Writers are going to work much more in teams in the future … We haven’t reached the point where we’ve figured out how you can make a living at it [writing online]. But the power of the network is obvious.
Predictor: Rheingold, Howard
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for The Seattle Times, Paul Andrews quotes Howard Rheingold discussing writing for the Internet. Andrews writes: ”Howard Rheingold is talking about his blue shoes. It’s opening night at a conference on writing for the Internet, and the sartorially challenged Nethead and author of ‘The Virtual Community’ is holding forth at a dinner in his honor … If there’s a theme to the four-day cross-border meeting sponsored by the University of British Columbia, it’s that that writers, artists or other communicators of tomorrow will have to change significantly to succeed in an environment of computers, the Internet and CD-ROM. They will have to become more versatile at visual crafts, and they will have to collaborate increasingly with one another … ‘Writers are going to work much more in teams in the future,’ Rheingold said – partly because the Net enables groups to work together independent of location. Sharing information the way jazz musicians jam and corporate managers brainstorm is a natural for the Internet, where a ‘gift economy’ prevails, he added. Every good idea he has posted over the years online ‘has paid me back tenfold in kind,’ Rheingold added … There’s no magic formula for writers searching for new markets, Rheingold said. ‘We haven’t reached the point where we’ve figured out how you can make a living at it (writing online),’ he said. ‘But the power of the network is obvious.'”
Biography:Howard Rheingold, one of the first writers to illuminate the ideals and foibles of virtual communities, published a webzine called Electric Minds and wrote “Virtual Reality,” “Smart Mobs” and “Virtual Community.” He also was the editor of Whole Earth Review and the Millennium Whole Earth Catalog. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Publishing
Name of publication: Seattle Times
Title, headline, chapter name: Communication Manifesto: A Plugged-in Author Looks at the Brave New World of Writing for the Internet
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=1e4916adc8fe2bda48591e01a95a05b6&_docnum=14&wchp=dGLbVlz-lSlAl&_md5=09a725e78d36625a09751bd03a39006e
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Smith, Ian T.