The problem with going out on the Internet is akin to creating a New York City and telling everybody to go there. The benefits will never get back to the small community because it’s a different dynamic. New York is just not St. Louis.
Predictor: Hughes, Dave
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for The Denver Post, Dan Pacheco quotes Dave Hughes, one of the best-known bulletin board users in the United States at the time. Pacheco writes: ”America is losing its community dialogue amid the information revolution, Hughes said, and grassroots computer systems may be the last hope in bringing it back. City and county governments across the country are flocking to the Internet and installing community networks that provide one-way broadcasts from grassroots community organizations like senior citizen groups and environmental activists … But Hughes says that because these networks don’t allow interactive dialogue, they have nothing to do with community. In fact, he calls them ‘cyberpork.’ ‘Listen to what they’re saying. They want a community network where nobody can have direct address, and they’re doing this with federal money,’ he said. Hughes also believes the Internet doesn’t match the community mentality. ‘The problem with going out on the Internet is akin to creating a New York City and telling everybody to go there. The benefits will never get back to the small community because it’s a different dynamic. New York is just not St. Louis,’ he said.”
Biography:Dave Hughes created the first free, modem dial-up, electronic democracy bulletin-board system in the world. It soon challenged and altered the way local city-wide politics were conducted. It was colorfully named “Roger’s Bar.” Within five years the world’s press had beaten a path to Hughes’ home to report on, and encourage others to adopt an entirely new model of “electronic democracy” Ð a model that could be adopted in any small town in America. Wired magazine said he was the best-known personality on the Internet in 1993. Microtimes Magazine named Hughes one of the 100 most influential individuals in the Computer Age six times between 1990 and 1996. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Community/Culture
Subtopic: Virtual Communities
Name of publication: Denver Post
Title, headline, chapter name: Grass Roots Go Electric: ‘Community’ is Getting Lost in the Shuffle
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=bf8cf84216f5dbbb6e17256167252f58...
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney