In an open electronic marketplace, where any buyer can be an information provider, we can go a long way toward eliminating problems having to do with the free flow of information … Electronic marketplaces open to the public will be one of the biggest societal applications of this technology at some point in the future … New products could be brought to market for far less than is now possible, and without the large marketing budgets that only very large organizations can afford. Electronic Marketplaces offer the opportunity to lower the entry barriers to small-scale entrepreneurship, and to reverse the trend of greater concentration of wealth in fewer and larger organizations.
Predictor: Hiltz, Starr Roxanne
Prediction, in context:In a 1992 paper they presented at a workshop titled “Rights and Responsibilities of Participants in Networked Communities” for the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council, researchers Starr Roxanne Hiltz and Murray Turoff say: ”Underlying the theories of a free economy is the hidden premise that information can flow freely. This is the concept that a buyer is aware of all the relevant information needed to make an appropriate decision on a purchase. Most of the problems we have with our free market system ultimately expose difficulties with this occurring in the real world. In an open electronic marketplace, where any buyer can be an information provider, we can go a long way toward eliminating problems having to do with the free flow of information … Electronic marketplaces open to the public will be one of the biggest societal applications of this technology at some point in the future. A real estate listing service will probably be one of the major applications of this technology. Such a system would allow buyers and sellers to find one another without the use of intermediaries. Electronic marketplaces are also an application area that will have a very profound impact upon society. In essence, they eliminate the need for large marketing budgets. When the buyer can selectively retrieve advertisements of interest, there is no longer a need for ‘mass’ marketing and large sales forces. This means that new products could be brought to market for far less than is now possible, and without the large marketing budgets that only very large organizations can afford. Electronic Marketplaces offer the opportunity to lower the entry barriers to small-scale entrepreneurship, and to reverse the trend of greater concentration of wealth in fewer and larger organizations.”
Biography:Starr Roxanne Hiltz, the co-author of a seminal book about the electronic frontier, “The Network Nation: Human Communication Via Computer” (MIT Press), was a professor of computer and information science at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the author of many Internet research studies. In 1994, Hiltz received the “Pioneer Award” from the Electronic Frontier Foundation for her “significant and influential contributions to computer-based communications and to the empowerment of individuals using computers.” She was among the first to note that computer conferencing could form the basis of new kinds of communities. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)
Date of prediction: November 1, 1992
Topic of prediction: Economic structures
Subtopic: E-commerce
Name of publication: Rights and Responsibilities of Participants in Networked Communities Computer science and Telecommunications Board National Research Council (NRC)
Title, headline, chapter name: A Normative View of Networking Applications
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.njit.edu/~turoff/Papers/dcgov.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney