Newspapers are already “webs of information,” but we move through them differently than when we sit in front of a computer screen. Online newspapers will not have the luxury of the structural, material components of print newspapers to provide the framework for information. Discovering how readers move through information when they can’t turn pages or grab the sports section will be one of the greatest challenges for publishers, editors, and everyone involve in the news industry of the future.
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:”Both the publishers and readers of today’s newspapers have developed mental and material technologies that balance the complementary strategies of searching and browsing underneath most of our information gathering activities. Newspapers are already ‘webs of information,’ but we move through them differently than when we sit in front of a computer screen. Online newspapers will not have the luxury of the structural, material components of print newspapers to provide the framework for information. Discovering how readers move through information when they can’t turn pages or grab the sports section will be one of the greatest challenges for publishers, editors, and everyone involve in the news industry of the future.”
Date of prediction: July 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Newspapers
Name of publication: Computer-Mediated Communication
Title, headline, chapter name: Pyxis Cyberea (Lessons from the Florida Compass)
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1994/jul/pyxis.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Butler, Lawrence