A scientist in the 1930s may have been decades ahead of his time when he suggested combining
a telephone connection with a TV screen. While many have difficulty remembering the world without the
internet, it was nothing more than imagination in 1934, when Paul Otlet described what would become
the information superhighway.
Otlet, a Belgian scientist and author who is already regarded as the father of information science,
was on to something when he published his Treaties on Documentation. Decades before the iPad, the
Kindle, or even the computer screen, Otlet was devising a plan to combine television with the phone to
send and spread information from published works.
In his Treaties on Documentation, Otlet referenced what would become the computer when he wrote:
'Here the workspace is no longer cluttered with any books. He went on to suggest that dividing a computer
screen could show multiple books at once, a possible reference to opening a few browser windows or
tabs at once.
He called his vision 'the televised book.' More than 30 years later, Otlet’s writings were first put
into practice.
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/k7k3xcv9kw0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
a telephone connection with a TV screen. While many have difficulty remembering the world without the
internet, it was nothing more than imagination in 1934, when Paul Otlet described what would become
the information superhighway.
Otlet, a Belgian scientist and author who is already regarded as the father of information science,
was on to something when he published his Treaties on Documentation. Decades before the iPad, the
Kindle, or even the computer screen, Otlet was devising a plan to combine television with the phone to
send and spread information from published works.
In his Treaties on Documentation, Otlet referenced what would become the computer when he wrote:
'Here the workspace is no longer cluttered with any books. He went on to suggest that dividing a computer
screen could show multiple books at once, a possible reference to opening a few browser windows or
tabs at once.
He called his vision 'the televised book.' More than 30 years later, Otlet’s writings were first put
into practice.
<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/k7k3xcv9kw0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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