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Imagining the Internet

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the badger-badger-badger-badger-mushroom-mushroom dept.

oDDmON oUT writes ""Imagining the Internet", an ambitious project patterned after the book "Forecasting the Telephone: A Retrospective Technology Assessment" by Ithiel de Sola Pool, examines the potential future of what some deem the most revolutionary technological innovation of the 20th century, while providing a peek into it's history. Nearly 1,300 technology pioneers participated by responding to a survey posing questions about the effects of the internet on a wide range of topics, as well as giving their comments and impressions. Those predictions are indexed into a searchable database, and there is a report available as a pdf file."

33 of 58 comments (clear)

  1. Imaging the Internet? by Frightcrawler · · Score: 5, Funny

    I use Norton Ghost.

    1. Re:Imaging the Internet? by puiahappy · · Score: 1

      The question is not "how?" is "WHY ?"

      --
      Think like a hacker, act like a hacker, but never become a hacker !
  2. It makes sense that it would be in PDF by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You have to wade through a lot of crap (PDF) to get to the good stuff (the contents).

    1. Re:It makes sense that it would be in PDF by Koiu+Lpoi · · Score: 1

      Personally, I like PDFs and how they work - you know, the way they seem to look exactly the same on every system? (unlike MS Office Docs). On Linux, PDFs are rather fast to render. So, what's up with the official Adobe one? Does anybody know of a muchfaster PDF renderer for Windows?

    2. Re:It makes sense that it would be in PDF by PaschalNee · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually Adobe Acrobat will load very fast if you disable a lot of the plugins that it normally loads. I've done this and have yet to come across a case where the lack of the plugin causes a problem so I can only assume most plugins are required only for more advanced features. Quick search on Google will list a load a programs that will do this for you e.g.

      http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/PDF/PDF- SpeedUp.shtml

    3. Re:It makes sense that it would be in PDF by Koiu+Lpoi · · Score: 1

      Thanks you.

    4. Re:It makes sense that it would be in PDF by Bambi+Dee · · Score: 1

      Try Foxit PDF Reader; I love it. Displays PDFs nearly instantly (though I don't know how fast Adobe's is on this machine as I've never installed it).

    5. Re:It makes sense that it would be in PDF by CrazyTiger · · Score: 1

      Yes-Acrobat Reader 4.0. (At http://oldversion.com/program.php?n=acrobat) Turns out Adobe stuffed a lot of crapola into 6.0.

  3. PDF text by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The PDF in HTML form, courtesy Google's file converter

  4. Imaging or Imagining by goombah99 · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Headline is botched

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  5. In case of slashdotting, here is the image by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    01001000100101001010010100100010100010100101010101 01010010101010201010100000011110010101001010101010 1010101010101010101...

    1. Re:In case of slashdotting, here is the image by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      aaaaahhh i know i saw a 2 in there!

  6. for those who dont get the subtitle... by doormat · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/21/

    --
    The Doormat

    If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
  7. innovation? by null+etc. · · Score: 1
    examines the potential future of what some deem the most revolutionary technological innovation of the 20th century

    Which innovation is that?

  8. Mirrors courtesy of nyud.net by gonffen · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ithiel de Sola Pool's Profile
    Forecasting the Telephone: A Retrospective Technology Assessment of the Telephone
    The Predictions Database
    The .pdf file

  9. its dieing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Its kind of sad but if buisness dosnt stop trying to take over the internet it will be dead I think. With all the adware ect. on line I know a lot of people that don't even use it anymore.

    1. Re:its dieing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's kind of sad the English language is dying.

    2. Re:its dieing by ianalis · · Score: 1

      With your argument, does that mean that Firefox. is the saviour of the internet? ;)

  10. Ing the Internet by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 1

    I'm much more interested in "imaging" the Net, some current traffic/protocol/fiber maps, than in yet another bunch of pundits' breathless spin on how the Internet "will change everything!". The maps will help change things, and the yakking is more of the same.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  11. Re:I just know I'm going to regret this... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    It refers to this.

  12. Maps? Get you Internet maps by the_seal · · Score: 1

    Well WWW anyway http://www.steveb.atomhosting.info/2004/12/maps.ph p

  13. Historical, not predictive by mtz206 · · Score: 1

    What the lede of this story doesn't tell us is that this "Imagining the Internet" project is merely rehashing predictions of the Internet from the 1990s, not what today's thinkers imagine what the Internet will be in the future.

  14. Most powerful technology of the 20th century by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yet asshats everywhere still can't tell the difference between ITS and IT'S.

  15. Here's my image of the internet! by Nifrith · · Score: 1

    I already got an image of the internet! Here!

  16. Re:boy, this is predictable by mtz206 · · Score: 1

    How did this story get approved?!?

  17. Allready happens by va3atc · · Score: 1

    Allready happens, its called the The Way Back Machine

    --
    Candle burns its brightest in the dark
  18. Who invented imaging? by LokieLizzy · · Score: 1

    You silly! Of course Al Gore imaged the internet! Every inventor always makes a backup.

    --
    My digital rights don't need management.
  19. My panel answer.. by Deal-a-Neil · · Score: 3, Funny

    ..I imagine the Internets of being a place where politicians can invent parts of it, or the entire Intneret's invention alone can be credited to a single person or executive administration. That's my image of how I imagine the Internets.

  20. Neighborhoods and Communities by Al+Mutasim · · Score: 1

    The experts rank change to neighborhoods and communities as almost least likely to change (second only to same-users-manual-for-centuries religion). How many slashdotters are going to agree with that? If you include the change in the definition of a community, that category should high on the list.

  21. Too Late by Wes+Janson · · Score: 2, Informative

    William Gibson already thought of that idea long ago, in his Sprawl trilogy. I believe it was in Mona Lisa Overdrive, that one of the characters spends all of his time locked up in an abandoned building, trying to find the "shape" of the matrix (aka internet).

  22. Sing along with Strong Bad... by Caspian · · Score: 1

    ...while providing a peek into it's history.

    o/~ Oooooooooh... if you want it to be possessive, it's just I T S, but if you want it to be a contraction, it's I T apostrophe S... scallawag! o/~

    <Homestar>Seriously</Homestar>. If SlashDot wants to get taken seriously outside the geek community, shouldn't they employ editors who can, well, edit?

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  23. 'Net: Not most important, but most revolutionary by CGameProgrammer · · Score: 1

    I assume you're trying to be smarmy or something, but while the internet (or the world wide web) isn't the most important creation of the 20th century, obviously, it is arguably the most revolutionary. Transportation? OK, now we can get places quicker, encouraging growth outwards instead of concentrating in cities. Quite revolutionary. Better medicine? OK, people die less, or at least they cease dying of certain causes and instead die of different ones. Important, but not exactly revolutionary. Television? Mostly just for entertainment... even the news is for entertainment. Newspapers remain the best source of news, excluding the internet. Not revolutionary.

    --
    ~CGameProgrammer( );
  24. Ominous by wowbagger · · Score: 1

    The fact that the results are in a PDF file is somewhat ominous, given that this is a group dedicated to the purpose of predicting the future of the Internet.

    So, instead of posting their results in a form that is easily browsed, cross-linked, and generally made a part of the Internet, they use a format which has as its primary claim to fame the ability to be printed out.

    Perhaps I am just grouchy because I am still working on my morning coffee, but it would seem to me the future of the Internet looks like a lot of proprietary file formats locked up behind walls of DRM.

    --
    www.eFax.com are spammers