Dan Gillmor posts his final newspaper column from the San Jose Mercury News.
As noted, I'm not smart enough to tell you what's coming in any specific way. But we can look together at the trends and imagine some of what might be, if all goes well.
[...]
The Internet and its progeny are still early in their development, meanwhile. The Net is nowhere near as universal as it will be when we enter an age of what some call ubiquitous computing, but the outlines of its value are obvious today. For example, all media will eventually move around the world in little digital packages, called packets, that are the basic units of tomorrow's communications. The importance of this -- in decimating old businesses while improving most people's lives -- has not been sufficiently appreciated.
The risks are growing, too. When the ability to do great things spreads away from the center, so does the ability to do massively dangerous things. The power of one fanatic or small group to create incalculable damage -- assuming we don't do it simply by mistake -- should worry everyone. But we should not allow that concern to stifle progress.
And, as always, the people and institutions currently holding the clout don't cede it willingly. Governments are clamping down on us in all kinds of ways. Incumbent business powerhouses are trying to hold back the tide as well, not just to keep their positions but also to thwart new innovation that might threaten them.
Dan has been a pioneer in online journalism; his new job extends that work into grassroots journalism. Should be interesting.
[via Dan Gillmor's eJournal]
Posted by johndan at January 2, 2005 01:09 PM | TrackBack