The Internet has already caused massive shifts in consumer areas; how we buy music, consume news, or buy a book, for instance. But beyond simple consumerism, it also represents the best chance to overcome problems long blocked by institutional inefficiencies and shortcomings. Not enough syllables for you? CIO Update has some more.
Continuing their ambitious survey work peering into the future of the Internet, researchers from the Pew Internet Project and Elon University canvassed nearly 900 digital soothsayers, who overwhelmingly expressed the hopeful belief that in 10 years new forms of online collaboration will substantially reduce inefficiencies in government, business, and other organizations.
Seventy-two percent (72%) of respondents in The Impact of the Internet on Institutions in the Future survey agreed with the assertion that the uptake of new, Internet-enabled communications would make institutions far more responsive to their customers and constituents.
“Most people who took the survey believe the Internet will force change in institutions, no matter how resistant they are,” Janna Anderson, co-author of the study and director of Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center, said in a statement.
But just over a quarter of the Internet experts polled said 2020 was too optimistic; that a decade from now most institutions will remain tied to “20th century models for conduct and relationships with consumers and citizens online and offline.”