A fascinating article from the New York Times about “The Web Time Forgot“, about how a Belgian scientist, Paul Otlet, dreamt up the Internet before the first electronic computer had even been invented:

In 1934, Otlet sketched out plans for a global network of computers (or “electric telescopes,” as he called them) that would allow people to search and browse through millions of interlinked documents, images, audio and video files. He described how people would use the devices to send messages to one another, share files and even congregate in online social networks. He called the whole thing a “réseau,” which might be translated as “network” — or arguably, “web.”

Predicting technology is a perilous thing – remember the famous (and possibly apocyphal) quote from IBM President Thomas Watson, who said “I think there is a world market for maybe five computers“. Yet here Otlet is a rare example of someone getting it right – he started his own index-card library aimed at being the repository of the world’s knowledge without limit (very Wikipedia-like) and even had his own version of a search engine, although limited by the technology of the time: people had to post their requests in (which reminds me of this Google circa 1960 joke).

Best of all, he even proposed the one use of the Internet which outstrips all the others today – helping people keep in touch, whether it be by social networks, messaging or working together:

While he very likely would have been flummoxed by the anything-goes environment of Facebook or MySpace, Otlet saw some of the more productive aspects of social networking — the ability to trade messages, participate in discussions and work together to collect and organize documents.

Sadly, the Second World War brought an end to Otlet’s work and a lot of his works were destroyed during the conflict. Today only a small museum, the Mundaneum in Mons, Belgium, stands in testament to his vision, and as the report says, they don’t get many visitors. Which is a shame, it’s so rare to see someone get technological predictions so right. If you ever do find yourself in the vicinity of Mons do go and check it out – and report back here what it’s like.