Are You Surprised ?

Via today's Toronto Globe and Mail ...

Virtual world ‘more than a geeky escape'
SIMON AVERY

Should world leaders all have blogs? Should big companies shift more of their television advertising budgets to the Web? Is there really any value in the virtual communities now consuming huge chunks of student time?

Just 18 months ago, these questions might have been ridiculed. Today, they're not only legitimate, but the answer to each is “yes,” according to Jeffrey Cole, director of a long-term, international study of the impact of computers and the Internet on society.

The technology has empowered people and affected business, politics and social behaviour more than most ever imagined, and there has been an increasing sophistication of users and the Internet itself within the past 18 to 24 months, he said.

“There's a debate to whether there has ever been this much change, this fast, and a lot of people think yes, during the industrial revolution.

‘But it really is remarkable that it has been concentrated within just 10 years, from 1997 through to 2007,” said Mr. Cole, who is director of the Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future at the University of Southern California.

Tags: hierarchy, wirearchy, major change

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