Predicting the Future of New Media & Other Innovations

Addressing his classmates at their 25th college reunion, my father
predicted that by the time they met for their 50th, “most of what we
read will be transmitted into our homes or offices
electronically.” This was a strange thing to say in 1981, when the
revolution in personal computers had scarcely begun and no one had
heard the words “World Wide Web.” Unlike almost everyone else in the
media industry back then, my father anticipated the coming era of
electronic news, and he was genuinely excited about it. He believed
newspapers could save themselves from extinction–but only if they
adapted early and intelligently to new technology.

- Newsweek April 6, 2009

That quote is from Louisville writer and historian Emily Bingham. She’s talking about how her later father Barry Bingham Jr., a third generation newspaper publisher predicted the future of “new media” and tried to steer the family paper, our Courier-Journal, in a direction that would embrace it.

It’s bittersweet to see that such innovative thinking was coming out of Louisville in 1981 but to know that we didn’t listen. I think and hope that we’re better now. When we embrace things like The Green Building and events like IdeaFestival we’re embracing innovative thinking and ideas. We’re building a culture that rewards big thinkers which rewards all of us.