What great media institutions will there be in our Techno-Future?
A BBC News item announced February 17th that the UK Reader’s Digest has gone into administration. Although this has been blamed on “how to pay down a £125m deficit in its UK pension fund” it seems that’s not the only issue hit by changing times.
“Reader’s Digest has failed to shake off its image as a publication favoured by older people and in dentists’ and doctors’ waiting rooms, continues the BBC news item. “Despite attempts to modernise, including launching an online edition, its readership in the UK has fallen dramatically from about two million in the 1990s.”
So … as yet another well-loved institution bites the dust, old goats like me tut-tut and gaze gloomily at the good old days before technology came along and ripped the jugular vein out of the printed word.
That’s all fine and dandy, but although I’m old I’m not so old that I want to stick my head up my personal sunshine-free zone and wail on about how things used to be.
No, instead I want to speculate about what great institutions, like the Reader’s Digest, we have to look forward to in ourglobal techno society – and why.
Here are a few suggestions of mine:
Google. The pillar of all wisdom which will make having all 1XX volumes of Encyclopaedia Britannica as redundant as using the manual for a 1903 two-seat 5 horsepower Vauxhall to fix something on a current Insignia. Shame about the inaccuracies here and there due to everyone being able to publish whatever they like about whatever they like, but hey-ho! It’s free information, no matter how ridiculous.
Microsoft. Uncle Billy Gates’ little brainchild that grew into what he hoped would be an all devouring monster which could annihilate its competition and get us all gazing at beautiful vistas out of our windows. Tried to buy Yahoo in 2008 but failed so is said allegedly to be considering buying the Daily Mail as an alternative source of popular fiction to inspire upcoming IT projects.
Wikipedia. Another delightful online resource where information is freely given out on the basis that if you’re looking for 100 percent accuracy, you can go **** yourself. In fact you can add to it or correct it if you want to. Yee hah – make up drive-thru history as you go!
Apple. Regarded by some as a bit quirky and artsy-fartsy, but stealthily sneaking up on the good old techno-bores with products wrapped up in nice, curvy, girly surrounds and using features that do everything from making your phone calls to helping you work through your live makeover with Gok Wan. Definitely a force to be reckoned with in, er, the next century or so?
Kindle, Apple Ipad, etc. The techno revolution that will knock out bricks-and-mortar bookstores and public libraries in one fell swoop, making thousands of people redundant and saving many more thousands of trees! RIP the print book. Shame about the harshness of the screens and the devices’ grumpy inability to work superbly on beaches or in dimly lit bathrooms.
Now, over to you.
What techno-institutions do you think we and our children will be enjoying in the next few decades?
About SuzanStMaurBusiness, marketing and nonfiction writer, 20+ times published author, Owner and Coach at “HowToWriteBetter.net”
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26 Responses to What great media institutions will there be in our Techno-Future?
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Great blog, however the great institutions of the future are probably none of the above as they are here now. The future will look very different to what we are currently used to but what it will be like is still to be determined as we start this new century. My guess is these new institutions, and that is probably the wrong word, will come from our children as they try to make sense of where we have brought them to not only in terms of technology, but the world we live in.
Here’s to the future, I’m looking forward to it
Darren
Great blog, however the great institutions of the future are probably none of the above as they are here now. The future will look very different to what we are currently used to but what it will be like is still to be determined as we start this new century. My guess is these new institutions, and that is probably the wrong word, will come from our children as they try to make sense of where we have brought them to not only in terms of technology, but the world we live in.
Here’s to the future, I’m looking forward to it
Darren
Good read as usual Suze
I notice you have left out some of our wonderful banking institutions
with the way everything is moving online, they surely should be included – not!
I am not sure techo based businesses are the future, at least not just yet. Where will we be when the oil runs out?
I left out the banking institions for two reasons:
1. I was actually thinking in terms of media institutions rather than general business
2. We probably won’t have any banks left by then; instead we will have an all new type of investment involving sheets of paper representing money which we fold, put into small bags, and stuff under our high-tech, climate-controlled mattresses.
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
rofl…
…and I meant instiTUtions, even…(can’t spell, so should be locked up in one…)
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
Good read as usual Suze
I notice you have left out some of our wonderful banking institutions
with the way everything is moving online, they surely should be included – not!
I am not sure techo based businesses are the future, at least not just yet. Where will we be when the oil runs out?
I left out the banking institions for two reasons:
1. I was actually thinking in terms of media institutions rather than general business
2. We probably won’t have any banks left by then; instead we will have an all new type of investment involving sheets of paper representing money which we fold, put into small bags, and stuff under our high-tech, climate-controlled mattresses.
