Interaction in public-access systems seems to us to be much more productive, innovative, educational and entertaining where there are fewer prohibitions imposed by system management.
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: ”The medium of on-line interpersonal communication is too immature and unformed to be confined by the encumbrances of strict rules. We have realized that the imposition by management of limitations on language and speech, aimed at protecting the feelings and sensibilities of minority or even majority groups, would not protect the feelings and sensibilities of all. We do not want to lose the chance to discover what kinds of interaction really work in the medium by stifling free and open dialogue. Interaction in public-access systems seems to us to be much more productive, innovative, educational and entertaining where there are fewer prohibitions imposed by system management.”
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: Community/Culture
Subtopic: Virtual Communities
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:
Page 50
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne