French theorist Michel Foucault refers to hypomnemata and the origins of the personal notebook as, "writing as a material support for memory." This is highly significant in our study of multimedia because the origins of information technology stem from the same desire, to extend human memory. We will see later in the course how Vannevar Bush, considered the father of the information age, outlined in his famous 1945 article, "As We May Think," the Memex (memory extension), a prototypical device that pioneered hypertext and on-line information storage and retrieval. This concept is a direct outcome of the notion of hyponmemata.
Foucault's comment, "these new instruments were immediately used for the constitution of a permanent relationship to oneself" is also relevant to contemporary thinking about the personal computer. The networked computer has redefined how we manage our affairs, conduct communication, document personal interests. The home page for example, has become a vehicle for self-publishing, self-expression, a record of preferences.
This concept of the hypomnemata thus becomes the starting point for using the new media to "collect the already-said," and "a means to establish as adequate and as perfect a relationship of oneself to oneself as possible." Too often the learning experience is a transient lesson in memorization. I would like us to use our web notebooks to "personalize" the content of this course, to internalize concepts, a laboratory of the mind.
