Is 'Googlezon' in our future?

The Christian Science Monitor ^ | Dec. 19, 2005 | Gregoory M. Lamb

[summer]

WOODWARDS-TO-BE? Kirk Johnson of The Heritage Foundation taught bloggers techniques used by mainstream journalists at a conference in Nashville, Tenn. MARK HUMPHREY/AP

Like Charles Dickens's Ghost of Christmas future, two young journalists have been showing the news media a disturbing picture of a time that might be - a near future in which the press, as we know it, has become irrelevant.

While some say their dark prediction is highly improbable, others say that vision has already arrived.

An eight-minute video by Matt Thompson and Robin Sloan called "EPIC 2014" - a faux documentary that purports to look back from 2014 to tell how the mainstream media died - made waves at newspaper seminars and in journalism classrooms when it was released in early 2004. But when the pair released the video on the Internet - with no explanation as to who had created it or why - it made a worldwide impression.

..."Judging by the number of times it was sent to me, there were a lot of eyeballs on that thing," says Paul Saffo, a director at the Institute for the Future, a think tank in Palo Alto, Calif.

"We were really surprised by the intense reaction it received outside the journalism community," says Thompson, who's now deputy editor of interactive media at the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper. While journalists often take the video as a dark jeremiad, nonjournalists often embrace it as a positive view of the media future, he says....

...When he watches EPIC 2014, he says, "I always get at least as excited as I am scared of the possibilities."

• EPIC 2014, and an updated EPIC 2015 are online in several places, including: www.robinsloan.com/epic

[summer]

I haven't had a chance to watch this video yet, but I am curious to know what others think about it.

[summer]

Well, the link worked just a minute ago! I don't know why it doesn't come up now...

[summer]

OK, this link worked to the video.

[NonValueAdded]

bump for later

[atomicpossum]

a disturbing picture of a time that might be - a near future in which the press, as we know it, has become irrelevant.

Do they mean last September?

[mark_interrupted]

Wow. Take the time. It'll make you think.

[MaryFromMichigan]

Very interesting.
Bttt.

[summer]

Thanks for your comments. I will check it out when I have more time, later today.

[pabianice]

Two problems with this video:

1. Software evolves faster than this. Timescale should be 2009, not 2014.

2. NYT and the rest of the Dinosaur Press will be extinct before 2014.

[summer]

Another interesting about Google HERE from today's USA Today, commenting on how Google seems to be replacing our collective memories.

[summer]

I meant to type: ineresting article

[summer]

I meant to type: interesting article

[summer]

Well, you know what I mean. And, thanks for your comments. I think you're right.

[wouldntbprudent]

bump for later

[forsnax5]

It seems to be done in the style that introduced the "Terminator 2" movie. Apocalyptic and dark in tone and feel.

But rather than the destruction of man, it predicts the extinction of the New York Times -- an eventuality that's been obvious for some time.

And I agree with the earlier poster that the 2014 timescale is a bit far out.

[Dr. Zzyzx]

Bump for later

[sionnsar]

near future in which the press, as we know it, has become irrelevant.

The press, as we know it, has been irrelevant for many years now. The public's finally catching on to the liberal liars.

[forsnax5]

I just watched the EPIC 2015 update, and it ends with a more positive tone. Where the 2014 version sounded like the advent of "Skynet," the 2015 version ends with blue skies and green lights.

The 2015 version is here:

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/epic