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The Global Course of the Information Revolution: Technological Trends

Proceedings of an International Conference

Cover Image

By: Robert H. Anderson, Philip S. Anton, Steven C. Bankes, Tora K. Bikson, Jonathan P. Caulkins, Peter Denning, James A. Dewar, Richard Hundley, C. Richard Neu

Reports on a conference sponsored by the National Intelligence Council in May 2000 that concentrated on technical trends in the information revolution, focusing in particular on the resulting new artifacts and services that might become widespread during the next 20 years. Participants saw a convergence of voice and data communications and a quantum jump in bandwidth during the next two decades, along with limited machine translation. A multitude of diverse, powerful, inexpensive sensors and devices capable of limited-distance wireless communications will come onto the market and computing and information systems will become much more ubiquitous, with convergence of wireless telephones, voice and e-mail messaging, and smart appliances. A likely shift in business emphasis from products to services will have an impact in such areas as health care, education, entertainment, and supply-chain management. Participants also discussed individual and societal tensions that could arise from these developments, such as battles between advocates of “open” and “closed” worlds of protocols and standards, and the threats to intellectual property rights and to individual privacy.

Contents

Preface PDF

Figures and Tables PDF

Summary PDF

Acknowledgments PDF

Acronyms PDF

Chapter One:
Introduction PDF

Chapter Two:
Future Visions PDF

Chapter Three:
Observations on Future Trends PDF

Chapter Four:
Technology Trends and Artifacts PDF

Chapter Five:
Services PDF

Chapter Six:
Markets PDF

Chapter Seven:
Beyond Cyberspace PDF

Chapter Eight:
Some Observations on the Group Reports PDF

Chapter Nine:
Concluding Remarks PDF

Chapter Ten:
What Comes Next PDF

Appendix A:
Predicting the Unpredictable: Technology and Society PDF

Appendix B:
Conference Participants PDF

Appendix C:
Conference Agenda PDF

Bibliography PDF

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