Policy interventions should give priority to widespread home access [for participation in online communications]. In addition, and not as a substitute, multiple options for network access located in convenient places (including, for instance, libraries, schools, public buildings, hotel lobbies, business centers, and the like) are important auxiliary access sites. Such common facilities could be considered good locations for help or training centers as well … Specific policies might be designed to facilitate and support the development of online civic activities offered by government agencies and nonprofit organizations.
Predictor: Anderson, Robert H.
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 research paper published for the RAND Publications Database, Robert H. Anderson, Tora K. Bikson, Sally Ann Law, Bridger M. Mitchell, Christopher Kedzie, Brent Keltner, Constantijn Panis, Joel Pliskin, Padmanabhan Srinagesh write about the feasibility of universal access to e-mail: ”Virtually every study of electronic mail establishes that immediate convenient access is the single most powerful predictor of use. To the extent that national or other policies attempt to redress imbalances caused by the market for electronic access, we conclude that policy interventions should give priority to widespread home access [for participation in online communications]. In addition, and not as a substitute, multiple options for network access located in convenient places (including, for instance, libraries, schools, public buildings, hotel lobbies, business centers, and the like) are important auxiliary access sites. Such common facilities could be considered good locations for help or training centers as well. Prior studies … show little reason to be concerned that citizens will abandon the needs of their local (physical) communities in favor of virtual communities in cyberspace. Rather, communications are typically addressed to a community of concerned individuals, and either for reasons of subject matter or prior acquaintance, these concerns are often (although not necessarily) geographically bounded. Thus, network access can be expected to enhance rather than detract from community involvement. Provision of community services and activities online should be actively supported. Local nonprofit providers experience many of the same resource constraints – costs, technical expertise, and so on – that households and individuals face. Engaging people in participatory democracy is not just a problem of giving citizens access but also a problem of enabling the service and information providers. Specific policies might be designed to facilitate and support the development of online civic activities offered by government agencies and nonprofit organizations.”
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Communication
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Rand Publications Database
Title, headline, chapter name: Universal Access to E-mail: Feasibility and Societal Implications
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR650/sum.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney