Paul Collins on the Mundaneum, a networked encyclopedia on fifteen million index cards (shades of the Memex?). Plus index cards as (literally) the U.S. War Department’s killer app.
The Cardboard Internet
April 2nd, 2008 · 7 Comments
Tags: Asides · Early Internets · Technology
7 responses so far ↓
1 chris // Apr 2, 2008 at 8:28 am
I read that at first as “Phil Collins” and had a moment of epic cognitive dissonance.
2 Rob // Apr 2, 2008 at 8:38 am
Now that would be awesome.
3 Mr. O. W. Lowe, ESQ. // Apr 2, 2008 at 9:55 pm
So strangely fitting that so overreaching a system literally collapsed under its own weight.
…Which is also kinda true for Phil Collins’ career, come to think of it!
4 Sean // Apr 3, 2008 at 1:36 pm
This reminds me of visiting the Red Cross museum in Geneva, where they show part of the massive system used to track prisoners of war during WW2. Kind of spooky to walk among these towers of filing cabinets, although they didn’t collapse on anyone….
5 Rob // Apr 3, 2008 at 8:55 pm
And this is why Ken Hite is the king.
6 Gakutensoku // Apr 4, 2008 at 1:56 pm
[...] War and Peace ← The Cardboard Internet [...]
7 Depends. Is Hayden Christensen In It? // Jun 24, 2008 at 8:52 pm
[...] rather go see the latest Star Wars movie, or a giant card catalog?” NYT on the Mundaneum, the cardboard internet noted here a few months [...]
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