The Information Super-Highway isn’t a product or even a coherent strategy. It’s just the most recent negotiating position.
Predictor: Stahlman, Mark
Prediction, in context:In a 1994 article for Network Computing magazine, Mark Stahlman, president of New York-based New Media Associates, writes: ”Just because the headlines say XYZ telephone company plans to put Internet connections into every school and library doesn’t mean it will happen. In fact, it doesn’t mean XYZ even knows how it would accomplish the goal. Try calling XYZ after it issues the press release. Be kind; give it a few weeks to work out the details. I’ll bet its managers won’t know the specifics of the service or the timetable for deployment or the equipment to be used or even whether they have approval to go forward. It’s all ‘subject to regulatory approval’. So the next time you hear about a grand Washington-hatched scheme or a bold telco proposal, don’t take it too literally. You could spend your whole life trying to separate the real from the Memorex. Speeches are easy and press releases are cheap. It’s a public negotiation that’s complex and often interwoven with dozens of other issues. The Information Super-Highway isn’t a product or even a coherent strategy. It’s just the most recent negotiating position.”
Biography:Mark Stahlman was the president of the New York-based research and financial services firm New Media Associates in the 1990s. (Entrepreneur/Business Leader.)
Date of prediction: May 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Network Computing
Title, headline, chapter name: Strolling Along the Info-Highway
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page 51
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Taylor, Kellen L.