Wed, Mar 08, 2006
Announcing the Hyperscope Project
#
One of the new projects I have the joy of being involved with this
year is DougEngelbart's Hyperscope. Doug recently got a bit of NSF
funding to build an OpenSource prototype of his
vision for a
Hyperscope, and Doug asked me to lead the project. (KAT)
You can read more about the project on the
project blog. In
short, we're replicating the original hypertext system's (Augment)
browsing (jumping) and viewing capabilities in FireFox. (KAU)
Why is this significant? Because even though most of the world knows
that DougEngelbart built the first hypertext system in the 1960s, very
few people have ever seen and experienced the system first-hand. And
boy, is it a doozy. Doug continues to use the system every day, and
it has capabilities that no other system has today. (KAV)
We want the world to see these features, and we want the world to have
the opportunity to learn from them and to integrate them into their
own systems. We also want the world to realize that these are not
features for features' sake, but are part of a much larger vision of
how society can (and must) get collectively smarter. (KAW)
This project -- and Doug's larger vision -- is about improving
society's ability to collaborate. And that's why I'm involved. We're
not building code for code's sake (although the code will kick ass).
We are kicking off a larger community conversation about how we can
improve collaboration, and how we can and should improve our tools to
augment our capabilities. (KAX)
Join The Community (KAY)
We've got a fantastic core team in place. BradNeuberg is our lead
developer. I've written about Brad's
coworking efforts,
but I haven't written about how he's a kick-butt developer who's doing
wild things with AJAX. More importantly, he's also a deep thinker,
which is an absolute requirement to be successful in this position, a
leader in the OpenSource community, and a lifetime Engelbart fan (not
a requirement, but it didn't hurt). (KAZ)
Also joining us is JonathanCheyer. Jon's a long-time member of the
CollaborationCollaboratory, and he's also the tech lead for the
ComputerHistoryMuseum's
NLS/Augment Restoration Project. I'm pretty sure he's the most
proficient Augment user under 40, and I'm quite certain he knows more
about Augment's internals than anyone else under 40. (KB0)
What makes the project even more fun is that we've been working with
folks from Doug's original lab. His daughter, ChristinaEngelbart, is
program manager and is also sharing her insights into how the system
was used as well as her knowledge of Doug's larger vision.
JeffRulifson and CharlesIrby, the first software leads in Doug's lab,
have shared a lot of their knowledge with us, as have HarveyLehtman
and RaylenePak. These gatherings have not only been extremely
educational -- stories galore -- they have been tons of fun, and we
want to encourage other ex-ARC folks to touch base with us and be part
of this new community. (KB1)
Some additional acknowledgements: MarkFinnern is one of Doug's biggest
supporters, and he has given Doug a valuable
forum at
FutureSalon. He also hooked us up with BlakeRoss and JoeHewitt of
FireFox fame, two very cool guys who
spent some
time with Doug and whom we hope will continually engage with this
community. A big shout out also to PhilipGust, also of the
NLS/Augment Restoration Project, DoraiThodla, who
experimented with an early prototype of the Hyperscope in Java, and
DaveThomas and his OpenAugment team. (KB2)
Please join us! Subscribe to our
mailing lists
and blog (and weekly
podcasts), and participate on our
Wiki. I'll mostly blog
about the project on the project blog, but I'll also occasionally
discuss stuff here. Brad is also blogging about
the project. We'll also be at SuperHappyDevHouse this Saturday doing
an Augment jam session. (KB3)
I'm involved with this project for personal and professional reasons.
As I said earlier, this is not just about building a piece of code.
It's about engaging with the community at large and building a
movement that falls squarely within the mission of
my company. The Hyperscope project will
help ground larger conversations about how we can and should improve
tool interoperability and
usability. More importantly, it will
ground larger conversations about process and the bigger picture. (KB5)
At a very concrete level, the Hyperscope falls well within our goal to
bring these deeper ideas into existing tools. Not surprisingly, the
Hyperscope should integrate very easily with PurpleWiki (as well as
other Wikis), providing a new, slick and useful browsing capability.
As the project progresses, I'm looking forward to evolving our tools,
as well as seeing other folks evolve theirs. (KB6)
On a personal level, Doug is why I'm in this business. I've never
been happier with my work than I've been in the past three and a half
years at BlueOxenAssociates. I bring people doing meaningful work
together, I help them collaborate better, and I do it in an open way
that hopefully has a much larger societal impact. It's intellectually
satisfying and emotionally fulfilling. And I wouldn't be doing any of
this had it not been for Doug, who's been a mentor, a friend, and a
cheerleader. (KB7)
In a way, starting BlueOxenAssociates was my gift to him -- a
commitment on my part to carry out his larger vision. But working on
the Hyperscope is a much more concrete way of returning the favor, and
I look forward to doing this for him and for the community at
large. (KB8)
/blueoxen |
Posted at 10:31am
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