Public electronic networking offers society an important new forum for the practice of democratic principles and First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly. Its value to the nation and the world may be critical at this stage in history, when cumulative problems abound and faith in the accountability of central government is at a low ebb.
Predictor: Figallo, Cliff
Prediction, in context:The 1995 book “Public Access to the Internet,” edited by Brian Kahin and James Keller carries the chapter, “The WELL: A Regionally Based On-Line Community on the Internet” by Cliff Figallo. Figallo, a networking consultant in the San Francisco area who served as director of the Whole Earth Lectronic Link from 1986 to 1992, writes: ”Public electronic networking offers society an important new forum for the practice of democratic principles and First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly. Its value to the nation and the world may be critical at this stage in history, when cumulative problems abound and faith in the accountability of central government is at a low ebb.”
Biography:Cliff Figallo, was managing director of the WELL (Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link, one of the best known conferencing systems and virtual communities in the United States in the 1990s) and a director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Cambridge office in the early 1990s. He later worked with Pandora Systems. Figallo and John Coate are regarded to be the chief architects of the WELL’s implementation of virtual community. (Advocate/Voice of the People.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Public Access to the Internet (book)
Title, headline, chapter name: The WELL: A Regionally Based On-Line Community on the Internet
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 49, 50
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne