Editing Ted Nelson (section)

==Project Xanadu==
{{Main|Project Xanadu}}
Nelson first conceived of what would become Project Xanadu in the early 1960s, with the goal of creating a computer network with a simple user interface. He started referring to this project to others using the name Xanadu in 1966.<ref name="inter6364" /> The effort is documented in the books ''[[Computer Lib/Dream Machines]]'' (1974), ''The Home Computer Revolution'' (1977) and ''[[Literary Machines]]'' (1981). Much of his adult life has been devoted to working on Xanadu and advocating for it. 

Throughout his career, Nelson supported his work on the Xanadu project through a variety of administrative, academic, and research positions and consultancies, including stints at [[Harcourt Brace and Company]]<ref name="inter6364" /> [[Brown University]] (a tumultuous consultancy on the Nelson-inspired [[Hypertext Editing System]] and [[File Retrieval and Editing System]] with Swarthmore friend [[Andries van Dam]]'s group; c. 1967–1969),{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}} [[Bell Labs]] (hypertext-related defense research; 1968–1969),<ref name=":vita" /> [[CBS Laboratories]] ("writing and photographing interactive slideshows for their AVS-10 instructional device"; 1968–1969),<ref name=":vita">{{Cite web|url=http://hyperland.com/TNvita|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150506080854/http://hyperland.com/TNvita|archive-date = May 6, 2015|title = Ted Nelson - Curriculum Vitae}}</ref> the [[University of Illinois at Chicago]] (an interdisciplinary staff position; 1973–1976)<ref name=":vita" /> and Swarthmore College (visiting lecturer in computing; 1977).<ref name=":vita" />

Nelson also conducted research and development under the auspices of the Nelson Organization (founder and president; 1968–1972) and the Computopia Corporation (co-founder; 1977–1978). Clients of the former firm included [[IBM]], Brown University, [[Western Electric]], the [[University of California]], the [[Jewish Museum (Manhattan)|Jewish Museum]], the Fretheim Chartering Corporation and the [[Milliken & Company|Deering-Milliken Research Corporation]]. He has alleged that the Nelson Organization was envisaged as a clandestine funding conduit for the [[Central Intelligence Agency]], which expressed interest in Project Xanadu at an early juncture; however, the promised funds failed to materialize after several benchmarks were met.

From 1980 to 1981, he was the editor of ''[[Creative Computing (magazine)|Creative Computing]]''. At the behest of Xanadu developers [[Mark S. Miller]] and Stuart Greene, Nelson joined [[San Antonio, Texas]]-based [[Datapoint]] as chief software designer (1981–1982), remaining with the company as a media specialist and technical writer until its [[Asher Edelman]]-driven restructuring in 1984. Following several San Antonio-based consultancies and the acquisition of Xanadu technology by [[Autodesk]] in 1988, he continued working on the project as a non-managerial Distinguished Fellow in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] until the divestiture of the Xanadu Operating Group in 1992–1993.

After holding visiting professorships in [[media (communication)|media]] and [[information science]] at [[Hokkaido University]] (1995–1996), [[Keio University]] (1996–2002), the [[University of Southampton]] and the [[University of Nottingham]], he was a fellow (2004–2006) and visiting fellow (2006–2008) of the [[Oxford Internet Institute]] in conjunction with [[Wadham College, Oxford]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/ted-nelson/|title=OII &#124; Dr Ted Nelson|access-date=April 24, 2018 |archive-date=March 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180316214120/https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/ted-nelson|url-status=live}}</ref> More recently, he has taught classes at [[Chapman University]] and the [[University of California, Santa Cruz]].

{{Anchor|The Curse of Xanadu}} <!-- [[Gary Wolf (journalist)]] and [[Project Xanadu]] both link to this section - please do not delete this anchor -->
The Xanadu project failed to flourish, for a variety of reasons which are disputed. Journalist [[Gary Wolf (journalist)|Gary Wolf]] published an unflattering history of Nelson and his project in the June 1995 issue of ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]'', calling it "the longest-running [[vaporware]] project in the history of computing".<ref name="wired3_6">{{cite magazine|title=The Curse of Xanadu |author=Gary Wolf |magazine=[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]|date=June 1995 |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.06/xanadu.html |access-date=July 3, 2011|volume=3|issue=6|url-access=limited |archive-date=March 20, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140320194124/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.06/xanadu.html|url-status=live}}</ref> On his own website, Nelson expressed his disgust with the criticisms, referring to Wolf as "Gory Jackal", and threatened to sue him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ted.hyperland.com/whatsay|title=What they say|publisher=Ted.hyperland.com|access-date=2011-05-26 |archive-date=January 16, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060116220933/http://ted.hyperland.com/whatsay/|url-status=live}}</ref> He also outlined his objections in a letter to ''Wired'',<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.09/rants.html |title=Letters about "The Curse of Xanadu" |magazine=Wired|date=2009-01-04 |access-date=2011-05-26|volume=3|issue=9|url-access=limited|archive-date=July 16, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130716111412/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.09/rants.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and released a detailed rebuttal of the article.<ref>{{cite web |year=2010 |title=Errors in "The Curse of Xanadu," by Gary Wolf |url=http://vinci.org/rlv/c/xanadu2/index.html |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215115030/http://vinci.org/rlv/c/xanadu2/index.html |archive-date=December 15, 2018 |access-date=May 25, 2011 |work=vinci.org |quote=Errors in 'The Curse of Xanadu', by Gary Wolf}}</ref>

As early as 1972, a demonstration iteration developed by Cal Daniels failed to reach fruition when Nelson was forced to return the project's rented [[Data General Nova]] [[minicomputer]] due to financial exigencies. Nelson has stated that some aspects of his vision were fulfilled by [[Tim Berners-Lee]]'s invention of the [[World Wide Web]], but he disliked the World Wide Web, [[XML]], and  embedded [[markup language|markup]] – regarding Berners-Lee's work as a gross over-simplification of his original vision: <blockquote>HTML is precisely what we were trying to PREVENT— ever-breaking links, links going outward only, quotes you can't follow to their origins, no [[version management]], no rights management.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ted Nelson's Computer Paradigm Expressed as One-Liners |author=Ted Nelson |year=1999 |url=http://xanadu.com.au/ted/TN/WRITINGS/TCOMPARADIGM/tedCompOneLiners.html |access-date=July 3, 2011|archive-date=March 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324021442/http://xanadu.com.au/ted/TN/WRITINGS/TCOMPARADIGM/tedCompOneLiners.html|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

[[Jaron Lanier]] explained the difference between the World Wide Web and Nelson's vision, and the implications: 
<blockquote>A core technical difference between a Nelsonian network and what we have become familiar with online is that [Nelson's] network links were two-way instead of one-way. In a network with two-way links, each node knows what other nodes are linked to it. ... Two-way linking would preserve context. It's a small simple change in how online information should be stored that couldn't have vaster implications for culture and the economy.<ref>Jaron Lanier, ''Who Owns the Future'', New York: Simon & Schuster, 2013. p. 227</ref></blockquote>