I am very much concerned with the middle class, particularly the lower-middle class. What the hell does the Information Age mean to them? We haven’t answered that question.
Predictor: Hughes, Dave
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article in Wired magazine reporter Jacques Leslie quotes Dave Hughes, labeled as “unquestionably the best-known online personality in the country.” At the time, Hughes figured he had been online for 14 years, linked to a computer bulletin board or network for at least four or five hours a day, reading 30 or 40 million electronic words in that time and posting at least a million of his own. Leslie writes: ”If Hughes’s discourses are meandering, they usually have a point – often one that has escaped telecommunications entrepreneurs and policy makers … He’s both a gadfly and a visionary … Part of his underlying motivation seems to stem from class consciousness … ‘I’m not concerned about the elites, they’ll take care of themselves,’ he said. ‘I’m not concerned about the disadvantaged – we have central systems coming out the ears for them, working pretty well. I am very much concerned with the middle class, particularly the lower-middle class. What the hell does the Information Age mean to them? We haven’t answered that question,’ he said. Unless we do, Hughes asserts, we’re headed for a division between the information-rich and the information-poor.”
Biography:Dave Hughes created the first free, modem dial-up, electronic democracy bulletin-board system in the world. It soon challenged and altered the way local city-wide politics were conducted. It was colorfully named “Roger’s Bar.” Within five years the world’s press had beaten a path to Hughes’ home to report on, and encourage others to adopt an entirely new model of “electronic democracy” Ð a model that could be adopted in any small town in America. Wired magazine said he was the best-known personality on the Internet in 1993. Microtimes Magazine named Hughes one of the 100 most influential individuals in the Computer Age six times between 1990 and 1996. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Digital Divide
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: The Cursor Cowboy
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.eff.org/A/hughes_activist.bio
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Komorowski, Anne Gabrielle