Competitive pressure and economic rationalism require firms to focus attention on individuals, or groups, or even communities that their best intelligence suggests have the greatest potential for profit. This means, however, that certain individuals, because their profiles suggest a lower profit potential, will be ignored or bypassed as they stand by the highway trying to hitch a ride to the good life.
Predictor: Gandy, Oscar H.
Prediction, in context:In this 1994 article in the Phi Kappa Phi journal National Forum, Professor Oscar Gandy writes: ”Telephone Transaction-Generated Information (TTGI) represents both a cost and a value to the firms in the service sector. It also represents the raw materials from which discriminatory profiles can be developed for use in the panoptic sort. Each purchase paid for by credit card; each toll-free telephone call to order, inquire, or complain; each rental of a video tape or loan of a book from a library or purchase from a supermarket shelf generates a transaction record. As the information superhighway continues to develop, A.C. Neilsen’s sample of households will become a census, and then automated ‘people meters’ will note who views what with whom. This kind of automated remote sensing not only informs the marketing system but also increasingly influences decisions about employment and governance as well. Remote sensing of TTGI feeds the strategic planning efforts of firms that market goods and services to consumers. Competitive pressure and economic rationalism require firms to focus attention on individuals, or groups, or even communities that their best intelligence suggests have the greatest potential for profit. This means, however, that certain individuals, because their profiles suggest a lower profit potential, will be ignored or bypassed as they stand by the highway trying to hitch a ride to the good life.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1994
Topic of prediction: Controversial Issues
Subtopic: Digital Divide
Name of publication: National Forum
Title, headline, chapter name: The Information Superhighway as the Yellow Brick Road
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?Did=000000005878683&Fmt=3&Deli=1&Mtd=1&Idx=5&Sid=6&RQT=309
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney