Milverton Wallace takes the long view. Founder of the annual NetMedia conference, Europe’s most prestigious gathering for Internet-savvy journalists and media managers, Wallace sees digital communications as the “Agora of the 21st Century.”

“Like it or not,” Milverton writes on the FreeSideEurope site, “this is the new cultural landscape for learning, entertainment, and communicating with each other. And it is being constructed without consultation with, or permission from, regulatory authorities or self-appointed gatekeepers.” Milverton traces the history of literacy, pointing out that the Greek democracies of the 5th century BCE were made up of largely illiterate individuals. By the Industrial Age, education had become a “job requirement.” Today, he argues, a knowledge of “hypermedia’ is an imperative. He makes a compelling argument.