Let’s get rid of this idea that we’re trying to create some alternate world that’s going to be completely independent of all the other medias that exist. What we’re really doing right now is learning how the Internet fits in amongst all these existing medias. To integrate the different medias so that they support and coordinate with each other.
Predictor: McCarthy, Ken
Prediction, in context:Ken McCarthy, founding publisher of the Internet Gazette, delivered a speech titled “Why the Web and Why Now” Nov. 5, 1994, to an audience of publishers, advertisers and multi-media producers in San Francisco. McCarthy says: ”A lot of people are talking about ‘Cyberspace,’ and the ‘Information Superhighway’ with the idea that we’re trying to create an alternate environment and the measure of our success will be that everything is done there. And that we should be gearing all our attention to creating this place that is completely independent of the rest of the world. That’s crazy. Would you start a business that only did business on the telephone? In other words, you wouldn’t have a store, you wouldn’t talk to anybody in person, you wouldn’t send mail or receive mail, you would only deal on the telephone. Would you have a business that only had a store but didn’t use the telephone and didn’t use the mail system? Of course not. The picture of every mature business is that they use every conceivable channel available. They use the mail intelligently, they use the phone system intelligently, they use video intelligently, and they use the Internet intelligently. So let’s get rid of this idea that we’re trying to create some alternate world that’s going to be completely independent of all the other medias that exist. What we’re really doing right now is learning how the Internet fits in amongst all these existing medias. To integrate the different medias so that they support and coordinate with each other.”
Date of prediction: November 5, 1994
Topic of prediction: General, Overarching Remarks
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: kenmccarthy.com
Title, headline, chapter name: Why the Web and Why NOW!
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://kenmccarthy.com/archive/ig1.html
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Stotler, Larry