Computer and Library Learning (Archived)

(“The Mother of All Demos”, December 9, 1968)

On July 2, 2013, Douglas Carl Englebart,
B.S. Ph.D. (Born: January 30, 1925) died on account of kidney failure. He had
also been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for a number of years. Computer
users the world over owe Dr. Englebart a great deal of thanks for his invention
of the computer mouse.
Englebart
invented the concept of what we know as the computer mouse in
1961 which used two wheels (one turning vertically, the other turning
horizontally) to locate a cursor on a computer screen. Englebart’s lead
engineer at Stanford Research Institute International, William English,
constructed the prototype. The idea came to fruition with a demonstration on
December 9, 1968. Dr. Englebart sat down at a computer keyboard using the mouse
with the result projected on a large screen and demonstrated what were then
original ideas such as: the computer mouse; multiple windows; hypertext;
outline processing; and, teleconferencing. Sound familiar? The
invention of the microprocessor within two decades ensured the duplication
of these ideas on a mass scale with the advent of the personal computer.

Englebart’s pioneering work was about “augmenting
human intellect” and ensuring more intuitive computer use. Englebart
also developed a computerized system that he called an “online system” or “NLS”
that facilitated the seamless sharing and retrieval of information from an
organized electronic library. Contrast this with the still then-widespread use
of computer mainframes and punch cards. Sound familiar?

One of the best
tributes that Torontonians (new to computers and wanting to learn how to use a
computer) can pay to Dr. Englebart is to consider taking basic
computer skills training at Toronto Public Library branches.