In the article A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing and the Indeterminate, the author Theodor H. Nelson (84-100) described his concept and proposal for a flexible file structure that would allow for the idiosyncratic and intricate arrangements of data and the easy modification of such data. It would also enable the user to make alternative choices and keep a thorough internal documentation. This concept or model was intended for the organization of data in the form of ideas, which constantly underwent changes. More particularly, it was intended for the management of documents in progress and personal file systems. It could be used for the filing of associative or historical trails through business correspondence, documents, scholarly fields and history, treaties, case law, belles-lettres, as well as a combination of trail and categorical filing. In addition, it could be used in the editing of motion pictures and computer programs.
He called this proposed file structure the Evolutionary List File (ELF), which consisted of zippered files and was handled using a language called Personalized Retrieval, Indexing, and Documentation Evolutionary (PRIDE) System. Its three main features included the sustenance of changes in its content’s arrangements; the capability for dynamic outlining; and the capability for keeping file versions. Most importantly, it was emphasized that this model would be simple, which users would find easy to use.
The ELF was built on the concept of attaching lists together; and thus, consisted of three elements, namely the “entries, lists, and links” (Nelson 89). Unlike list languages that were responsible for running sequential operations on hierarchical or randomly branching data, the ELF was intended to allow the user to make piecemeal changes to the data where the main focus was on keeping track of file arrangements rather than on the computation of its contents.
It was in this regard that Nelson (94) further proposed that complex file structures such as the ELF would allow for the creation of new and complex new media, namely the hyperfilm and the hypertext. He asserted that such file structure would also allow users to track changes that skipped their notice, some of which were human thought categories that constantly changed.
Works Cited
Nelson, Theodor H. “A File Structure for the Complex, the Changing and the Indeterminate.”
Association for Computing Machinery: Proceedings of the 20th National Conference
(1965): 84–100. Print.
