Over the next 10 years an enormous consumer market will develop
made of people using miniature computers and communications devices
to traffic large volumes of digital information. The digital
marketplace will change the structure and value of information.
Not only the computer and interface design, but the actual information
collected, distributed, and revised must be wholly new and different
from existing marketplace publishing models. Creating content
relevant to a person requires originality. My discussion begins
with a look to the future of the digital world with theoretical
and motivational conclusions drawn from two years of work on
end-of-decade multimedia and communications research. Examining
the human value of maps and guides we will discuss their general
functions in both a futuristic and historic context. I will then
demonstrate a model for interface and information design using
portable computer technology. "Digital Cities" is the
model for a deep interactive guide designed with regard for time,
place, and person. It provides substantial, modifiable content
in the context of a dynamic consumer environment-the restaurants
of San Francisco. We will conclude with a characterization of
new information and media and reexamine base technology, the
value of digital information, and how businesses and society
might evolve.