The prediction, in brief:

If the goal is indeed “access to information,” then we need to reinvent the public library, clearly the institution most vitally affected by the digital revolution. This must be undertaken on a scale equivalent to Andrew Carnegie’s efforts to institutionalize the “free library” a century ago. The new challenge is more subtle and elusive than building collections behind brick-and-mortar walls. It requires building on mass-market commercialization of technology, exploiting economies of scale, and attending to transaction costs. It means recognizing the remarkable ability of information technology to both penetrate and reconstruct walls – and turning such remarkable characteristics to strategic advantage in principled policy framework.

Predictor: Kahin, Brian

Prediction, in context:

The 1995 book “Public Access to the Internet,” edited by Brian Kahin and James Keller carries the chapter, “The Internet and the National Information Infrastructure” by Kahin, general counsel for the Interactive Media Association and an adjunct lecturer and director of the Information Infrastructure Project at Harvard University. He writes:”If the goal is indeed ‘access to information,’ then we need to reinvent the public library, clearly the institution most vitally affected by the digital revolution. This must be undertaken on a scale equivalent to Andrew Carnegie’s efforts to institutionalize the ‘free library’ a century ago. The new challenge is more subtle and elusive than building collections behind brick-and-mortar walls. It requires building on mass-market commercialization of technology, exploiting economies of scale, and attending to transaction costs. It means recognizing the remarkable ability of information technology to both penetrate and reconstruct walls – and turning such remarkable characteristics to strategic advantage in principled policy framework.”

Biography:

Brian Kahin was a coauthor of “Public Access to the Internet,” a 1995 collection of papers on Internet-access issues produced by the Harvard Information Infrastructure Project, for which he was founding director. He had helped found the Interactive Multimedia Association in 1988. In the early 1990s, he also was the author or editor of “Building Information Infrastructure (McGraw-Hill, 1992), “The Information Infrastructure Sourcebook” (published by the Harvard Information Infrastructure Project 1993-1995) and “Standards Policy for Information Infrastructure” (with Janet Abbate; MIT Press, 1995). (Research Scientist/Illuminator.)

Date of prediction: January 1, 1995

Topic of prediction: Getting, Sharing Information

Subtopic: Libraries/Databases

Name of publication: Public Access to the Internet (book)

Title, headline, chapter name: The Internet and the National Information Infrastructure

Quote Type: Direct quote

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
Pages 18, 19

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne