Augmentation Research Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (October 2006) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
Stanford Research Institute's Augmentation Research Center (ARC) was founded by electrical engineer Douglas Engelbart to develop and experiment with new tools and techniques for collaboration and information processing. The main product to come out of ARC was the revolutionary oN-Line System, better known by its odd abbreviation, NLS. ARC is also known for the invention of the "computer mouse" pointing device.
Dr. Engelbart recruited coworkers and ran the organization until the late 1970s, when funding and support for the laboratory dissipated. Eventually, SRI's management arranged for Engelbart to be fired from the lab which he had created.
The complex story of the rise and fall of ARC has been thoroughly documented in a book by sociologist Thierry Bardini. From the perspective of the 1960s counter-culture revolution, John Markoff, in his book What the Doormouse Said, also follows Englebart's persistence in creating ARC as not only a collection of talented off-beat engineers working in direct contrast to the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory nearby, but also as a sociological experiment that constructed and tested methods for group creation and design. ARC was also indirectly covered in many other books about Xerox PARC, since that is where many ARC employees later fled to (and brought some of Engelbart's ideas with them).
A number of early participants moved on to careers at Xerox, Hewlett-Packard, Apple Computer, Sun Microsystems, and other leading computer companies.
