With the rapidly falling cost of powerful computers and bandwidth for communications, a National Information Infrastructure looks like an affordable federal investment with a potentially huge return.
Predictor: Finamore, James
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 letter to the editor printed in The Buffalo News, James Finamore, the director of the job-training department of the Town of Tonawanda writes: ”The lead editorial on April 7 correctly pointed out the need for federal support of a national ‘electronic superhighway,’ which would provide access to vast information resources for students, small businesses, health-care providers and many others. The existing Internet, with the ability to connect thousands of local networks and enable the sharing of information among different kinds of computers, is growing in traffic at the rate of 20 percent per month. But Internet is slow and doesn’t reach enough people. The primary purpose of a National Information Infrastructure would be to improve the productivity of workers in many fields. Widely available access to tools like e-mail, computer conferencing, data bases and file libraries would greatly speed up problem solving. In addition to helping build the network, federal support is needed to assist communities of users who otherwise might not have access to a National Information Infrastructure. Such help may be in the form of development of user-friendly software, assistance to K-12 schools in ‘distance learning’ or help for public libraries in connecting to data bases throughout the country and world. With the rapidly falling cost of powerful computers and bandwidth for communications, a National Information Infrastructure looks like an affordable federal investment with a potentially huge return.”
Date of prediction: April 19, 1993
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: Government
Name of publication: Buffalo News
Title, headline, chapter name: Electronic Superhighway, with Federal Backing, Contains Seeds for Future
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=defa2b231a7191e3ed1c1251c3ca2a64&_docnum=52&wchp=dGLbVtb-lSlAl&_md5=372150d3c584069b4844d2a0573b0b01
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Smith, Ian T.