The prediction, in brief:

The most crucial task before us is not one of putting in place the digital plumbing of broadband communications links and associated electronic appliances (which we will certainly get anyway), nor even of producing electronically deliverable “content,” but rather one of imagining and creating digitally mediated environments for the kinds of lives that we will want to lead and the sorts of communities that we will want to have.

Predictor: Mitchell, William J.

Prediction, in context:

In his 1994 book “City of Bits,” MIT computer scientist William J. Mitchell writes:”The most crucial task before us is not one of putting in place the digital plumbing of broadband communications links and associated electronic appliances (which we will certainly get anyway), nor even of producing electronically deliverable ‘content,’ but rather one of imagining and creating digitally mediated environments for the kinds of lives that we will want to lead and the sorts of communities that we will want to have.”

Biography:

William J. Mitchell was a professor and dean of architecture at MIT and the author of the predictive book “City of Bits: Space, Place and the Infobahn” (1994). He also taught at Harvard, Yale, Carnegie-Mellon and Cambridge Universities. (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)

Date of prediction: January 1, 1994

Topic of prediction: Community/Culture

Subtopic: Virtual Communities

Name of publication: City of Bits

Title, headline, chapter name: Chapter 1: Pulling Glass

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-books/City_of_Bits/index.html

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney