The Future of Information Technology

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews some of the issues in this new communications era and, in particular, reviews the work at Dartmouth College to develop the “library of the future.” The chapter discusses new information technologies that have remarkable potential and suggests that their development and deployment must proceed hand in hand with new applications and services that will pay for the technology and drive the demand for it. Our present vantage point on future services is based on our current and past experiences, and is limited by the boundaries created by those past technologies. There are numerous past examples in which predictions of future directions based on past extrapolations have led to blind alleys and wasted resources. The development of appropriate novel services and applications will require creativity and capital commensurate with the resources devoted to building new physical infrastructure.