his time that there are still ideas in this system that can be incorporated into modern software. In addition, as we bootstrap Augment, we will start using it to build a community within it, using it as a super-charged Wiki."
This is a fascinating experiment and I will be watching closely how it progresses. Check out Brad's blog for all the details and also some great links - including the video of the 1968 demo via Google Video. I'm a bit of an Internet history buff, so I'm looking forward to seeing the 40-year old oNLine System come alive - and using it!