How different would the public interpretation of computer/communication networks be if the guiding metaphor were that of the “information sidewalk”?
Predictor: Monberg, John
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Computer-Mediated Communication magazine, John Monberg, a graduate student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, writes: ”Article headlines and news stories often describe the new computer/communication infrastructure as an information highway, or superhighway, if the commentator is in a particularly technologically ebullient mood. This metaphor dominates public discourse and in important ways shapes popular perceptions and understandings of the purpose and function of this technology. Consequently it is worth thinking through the values that this metaphor carries with it. Highways require large amounts of public investment to construct, but are useful only to those who are able to afford individually owned private vehicles, powerful symbols of conspicuous consumption and the ability of drivers to separate themselves from the mass of outsiders. Expressways require high rates of speed, allowing little contact (hopefully) between motorists. Highways dominate the landscape that they exist within, forming immense uniform stretches of asphalt. Highways have been an economic boon to giant enterprises, spawning the largest oil, steel, auto, and real estate development corporations. On a more profound social level, highways restructure the fabric and patterns of everyday life in metropolitan areas, intensifying the stratification of population by income and race. Ivan Illich, Ruth Schwartz Cowan, Kenneth Jackson, Marshall Berman and others have written critically of the ways neighborhoods are restructured to accommodate expressways, eliminating corner grocery stores, neighborhood taverns, green spaces, and other amenities which form the backbone of everyday life. Far from acting as a general tool for freedom, automobiles disenfranchise relatively large segments of the middle class, the young, the elderly and the rural from full participation in public life. How different would the public interpretation of computer/communication networks be if the guiding metaphor were that of the ‘information sidewalk’? Most importantly, a vital sidewalk life promotes feelings of community, of connections, of lives lived in common.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine
Title, headline, chapter name: Welcome to the Emerald City! Please Ignore the Man Behind the Curtain
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1994/nov/emerald.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Walsh, Meghan