The universal “we” has lost a sense of rhythm, and is in danger of unbalancing the thought and action cycle that drives creative human behavior … Where traveling through space physically once buffered periods of mental activity, we are squeezing out the inherent rest cycle associated with going to libraries, face-to-face meetings, and going from home to work … The added convenience of telecommunication-based collaboration, the umbrella reason that new technologies are adopted within organizations, carries with it this hidden cost of a loss of pace as it throws us into the vacuum of electronic space.
Predictor: Acker, Stephen R.
Prediction, in context:In a 1995 article from the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, Stephen R. Acker of the Communication Department/Center for the Advanced Study of Telecommunications at The Ohio State University discusses collaboration in a virtual world. He writes: ÒThe universal ÔweÕ has lost a sense of rhythm, and is in danger of unbalancing the thought and action cycle that drives creative human behavior … Where traveling through space physically once buffered periods of mental activity, we are squeezing out the inherent rest cycle associated with going to libraries, face-to-face meetings, and going from home to work … The added convenience of telecommunication-based collaboration, the umbrella reason that new technologies are adopted within organizations, carries with it this hidden cost of a loss of pace as it throws us into the vacuum of electronic space.Ó
Date of prediction: January 1, 1995
Topic of prediction: Community/Culture
Subtopic: General
Name of publication: Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication
Title, headline, chapter name: Space, Collaboration, and the Credible City: Academic Work in the Virtual University
Quote Type: Direct quote
Page number or URL of document at time of study:
www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol1/issue1/acker/ACKTEXT.HTM
This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Guarino, Jennifer Anne