A large portion of [networked communications] prophecy relates to virtual reality (VR) technology, which promises all flavors of reality on demand. Some of it is associated with the combination of audio and video in the computer which is to lead us to the long-promised connection between the radio, television and computer. But increasingly there are fewer comments about the wonders of technology and more about the new forms of community brought about by CMC.
Predictor: Jones, Steven G.
Prediction, in context:In his 1995 book “CyberSociety: Computer-Mediated Communication and Community,” Steve Jones writes: ”The ubiquitous nature of electronic communication has firmly manifested itself in computer-mediated communication (CMC) … There are over two million Internet host computers, and it is estimated that some three million people use the Usenet news service accessible via Internet … Accompanying this manifestation is a resurgence in prophecy related to computers and computing. A large portion of [networked communications] prophecy relates to virtual reality (VR) technology, which promises all flavors of reality on demand. Some of it is associated with the combination of audio and video in the computer which is to lead us to the long-promised connection between the radio, television and computer. But increasingly there are fewer comments about the wonders of technology and more about the new forms of community brought about by CMC, about the new social formations I have termed ‘cybersociety.’ This notion of community depends on CMC and on the ability to share thoughts and information instantaneously across vast distances … Evidence of the expectations for social change can be found in the sublimity with which electronic mail was said to have been important in the 1992 U.S. presidential election, and in the speed with which the Clinton White House implemented an electronic mail system … Our hopes and expectations for community are evident in the everyday discourse on thousands of BBSes, on Usenet, in mail messages and interactive media like Internet Relay Chat (IRC). More importantly, these hopes lurk between the lines of that discourse, in the assumptions CMC users make about the connections they have to other users. To examine those assumptions is to understand fundamentally human needs for contact, control, knowledge, the social and sociological elements of communication and community.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Community/Culture
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: CyberSociety: Computer-Mediated Communication and Community
Title, headline, chapter name: Introduction
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://info.comm.uic.edu/jones/cybersoc.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney