The prediction, in brief:

Being on the Internet is a process of reading and writing, so books and publishing should be a real opportunity. And all the wonderful things about the Internet can come later, but if it’s going to grow and spread further, it’s got to be a money-making business.

Predictor: Bunnell, David

Prediction, in context:

In a 1995 article for The New York Times, reporter Steve Lohr quotes David Bunnell:”For all its growth in recent years, the personal computer industry has a dominant culture – a curious blend of frontier capitalism and the social values of the 1960s. Perhaps no one personifies that culture as much as David Bunnell, a veteran of both Students for a Democratic Society, the radical organization of the ’60s, and of the New Mexico company that developed the first personal computer in 1975 [he went on to found PC Magazine and others]. Today he is scheduled to announce his bid to make money from the Internet with an online service called Content.com, for lovers of books and book publishing … Today Mr. Bunnell sees common threads between the values of his student days and the promise of personal computers. ‘A core belief of the SDS was in participatory democracy,’ he said, ‘that people should be really involved in the decisions that affect their lives. Another value from those days was the virtue of diversity. I still believe in those values, and personal computer technology enables society to advance those values.’ The company’s first offering will be a service of online forums, discussion and information for readers and book publishers, Book Channel … In Mr. Bunnell’s view, businesses on the Internet will be based on communities of people with a shared interest, attracting both consumers and corporate sponsors. ‘Being on the Internet is a process of reading and writing, so books and publishing should be a real opportunity,’ he said. ‘And all the wonderful things about the Internet can come later, but if it’s going to grow and spread further, it’s got to be a money-making business.'” 

Date of prediction: January 1, 1995

Topic of prediction: Economic structures

Subtopic: General

Name of publication: New York Times

Title, headline, chapter name: Adapting ’60s Sensibilities to the Internet

Quote Type: Paraphrase

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/document?_m=c0e29d0a87883f27204e71008263a116&_docnum=4&wchp=dGLbVlz-lSlzV&_md5=9ff277b36bf48db9bffcf27e87b3ff98

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Burnham, Jay