THE COSMOPEDIA: TOMORROW’S WORLD OF LEARNING

BETHESDA, MD—The Internet is evolving into a vast encyclopedia connecting up all human knowledge, says Internet trend watcher Parker Rossman. This colossal "Cosmopedia" will bring together different media and local data from everywhere, and it can do so with technology that already exists.

The Cosmopedia will connect every idea to related information and provide access to additional details, says Rossman in the May-June 2004 of THE FUTURIST magazine. "The Cosmopedia will link museums, documents, writings, and research," says Rossman.

Among the Cosmopedia’s expected features:

Knowledge in all forms will be woven together, including animation, motion pictures, music, and sound.

Users can check the exact meaning of every word in a comprehensive dictionary, or have words automatically translated into another language.

Information about every important figure in history will be available and linked.

Genealogical records, personal reminiscences, and local history will accessible to far-off places.

Since all this can be done with today’s technologies, Rossman predicts low user costs and very cost-effective updates. One university professor has proposed using highly qualified retired scholars and scientists to work on regularly updating online encyclopedia articles. Graduate-level papers, scholarly journal articles, and monographs would all be mined as Cosmopedia resources.

Rossman’s article "Cosmopedia: Tomorrow’s World of Learning" is in the May-June 2004 issue of THE FUTURIST, available for $4.95 at bookstores and newsstands and from the World Future Society, 7910 Woodmont Ave., Suite 450, Bethesda, MD 20814.