The cost of distributing information will become much less than the cost of creating it. The value of fixed information will decline greatly. Those individuals and organizations that are responsible for creating the information will have more direct control over the distribution and obtain a greater share of the value. The cost of distribution will become less than the cost of production of the information … In the near future there will be a new cottage industry in the creation, organization, and distribution of information.
Predictor: Hiltz, Starr Roxanne
Prediction, in context:In a 1992 paper they presented at a workshop titled “Rights and Responsibilities of Participants in Networked Communities” for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council, researchers Starr Roxanne Hiltz and Murray Turoff say: ”The cost of distributing information will become much less than the cost of creating it. The value of fixed information will decline greatly. Those individuals and organizations that are responsible for creating the information will have more direct control over the distribution and obtain a greater share of the value. The cost of distribution will become less than the cost of production of the information. Today, this is not true for the hard copy methods of distribution. Typically an author will get 10 to 20 percent of the resulting sale price of a book. In a digital network form of distribution the author should be getting more like eighty percent of the proceeds. The cost for producing a few hundred copies of a CD-ROM can be as little as a few dollars today. With the ability to write CD-ROMS available on every personal computer in the near future there will be a new cottage industry in the creation, organization, and distribution of information.”
Biography:Starr Roxanne Hiltz, the co-author of a seminal book about the electronic frontier, “The Network Nation: Human Communication Via Computer” (MIT Press), was a professor of computer and information science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the author of many Internet research studies. In 1994, Hiltz received the “Pioneer Award” from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for her “significant and influential contributions to computer-based communications and to the empowerment of individuals using computers.” She was among the first to note that computer conferencing could form the basis of new kinds of communities. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: November 1, 1992
Topic of prediction: Economic structures
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Rights and Responsibilities of Participants in Networked Communities Computer science and Telecommunications Board National Research Council (NRC)
Title, headline, chapter name: A Normative View of Networking Applications
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.njit.edu/~turoff/Papers/dcgov.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney