Are you referring to the stripped down SGML, RPC or hyperlinks? Or the combination? Because all three have been around much before. In many flavours and mixes. The WWW variant’s adoption had more to do with politics than scientific/technical merit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSyfZkVgasI

https://archive.org/details/paulotlet or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLX2OGw31Oo