Jane Says: Internet Changes Everything

May 5th, 2006 by Larry Smith

Wired co-founder and Forca da Nature Jane Metcalfe talks about where the Net’s come from and gone to as the Wall Street Journal checks in with her 13 years after the launch of Wired. Here’s a piece:

Ms. Metcalfe acknowledges she’s no longer in the dot-com limelight, joking that she’s a has-been at the ripe old age of 40-something. Asked if “Wired” accomplished what it set out to do, she says that “we succeeded in showing people how much they have in common and helping people find each other. And instilling the idea that ‘what’s good for the Internet is good for you.’ ”

Those ideas are now pervasive in our culture, Ms. Metcalfe argues.

Wired remains one of my favorite magazines—soon after it launched, I wrote a piece on it for Columbia Journalism Review, and have rarely missed an issue. (The one that just arrived has a great piece on the online video revolution and a solid profile of Al Gore). So it was quite a thrill when way back when I took SMITH’s print prototype in to see Metcalfe and her life and magazine partner Louis Rossetto in their Berkeley offices of their post-Wired project, Força da Imaginaçao (a technology, media, and real estate investment firm). She was a delight and generous with her time and encouraging and imparted wisdom from the magazine battlefield that I used then and continue to use this day. Rossetto sort of wondered in in his signature white tee and messy mop of hair and mumbled something about “be brave….say a lot …. say a little” and sort of wondered out, but he too was enjoyable in his own odd way. I always thought it was quite good of both of them to see me and check out the goods.

 
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