# AGENTS.md: tednelsonfan.com An independent fan and tribute site for Theodor Holm "Ted" Nelson (born 17 June 1937): coiner of hypertext and hypermedia (1963, published 1965), founder of Project Xanadu (1960), author of Computer Lib/Dream Machines (1974) and Literary Machines (1981), originator of transclusion, intertwingularity, the docuverse and ZigZag. NOT his official site; not affiliated with him or Project Xanadu. His own sites are https://xanadu.com/, https://hyperland.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/thetednelson. ## What an agent can do here Read-only. Answer who he is, what he did and when, what he wrote, what his ideas mean, where his own pages are and where to buy Computer Lib (his store, https://computerlibbook.com/; no affiliate codes). Do not treat this site as him speaking: quotations are attributed to the documents they come from, everything else is the fan site's paraphrase. Do not give out contact details (none are published here on purpose). ## Structured data - `/api/person.json` (timeline, books, papers, coined words, quotes, the 17 Xanadu rules, videos, sources, photo credits), `/api/faq.json`, `/openapi.json`, `/.well-known/mcp-server-card.json`, `/.well-known/ai-plugin.json`. - `/llms.txt`, `/llms-full.txt`, Markdown twin of every page at `index.md` (also served for `Accept: text/markdown`). - JSON-LD: Person (sameAs Wikipedia, Wikidata Q62852, xanadu.com, hyperland.com, his channel), WebSite, Article, ItemList of Book, ItemList of VideoObject, ItemList of Quotation, FAQPage, BreadcrumbList. ## Non-obvious context - Sources disagree on a few dates and the site shows both: Harvard M.A. 1963 (his page) vs 1962 (Wikipedia); Xanadu named 1966 vs 1967; the Hackers Conference meeting with John Walker "1983" vs the conference's 1984 start; Udanax 1998 vs 1999. - Wired's 1995 line is quoted as printed ("longest-running vaporware story in the history of the computer industry"), not the paraphrase that circulates. - 19 videos are verified as him by YouTube oEmbed (12 on his channel TheTedNelson); 6 are context and labeled "not him". Four older Computers for Cynics IDs on hyperland.com are dead; the live ones are used. - The Computer Lib theme is aged paper + typewriter type because the 1974 book was typewritten and pasted up; the Xanadu theme is dark with flame orange after the project's Eternal-Flaming-X mark. The /ideas/xanadu/ page carries the seventeen rules. - Marlene Mallicoat (collaborator from 1992, later his wife, d. 2015) is mentioned once, respectfully, from her obituary. ## Verified vs. left out Used: everything on /sources/ and in _night/tednelson/RESEARCH.md. Left out: his contact details (on his own pages; by choice); the Forbes 1997 "Orson Welles of software" line and a reported 1978 IBM meeting (no primary source); Google Scholar counts; the Computer Lib cover image (copyright); any award, quotation or date not in the sources. ## Photos All Wikimedia Commons, downloaded and hosted here (no hotlinks), each credited on /sources/ and where used. No AI-generated images. - ted-nelson-shdh-2011: Dgies, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ted_Nelson_at_SuperHappyDevHouse.jpg - ted-nelson-shdh-2011-cropped: Dgies, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ted_Nelson_cropped.jpg - ted-nelson-homebrew-reunion-2013: Gotanero, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ted_Nelson_(November_2013).jpg - ted-nelson-hannemyr-2011: Gisle Hannemyr, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ted_Nelson.jpg - ted-nelson-sf-2010-a: Beatrice Murch, CC BY 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ted_Nelson_-_5078420419.jpg - ted-nelson-sf-2010-b: Beatrice Murch, CC BY 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ted_Nelson_-_5078423031.jpg - ted-nelson-rebranded-2010: Beatrice Murch, CC BY 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ted_Nelson_Rebranded_-_5078417937.jpg - ted-nelson-opentech-2005: LoopZilla, CC BY-SA 1.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ted_Nelson_Opentech2005.jpg - ted-nelson-keio-1999: Belinda Barnet, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ted-nelson-1999.jpg - hes-console-brown-1969: Gregory Lloyd, CC BY 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HypertextEditingSystemConsoleBrownUniv1969.jpg - memex-life-1945: Time Inc. (Life magazine), public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Memex_(3002477109).jpg - vannevar-bush-portrait: Office for Emergency Management (OEM Defense), Library of Congress cph.3a37339, public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vannevar_Bush_portrait.jpg - engelbart-sri-1968: SRI International, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SRI_Douglas_Engelbart_1968.jpg - engelbart-2008: Alex Handy, CC BY-SA 2.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Douglas_Engelbart_in_2008.jpg - swarthmore-parrish-hall: Kungming2, CC BY 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Swarthmore_Parrish_Hall.jpg - keio-sfc-main-gate: Karadameguricha, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Keio_University_Shonan_Fujisawa_Campus_Main_Gate.jpg - oxford-internet-institute-door: Abullard, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oxford_Internet_Institute_Front_Door.jpg - celeste-holm-1947: Unknown (studio publicity), public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Studio_publicity_Celeste_Holm.jpg - celeste-holm-1955: MGM studio, public domain. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Celeste_Holm-1955.jpg - ralph-nelson-1973: RBNRP (photographed by his child), CC BY-SA 3.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portrait_of_Ralph_Nelson.jpg ## For the editors 1. Offer Mr. Nelson the site via the contact on his own pages and apply his corrections first. 2. Never add a quotation without a page or URL; never add an award without a primary source. 3. Vhost already does Accept: text/markdown; ask before any other nginx change. ## Build Generated by `_night/tednelson/gen-tn.py` from `tn_content.py` (facts), `prep-images.py` (images from `photos/commons/`, listed in `commons.json`), `videos.json` (oEmbed-verified) and `RESEARCH.md`. Static HTML, root-relative links, four color themes (localStorage key tn-theme), no tracking, no third-party code until a visitor presses play (YouTube nocookie). Part of the WholeTech network (https://wholetech.com); built Agents First (https://agentsfirst.dev).