Imagining the Internet, a joint venture of Elon University and the Pew Internet & American Life Project, has launched a richly revised public Web site focused on the past and future of networked communications.
The site (www.elon.edu/predictions) adds significant elements to an original information source that has already received worldwide recognition including coverage in the New York Times and on CNN Online.
The new site includes: video interviews and audio podcasts featuring leading technology visionaries (Visionaries Multimedia); educational fun and games for elementary school children (KidZone); lesson plans for teachers of students from elementary through college age (Teachers’ Tips); a fascinating round-up of future forecasts by the world’s foremost forward-thinkers (Forward 150); and a brief history of communications networks (Back 150).
Features of the site also include: hundreds of predictions about the Internet’s future made by netizens from around the world (Voices of the People); a form with which anyone anywhere can submit a vision to be shared on the site (Share Your Prediction); annual surveys that glean predictions from technology stakeholders (Predictions Surveys); and a database that includes more than 4,000 predictions made by a thousand internet pioneers between 1990 and 1995 (Early ’90s Predictions Database).
“The site is a multilayered contemplation of the future combined with a peek at the past,” said Janna Anderson, assistant professor and director of internet projects for Elon’s School of Communications. “Technology innovations are impacting us in waves of developmental change. Discussing the looming possibilities helps us prepare for the future. If the developmental record of 20th century computing continues for only another 30 years, we will rapidly and permanently move to a different world. Are we prepared to react in ways that will make that world a good one?”
Anderson developed the revised Imagining the Internet site over the past six months, coordinating contributions by more than 20 Elon University students and staff members. The communications majors enrolled in Anderson’s Fall 2005 Senior Capstone class concentrated their work on the site, helping develop concepts and script some content. Some new content was also provided by youngsters from Elon Elementary School.
Senior broadcast communications major Scott Myrick and Bryan Baker, Elon’s senior audio producer, accompanied Anderson to the Accelerating Change 2005 conference at Stanford University late in 2005 to record interviews with 22 top technology futurists. The interviews were compiled into two short films and 22 individual audio programs. Myrick was instrumental in producing the one-minute and 13-minute films that headline the multimedia section of the site.
Students Amy Parker and Mary-Hayden Britton worked with Brian Russell, a fifth-grade teacher at Elon Elementary School, to chronicle predictions about the Internet’s future from students in his science class. Parker also helped develop the KidZone section of the site that includes games, quizzes and fun facts hosted by a cartoon character, Spot the Nanodog, created by fifth grader Kacie Anderson of Elon Elementary School.
The site’s extensive educational materials are aimed at bringing people of all ages to the Imagining the Internet site. Teachers are invited to download exercises and lesson plans to engage students in learning about the future and history of the Internet and communications. They are encouraged to ask children to submit their own predictions about the future and games and quizzes for the site.
Other Elon seniors involved in developing the site include: Kara Anderson, Bridget Holmstrom, Bettina Johnson, Alex Kreitman, Ben Malone, Heather Mills, Sarah Moser, Candra Nazzaro, Christina Pompeo, Sarah Putnam, Laura Somerville and Laura Weisiger.
While Anderson wrote and coordinated content and planned the site design, many design elements were accomplished through the efforts of Elon’s Office of University Relations, including significant contributions from Christopher Eyl, Alex Lindgren, David Morton and Dan Anderson.
“The site is a continuously building record of lasting value that documents the way we see ourselves and our future,” Janna Anderson said. “We invite everyone to enjoy it and participate by becoming active contributors.”