The big shift that the Internet effects is [that] it allows niches or communities of interest around specific topics to be able to really thrive, down to a huge degree of specialization that hasn’t been possible before.
Predictor: Andreessen, Marc
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Rolling Stone magazine, J.C. Herz interviews Marc Andreessen, an originator of the Mosaic browser and co-founder of Netscape Communications, at his Netscape offices in Mountainview, Calif. Herz quotes Andreessen saying: ”We’re not going to have a lot of people who are successful media stars. But everybody will be able to say what they want to say in this new medium. They’ll be able to create what they want to create on whatever topic at whatever level of quality. Everyone has something to say. The big shift that the Internet effects is [that] it allows niches or communities of interest around specific topics to be able to really thrive, down to a huge degree of specialization that hasn’t been possible before. So if you like left-handed trout fishing, you can go participate in a community of other lefthanded trout fishers … Content is becoming live and dynamic. You’ll be able to create your own live content and feed it out into the world, and anyone will be able to download it and view it and play with it and manipulate it.”
Biography:Marc Andreessen worked with Eric Bina at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in 1992, to develop a browser that would be usable on any computer, easy to use and graphically rich. In 1993, their browser, Mosaic, completely changed the face of the Internet Ð it allowed HTML “image” tags which make it so text and art can appear on the same page; it allowed easy text scrolling; and it introduced hyperlinks, allowing users to simply click on an area of the screen to go to another document on the Internet. In1994, Mosaic was developed and marketed; the product eventually was named Netscape. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: November 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Rolling Stone
Title, headline, chapter name: Netscape’s Co-Inventor Charts the Digital Future: What a Wonderful Web it Could Be
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web18.epnet.com/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+0%2C1+ln+en%2Dus+sid+533727BE%2D85B5%2D4391%2D8E78%2DDD2AD20C349A%40Sessionmgr6+5438&_us=bs+TI++netscape%27s++co%2Dinventor++charts++the++digital++future+ds+TI++netscape%27s++co%2Dinventor++charts++the++digital++future+dstb+ES+fh+0+gl+SO++%22rolling++stone%22+hd+0+hs+0+or+Date+ri+KAAACB1B00245053+sm+ES+ss+SO+8FC9&fn=1&rn=1
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Garrison, Betty