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
rofl…
…and I meant instiTUtions, even…(can’t spell, so should be locked up in one…)
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
LOL at the idea that eReaders and the like are little use in a dimly lit bathroom … as if current paper books are any better in that setting!
I agree with Darren that the technology of the future changes so fast it is actually impossible for us to envisage it at the present time. I mean, whoever thought of apps for the iPhone until the iPhone existed? And suddenly apps are everywhere.
Even Facebook was only created in 2004 or 2005. How did we live our lives before then??
LOL at the idea that eReaders and the like are little use in a dimly lit bathroom … as if current paper books are any better in that setting!
I agree with Darren that the technology of the future changes so fast it is actually impossible for us to envisage it at the present time. I mean, whoever thought of apps for the iPhone until the iPhone existed? And suddenly apps are everywhere.
Even Facebook was only created in 2004 or 2005. How did we live our lives before then??
A friend has just pointed me to this: http://www.gizmodo.fr/2010/01/31/voici-lordinateur-portable-du-futur-ne-ratez-pas-cette-video.html
Although it’s on a French page, it’s in English and it is FASCINATING. How many people can imagine this kind of development for computing? Fancy being able to use a piece of paper, a wall or even your hand instead of a computer?
That video is gob-smacking – thanks for flagging it up, Morag.
What’s really pleasing about this concept is the way in which its inventor seems dedicated to bringing ICT into much closer contact with the real physical world.
Bravo, good-looking young genius!
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
I agree. Isn’t it just stunning? It is the most mind-blowing concept I’ve ever seen, and I’m so glad it is being steered by someone who is keen to see it loose in the open source community. I love him already!
A friend has just pointed me to this: http://www.gizmodo.fr/2010/01/31/voici-lordinateur-portable-du-futur-ne-ratez-pas-cette-video.html
Although it’s on a French page, it’s in English and it is FASCINATING. How many people can imagine this kind of development for computing? Fancy being able to use a piece of paper, a wall or even your hand instead of a computer?
That video is gob-smacking – thanks for flagging it up, Morag.
What’s really pleasing about this concept is the way in which its inventor seems dedicated to bringing ICT into much closer contact with the real physical world.
Bravo, good-looking young genius!
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
I agree. Isn’t it just stunning? It is the most mind-blowing concept I’ve ever seen, and I’m so glad it is being steered by someone who is keen to see it loose in the open source community. I love him already!
What an interesting question – given it’s so hard to remember what life was like before Google and Wikipedia and Facebook – when you would be watching an old film and thinking – who is that actor and what else they were in? and not just having a quick google to find out…
I wonder if Susan Greenfield is right and if our brains will end up being changed by all this?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/24/social-networking-site-changing-childrens-brains
Or maybe it will all change for the better – as we learn to better assess evidence for ourselves and not just rely on key sources?
I can’t say I will miss Reader’s Digest though…
My Dad often phones me to ask me to look up information for him and is still blown away when I do it and give him the answer while he is still on the phone.
The worrying thing, though, is that the internet is still full of nonsense, and you do have to compare sources more critically, to try and get to the truth. But at least you can. You can read the Daily Mail take on a story and then look at the Guardian – if you recognise them as the same piece of news, you’re doing well!
I think children’s teaching now ought to be much more geared around how to find and assess information than how to find it in the first place.
What an interesting question – given it’s so hard to remember what life was like before Google and Wikipedia and Facebook – when you would be watching an old film and thinking – who is that actor and what else they were in? and not just having a quick google to find out…
I wonder if Susan Greenfield is right and if our brains will end up being changed by all this?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/24/social-networking-site-changing-childrens-brains
Or maybe it will all change for the better – as we learn to better assess evidence for ourselves and not just rely on key sources?
I can’t say I will miss Reader’s Digest though…
My Dad often phones me to ask me to look up information for him and is still blown away when I do it and give him the answer while he is still on the phone.
The worrying thing, though, is that the internet is still full of nonsense, and you do have to compare sources more critically, to try and get to the truth. But at least you can. You can read the Daily Mail take on a story and then look at the Guardian – if you recognise them as the same piece of news, you’re doing well!
I think children’s teaching now ought to be much more geared around how to find and assess information than how to find it in the first place.
An interesting question indeed and scary one too when you consider what is possible with all the technology.
I think what would be useful for future parents is something that got the children for a school morning and made them go to school without too much fuss or arguing…
Twitter: ethnicsupplies
I’d vote for that too Ida … especially if it were loud enough to wake up teenagers!
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites
An interesting question indeed and scary one too when you consider what is possible with all the technology.
I think what would be useful for future parents is something that got the children for a school morning and made them go to school without too much fuss or arguing…
Twitter: ethnicsupplies
I’d vote for that too Ida … especially if it were loud enough to wake up teenagers!
Twitter: SuzeStMWrites