Ted Nelson

Theodor Holm “Ted” Nelson (born 1937) is an American information technology pioneer known for introducing the terms “hypertext” and “hypermedia.” In the 1960s he began developing Project Xanadu, an ambitious vision for a global, interconnected publishing system designed to let readers follow links between documents and preserve connections between originals and quotations. Nelson presented these ideas in his influential book *Computer Lib/Dream Machines* (1974), which helped popularize personal computing and interactive text. Over decades he continued to advocate for richer, more reliable linking and digital authorship than early implementations on the World Wide Web.