Based on today’s systems, … we can make a few educated guesses about the National Public Network. We know that, like the telephone, it will serve both business and recreation needs, as well as offering crucial community services.
Predictor: Kapor, Mitchell
Prediction, in context:In a September 1991 submission to the Network Working Group’s Request for Comments (Request for Comments 1259), Mitchell Kapor, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, writes: ”The names and particular visions of the emerging information infrastructure vary from one observer to another … I call it the National Public Network (NPN), in recognition of the vital role information technology has come to play in public life and all that it has to offer, if designed with the public good in mind. To what uses can we reasonably expect people to use a National Public Network? We don’t know. Indeed, we probably can’t know – the users of the network will surprise us. That’s exactly what happened in the early days of the personal computer industry, when the first spreadsheet program, VisiCalc, spurred sales of the Apple II computer. Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak did not design the spreadsheet; they did not even conceive of it. They created a platform which allowed someone else to bring the spreadsheet into being, and all the parties profited as a result, including the users. Based on today’s systems, however, we can make a few educated guesses about the National Public Network. We know that, like the telephone, it will serve both business and recreation needs, as well as offering crucial community services.”
Biography:Mitchell Kapor founded the Lotus Development Corporation and also founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation with WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link) members John Perry Barlow and John Gilmore in 1990 in direct response to a threat to free speech. He was an outspoken supporter of open access to the Internet, and was asked to speak in many venues about the issue, including Congressional hearings. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: September 1, 1991
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Requests For Comments
Title, headline, chapter name: Building the Open Road: The NREN As Test-Bed for the National Public Network
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.eff.org/Publications/Mitch_Kapor/nren_npn_nii_kapor_eff.rfc
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney