Technological developments are not going hand-in-hand with a change in the way people interact with computers. The currently dominant interaction metaphor of direct manipulation requires the user to initiate all tasks explicitly and to monitor all events. This metaphor will have to change if untrained users are to make effective use of the computers and networks of tomorrow.
The complexity of this new environment will demand a new style of human-computer interaction, where the computer becomes an intelligent, active and personalized collaborator.
The growing acquisition of increasingly broad patents by nonmanufacturing entities ups the risks of conflict. Improvidently issued patents and submarine patents are a growing threat to rapid deployment of infrastructure based on consensual standards.
In the past, education adapted the mind to a very restricted set of available media; in the future, it will adapt media to serve the needs and tastes of each individual mind … The Knowledge Machine (a metaphor for much more varied forms of media) will provide easier access to richer and fuller bodies of knowledge than can be offered by any printed encyclopedia.
It should be relatively easy for multimedia publishers to license works, and especially fragments of works, that have little value in isolation. Althought content owners may well be concerned about context, a clip from a song or movie may stimulate demand for the original. A run-time version of a software program may elicit interest in the fully functional original. Abstracts of journal articles can elicit interest in the full text.
Online systems can … enable continuing contractual relationships between publishers and end-users. Contracts can supplement copyright protection and are especially important for databases of factual material, where copyright protection may not be available for individual records.
Mandate online access to government information; allow the private sectors to add value and resell it. Make all federal agencies accessible to the public via e-mail. Foster programs to support telecommuting and shared scientific databases. Encourage the deployment of Integrated Services Digital Network-based services. Avoid the creation of gaps between the information-rich and -poor. Do not subsidize network service providers; subsidize users where appropriate. Find a way to make advertising permissible and useful in the National Information Infrastructure.
People are using the term “universal service,” which is a telecommunications-policy term. What they mean is ensuring access to information … The big question is how to we rethink the idea of the library in this environment. Does it get extended to include service to the home?
That’s the way we see the future – it’s chip cards that can work in your own PC.
Some 30,000 Internet Protocol networks – one half of all IP networks – could be attached to the Internet but are not, largely because their owners are worried about security. Technologies are emerging that will enable information on internal networks to be partitioned between what is to be made publicly available and what is to be held confidential.