Originally published in the July 1945 issue of Atlantic Monthly, Vannevar Bush‘s post-war article, As we may think, is cited often because of its intertextual breadth. In the paper, he proposes a new and radical information retrieval system called the memex (based on microfiche) that would facilitate access to the sum total of humanity’s archived knowledge.

A memex is a device in which an individual stores all his books, records, and communications, and which is mechanized so that it may be consulted with exceeding speed and flexibility. It is an enlarged intimate supplement to his memory.

The memex is a prototypical hypertextual system…