Being digital will change the nature of mass media from a process of pushing bits at people to one of allowing people (or their computers) to pull at them. This is a radical change, because our entire concept of media is one of successive layers of filtering, which reduce information and entertainment to a collection of “top stories” or “best-sellers” to be thrown at different “audiences.” … The information highway will become more of a boutique business. Its marketplace is the global information highway. The customers will be people and their computer agents. Is the digital marketplace real? Yes, but only if the interface between people and their computers improve to the point where talking to your computer is as easy as talking to another human being.
Predictor: Negroponte, Nicholas
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “Being Digital,” Nicholas Negroponte writes:”Being digital will change the nature of mass media from a process of pushing bits at people to one of allowing people (or their computers) to pull at them. This is a radical change, because our entire concept of media is one of successive layers of filtering, which reduce information and entertainment to a collection of ‘top stories’ or ‘best-sellers’ to be thrown at different ‘audiences.’ As media companies go more and more toward narrowcasting, like the magazine business, they are still pushing bits at a special-interest group, like car fanatics, Alpine skiers, or wine enthusiasts … The information highway will become more of a boutique business. Its marketplace is the global information highway. The customers will be people and their computer agents. Is the digital marketplace real? Yes, but only if the interface between people and their computers improve to the point where talking to your computer is as easy as talking to another human being.”
Biography:Nicholas Negroponte, a co-founder of MIT’s Media Lab and a popular speaker and writer about technologies of the future, wrote one of the 1990s’ best-selling books about the new future of communications, “Being Digital.” (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: February 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Journalism/Media
Name of publication: Being Digital (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 6: The Bit Business
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 84, 85
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne