The problem is not getting the information – the problem is rejecting the information. A tool, a system, a paradigm – whatever – that will allow even a relatively naive user to comfortably and easily keep an electronic eye on just those pieces of information that interest the user, and can do so in semireal time, so that they have the news just as soon as anyone besides the person who first made the information available to the network – this will be the basis for the killer app.
Predictor: Gordon, Josh
Prediction, in context:In a 1993 article for The Wall Street Journal, Thomas E. Weber shares the words of many users and analysts of computer networks, including Josh Gordon, a programmer for Autodesk Inc. in Sausalito, Calif. Weber quotes Gordon saying: ”With the vast amount of information available out there, the problem is not getting the information – the problem is rejecting the information. A tool, a system, a paradigm – whatever – that will allow even a relatively naive user to comfortably and easily keep an electronic eye on just those pieces of information that interest the user, and can do so in semireal time, so that they have the news just as soon as anyone besides the person who first made the information available to the network – this will be the basis for the killer app. [‘Killer app’ generally refers to the one ‘application’ that makes the technology sell to the masses.]”
Date of prediction: November 1, 1993
Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information
Subtopic: Intelligent Agents/AI
Name of publication: Wall Street Journal
Title, headline, chapter name: Technology: An Electronic Roundtable: Two Dozen Users and Analysts Examine the Potential – and Shortcomings – of Networks
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Page R24 ISSN: 00999660
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney