Analysis of Otlet's Theories
- Visionary Ideas on the Computer and Internet
Otlet scholar W. Boyd Rayward has written that Otlet's thinking is a product of the 19th century and the philosophy of positivism, which holds that, through careful study and the scientific method, an objective view of the world can be gained. According to Rayward, his ideas placed him culturally and intellectually in the Belle Époque period of pre-World-War-I Europe, a period of great "cultural certitude".
Otlet's writings have sometimes been called prescient of the current World Wide Web. His vision of a great network of knowledge was centered on documents and included the notions of hyperlinks, search engines, remote access, and social networks—although these notions were described by different names. In 1934, Otlet laid out this vision of the computer and internet in what he called “Radiated Library” vision, here's a link to a video on this vision: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hSyfZkVgasI.
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