People are just beginning to realize the implications of the fact that anything can be digitized … The Internet is the universal communications medium of the future.
Predictor: Wolff, Stephen
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article for the New York Times, technology reporter John Markoff interviews Internet pioneer and Internet Society president Vinton Cerf and Stephen Wolff of the National Science Foundation. Markoff writes: ”The Internet is an ad hoc amalgamation of thousands of individual computer networks that are interconnected by a routing language that permits them to exchange messages and share data. Most industry estimates say that more than 15 million computer users are now connected to the Internet, and that as many as one million new users a month are learning how to employ it for work or recreation. The international reach of its tentacles is awesome to consider. But the scramble by big media corporations may miss a fundamental point: deep pockets and mass-media savvy are no guarantee of commercial success in the quirky, anarchistic world of the Internet. ‘The Internet is now big enough that it qualifies as a mass market,’ said Vinton Cerf, president of the Internet Society in Reston, Va., an organization that sets network standards. ‘This strikes fear and anger into many people who live in this piece of cyberspace.’ It is the fear of being late to the party that has communications and publishing companies rushing to repackage their products digitally for the new information economy. ‘People are just beginning to realize the implications of the fact that anything can be digitized,’ said Stephen Wolff, director of the network division of the National Science Foundation. ‘The Internet is the universal communications medium of the future.'”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: New York Times
Title, headline, chapter name: A New Information Mass Market
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Section D; Page 1; Column 3: Financial Desk
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney