[People may pay more to join “private rooms” with authors or like-minded authorities to extend topics raised by paper-based Wired articles. Advertisers presumably will pay to reach those select markets] … I undoubtedly am naive about all this and will get crushed like a bug. But there is a place in the world for getting good, honest information about things for sale.
Predictor: Rheingold, Howard
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for The Seattle Times, Paul Andrews quotes Howard Rheingold discussing the beginnings of Hotwired, an online version of Wired magazine. Andrews writes:”It’s opening night at a conference on writing for the Internet, and … 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 … Would electronic readers be willing to pay a premium for earlier access? Rheingold hinted yes. It takes time for a magazine to wend its way through ‘snail mail.’ Insiders want the stuff faster. In the fall, Rheingold will become editor of @wired, an electronically enhanced version of Wired magazine, the Rolling Stone of the computer counterculture. Besides posting the magazine’s content online, @wired will offer electronic subscriptions and get people to pay for ‘added value’ beyond the paper equivalent, Rheingold said. People may pay more to join ‘private rooms’ with authors or like-minded authorities to extend topics raised by paper-based Wired articles. Advertisers presumably will pay to reach those select markets: ‘@wired will take advertising,’ Rheingold said, although it will be less intrusive and obnoxious than conventional forms. ‘I undoubtedly am naive about all this and will get crushed like a bug,’ Rheingold acknowledged. ‘But there is a place in the world for getting good, honest information about things for sale.'”
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: Paraphrase
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: Anderson, Janna Quitney