Ted Nelson

Ted Nelson coined the term "hypertext" in 1963 to describe text that contains links to other texts, enabling non-linear reading and navigation. He also coined the related term "hypermedia" to extend the concept to include images, audio, and video.

Project Xanadu is Nelson's envisioned global electronic publishing system, first conceived in 1960, that would allow all documents to be interconnected through bidirectional links with automatic royalty tracking for authors. It is often cited as the original inspiration for what became the World Wide Web.

Nelson published "Computer Lib/Dream Machines" in 1974, a seminal work that introduced wide audiences to concepts of hypertext, interactive computing, and digital media. The book became influential among early personal computer enthusiasts and developers.

While Tim Berners-Lee created the World Wide Web in the early 1990s, Nelson's earlier concept of hypertext starting in the 1960s laid crucial intellectual groundwork. Nelson has criticized the Web, arguing it lacks Xanadu's envisioned features such as true bidirectional links and transclusion of source material.