What is the meaning of all this “information” transmitted so feverishly? What are the considerations for making sense of it and improving information quality? While there certainly has been an explosion of activity, traffic, servers, and data or “stuff” presented on the Web, an explosion of information leading to knowledge and wisdom, to significance, is still in its nascent stages. In an increasingly thin soup of redundant, poor quality, or incorrect information, even the smartest Web spiders won’t be very effective. A flood of information unfiltered by the critical and noise-reducing influences of collaboration and peer review can overwhelm users and obscure the value of the Web itself. The Web certainly needs solutions in information discovery and retrieval … These information-shaping abilities cannot be based on machine intelligence alone. Human wisdom, judgment, and aesthetics must play a part in improving the quality of Web information.
Predictor: December, John
Prediction, in context:The Oct. 1, 1994 issue of Computer-Mediated Communication Magazine, an online journal, carries an article by John December titled “Challenges for Web Information Providers.” The article was a chapter in the forthcoming book “The World Wide Web Unleashed” (Sams Publishing, 1994). He writes: ”Web traffic over the National Science Foundation (NSFNET) Backbone … increased from a monthly transfer total of 78 megabytes in December 1992 to 1,056,081 megabytes … in July 1994 … This rapid growth in Web use begs the question – what is the meaning of all this ‘information’ transmitted so feverishly? What are the considerations for making sense of it and improving information quality? While there certainly has been an explosion of activity, traffic, servers, and data or ‘stuff’ presented on the Web, an explosion of information leading to knowledge and wisdom, to significance, is still in its nascent stages. In an increasingly thin soup of redundant, poor quality, or incorrect information, even the smartest Web spiders won’t be very effective. A flood of information unfiltered by the critical and noise-reducing influences of collaboration and peer review can overwhelm users and obscure the value of the Web itself. The Web certainly needs solutions in information discovery and retrieval – indeed, developing intelligent spiders, worms, robots, and ants is crucial to making sense of the Web. The Web will also need new protocols, tools, browsers, hypermedia interfaces, and software. But along with these tools for information discovery and delivery, we need to develop information shaping capabilities – skills to select and present information on the Web. These information-shaping abilities cannot be based on machine intelligence alone. Human wisdom, judgment, and aesthetics must play a part in improving the quality of Web information.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Community/Culture
Subtopic: Human-Machine Interaction
Name of publication: Computer-Mediated Communications Magazine
Title, headline, chapter name: Challenges for Web Information Providers
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.december.com/cmc/mag/1994/oct/webip.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne