In the near future, the focus will be on access to and use of research materials and collections generally inaccessible but of extreme resear ch value, including photographs, satellite and related spatial data, archival data, videos and movies, sound recordings, slides of paintings and other artifacts, and more.
Predictor: National Research Council
Prediction, in context:In 1994, the NRENaissance Committee, appointed by the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council, produced a special report titled “Realizing the Information Future: The Internet and Beyond.” Among the committee members were Internet pioneers Leonard Kleinrock, David Clark, David Farber, Lawrence Landweber and Robert Kahn. The committee’s goal was to “study issues raised by the shift to a larger, more truly national networking capability.” Among its statements about the blossoming of the National Information Infrastructure (NII) is this:”Network applications in libraries today focus on access to resources such as books, journals, and online files; in the near future, the focus will be on access to and use of research materials and collections generally inaccessible but of extreme resear ch value, including photographs, satellite and related spatial data, archival data, videos and movies, sound recordings, slides of paintings and other artifacts, and more. This development presumes that digital facsimiles or digital records are available for access and distribution over a network. The development of such digitized resources is central to the concept of digital libraries. Characteristics of digital libraries include the following:- Large size: The total of all printed knowledge is doubling every eight years, and many research databases dwarf past collections of information.- Manipulability: The use of an electronic digital format means that data of any kind can be potentially communicated, analyzed, manipulated, and copied with ease.- Inclusion of mixed media: The digital library will consist of multiple forms and formats of information including images, sounds, texts, computer programs, and quantitative data.- Distributed: The digital library is not a single entity or database in a specific geographic location. Instead it consists of resources that are constantly changing and available on a distributed basis. The evolution of the digital library and its distributed nature are fundamental characteristics relating to the digital library’s value to the user.- Accessibility and interactivity: Digital libraries will be accessible to new communities and a wider-range of users. The resulting availability of new research and new knowledge will in turn increase the value of the digital library, a benefit that will come from the interactivity between the user and the digital library.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Libraries/Databases
Name of publication: Realizing the Information Future: The Internet and Beyond
Title, headline, chapter name: Libraries and the Broadening of Public-Interest Networking
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://stills.nap.edu/html/rtif/
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney