The people who will make up the virtual communities will be the better educated, the financially endowed and those with time to commit to communication tasks. That presents a rather limited version of opportunities for building community in any real sense. It also places limits on the potential for virtual communities to represent anything new within the multiplicity of publics that comprise the American collectivity.
Predictor: Fernback, Jan
Prediction, in context:A paper titled “Computer-Mediated Communication and the American Collectivity: The Dimensions of Community Within Cyberspace,” by Jan Fernback and Brad Thompson, was presented at the annual convention of the International Communication Association, Albuquerque, N.M., May 1995. It was reprinted in full form on Howard Rheingold’s Web site. This is an excerpt: ”Even though computers are becoming less expensive and more powerful, there always will be members of the society for whom they will remain dreams É The people who will make up the virtual communities will be the better educated, the financially endowed and those with time to commit to communication tasks. That presents a rather limited version of opportunities for building community in any real sense. It also places limits on the potential for virtual communities to represent anything new within the multiplicity of publics that comprise the American collectivity.”
Date of prediction: May 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Community/Culture
Subtopic: Virtual Communities
Name of publication: Rheingold.com
Title, headline, chapter name: Virtual Communities: Abort, Retry, Failure?
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.rheingold.com/texts/techpolitix/VCcivil.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney