Based on the metaphor of the traditional newswire and the organization of the Internet itself, the GSN is essentially a set of standards, a collection of “net tools,” and a group of people who agree to use the standards to produce news and feature-related content. With luck and a lot of work, out of those simple elements a useful service will be formed.
Predictor: Ritzenhaler, Gary
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Computer-Mediated Communication magazine, Gary Ritzenhaler, assistant editor of the Florida Compass, a student-run “WWW news prototype,” writes:”After some early months of indecision, journalists are taking an active interest in exploring the Net and finding the ways to make it work for them. Not all the interest has been at the professional level, however. Student journalists have produced some of the most innovative work in adapting, molding and creating news publications for this new medium. As of September 1994, nine universities in the U.S. had World Wide Web editions of their newspapers in production; an equal number had prototypes in development. Student journalists could even visit a WWW site exclusively devoted to student media, a complement to an existing mailing list passing daily discussion among student journalists around the world. This new partnership would bring together the student journalists at schools and universities around the world with the many campus newspapers and magazines – using the Internet, the viable technology of today. It would allow each staff to provide new varieties of content to their readers: different views, on-the-scene pictures and relevant news from other campus publications they might have missed. More important, this collaboration would allow student writers, editors, news photographers and others to critique and learn from the work of their peers around the globe. A handful of students around the world are already attempting to bring about such associations; one of these is known as the Global Student News project. The GSN is an experiment in gathering the forces of media content sharing together so they can keep informed about what others are doing, discuss content-sharing issues and decide on new techniques and strategies for using the Internet as a means to enhance their work and learn from one another. Based on the metaphor of the traditional newswire and the organization of the Internet itself, the GSN is essentially a set of standards, a collection of ‘net tools,’ and a group of people who agree to use the standards to produce news and feature-related content. With luck and a lot of work, out of those simple elements a useful service will be formed.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Journalism/Media
Name of publication: Computer-Mediated Communication
Title, headline, chapter name: News Flash: Building the Global Student News
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1994/oct/gsn.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Butler, Lawrence