Virtual worlds will become “an entirely new pop art form,” giving rise to a new genre of fiction that allows collaboration between people and fictional characters and environments.
Predictor: Willis, Allee
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for The New York Times, Denise Caruso interviews Allee Willis, a film maker, Grammy-winning songwriter and multimedia artist. Caruso writes: ”Everyone seems to be working on virtual worlds. Many online services are looking at incorporating virtual worlds into their systems … The quirks in today’s examples of virtual worlds are too numerous to list, and of course they will be improved over time like everything else technology wreaks upon us … Despite advances, computers and networks are not yet sufficiently powerful to let you do much once inside a world. As the multimedia artist Allee Willis said so aptly: ‘Right now, all you do is talk to people and steer around the furniture. How much fun is that?’ … She is convinced that virtual worlds will become ‘an entirely new pop art form,’ giving rise to a new genre of fiction that allows collaboration between people and fictional characters and environments. Though steering around the furniture might be novel for a bit, the smart money will focus on the bigger picture.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Virtual Reality
Name of publication: New York Times
Title, headline, chapter name: Digital Commerce: Virtual-World Users Put Themselves in a Sort of Electronic Puppet Show
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=4ce64529c2529db2035f7a110d38283b&_docnum=2&wchp=dGLbVtb-lSlAl&_md5=132108cd023c13e81d8610106c7dd993
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Tencer, Elizabeth L.