The Web Time Forgot

phlurg writes: "The New York Times presents an amazing article on "the Mundaneum," a sort of proto-WWW conceived of by Paul Otlet in 1934.

In 1934, Otlet sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or "electric telescopes," as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a "réseau," which might be translated as "network" — or arguably, "web."

A fascinating read."