The advent of electronic mail is fostering a revival of “the familiar letter.” … Management consultants see it as “enabling technology” for corporate reform, linking employees and information so efficiently that the ranks of middle managers can be dramatically thinned … E-mail “represents the next quantum step toward human freedom.”
Predictor: Borenstein, Nathaniel
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Wired magazine, Jacques Leslie quotes Bruce Redford of the University of Chicago and Nathaniel Borenstein, an e-mail system designer. Leslie writes: ”Beguiled by its protean nature, a surprising array of boosters trumpet the social impact of electronic mail. Bruce Redford, a Johnsonian scholar at the University of Chicago (Dr. Samuel Johnson was an 18th century lexicographer and critic), exults that ‘the advent of electronic mail is fostering a revival of “the familiar letter.”‘ Researchers proclaim e-mail’s democratizing effects, citing substantial evidence that it flattens hierarchies, promotes teamwork, and increases involvement of peripheral workers within organizations. Political organizers herald its usefulness in mobilizing support for campaigns around the globe. Management consultants see it as ‘enabling technology’ for corporate reform, linking employees and information so efficiently that the ranks of middle managers can be dramatically thinned. E-mail system designer Nathaniel Borenstein goes so far as to assert that because it enables workers to labor outside their place of employment, e-mail ‘represents the next quantum step toward human freedom.'”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: E-mail
Name of publication: Wired
Title, headline, chapter name: Mail Bonding
Quote Type: Partial quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.03/e-mail_pr.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney