MEMEX @ Das Netz

Interactive exhibit at “Das Netz” in the “Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin” – cooperation with Felix Scharstein

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The MEMEX is a historical vision of an american scientist, published in 1945, but never realized. It is a „device for individual use, which is a sort of mechanized private file and library“ based on microfilm technology. The most important idea is the creation of “trails”: links between pages – the first hyperlinks.

This interpretation of the MEMEX vision is based on digital components. The user can search the library, browse documents and create trails in a way that is very close to the original idea. The user interface is very simple but powerful.

My talk on the basic MEMEX idea and this exhibit at the Vintage Computing Festival Berlin 2015 can be watched here (in german language).

Hardware 4x Raspberry Pi, Arduino with 64-button-shield, TFT
PC as database server
Software distributed python-based sofware, communicating over XMLRPC

 

(All images by Bruno Torres Suñén – click image for a larger version)

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Displays

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Camera

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Keyboard

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Keyboard detail

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Display detail

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Keyboard – bottom side