[The utopian vision of a nation where everyone has a home page, and we’re all going to be producers as well as consumers of information is] dead on. This is the perfect medium for it. [With] every previous mass medium, whether it’s TV or radio or publishing, there were always these huge distribution bottlenecks. That’s all changing. Instead there’s an unlimited number of publishers or bookshelves or places to go look at or whatever, and there’s no limit on it.
Predictor: Andreessen, Marc
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article for Rolling Stone magazine, J.C. Herz interviews Marc Andreessen, an originator of the Mosaic browser and co-founder of Netscape Communications, at his Netscape offices in Mountainview, Calif. Following is an excerpt of the conversation: Herz: “There’s this utopian vision of ‘zine nation where everyone’s going to have his own home page, and we’re all going to be producers as well as consumers of this information. Do you think that’s a valid image?” Andreessen: “I think that’s dead on. This is the perfect medium for it. [With] every previous mass medium, whether it’s TV or radio or publishing, there were always these huge distribution bottlenecks. That’s all changing. Instead there’s an unlimited number of publishers or bookshelves or places to go look at or whatever, and there’s no limit on it.”
Biography:Marc Andreessen worked with Eric Bina at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in 1992, to develop a browser that would be usable on any computer, easy to use and graphically rich. In 1993, their browser, Mosaic, completely changed the face of the Internet Ð it allowed HTML “image” tags which make it so text and art can appear on the same page; it allowed easy text scrolling; and it introduced hyperlinks, allowing users to simply click on an area of the screen to go to another document on the Internet. In1994, Mosaic was developed and marketed; the product eventually was named Netscape. (Pioneer/Originator.)
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Information Infrastructure
Subtopic: Open Access
Name of publication: Rolling Stone
Title, headline, chapter name: Netscape’s Co-Inventor Charts the Digital Future: What a Wonderful Web it Could Be
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web18.epnet.com/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+0%2C1+ln+en%2Dus+sid+533727BE%2D85B5%2D4391%2D8E78%2DDD2AD20C349A%40Sessionmgr6+5438&_us=bs+TI++netscape%27s++co%2Dinventor++charts++the++digital++future+ds+TI++netscape%27s++co%2Dinventor++charts++the++digital++future+dstb+ES+fh+0+gl+SO++%22rolling++stone%22+hd+0+hs+0+or+Date+ri+KAAACB1B00245053+sm+ES+ss+SO+8FC9&fn=1&rn=1
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Garrison, Betty