As you might have noticed, I’m blogging a lot less these days. There are a bunch of reasons for that, some of which I’ve talked about a lot and some of which I haven’t as much.
One of the things I haven’t talked about as much is that a lot of the edgier, interesting stuff that I used to blog about isn’t so edgy anymore. In fact, most of it is pretty mainstream. It’s still interesting, but a lot of the tools and technologies are reaching a phase of maturation. For example, blogs are being proclaimed as dead, or at least a transition from the voice of an individual to a team. Wikipedia is getting better. People are claiming that Twitter has jumped the shark. And lately there are a whole lot less “change the world” communication and information services on the web. Most of the cool work in this area is adapting existing tools and tweaks to the capabilities and usability they provide. I enjoy this, but not quite as much as the “what ifs” and big picture vision.
Sure there’s still world-shifting innovation. Very cool things are happening with iPhone apps, but they have the potential to impact far fewer people. There are all kinds of cool gadgets coming down the pipes. Just not much good, free for everybody, this-could-change-things-forever communication and information websites.
So, I have had a lot less to talk about.
I’m about to get involved with a committee at work that is dealing with a number of very exciting issues including the future of libraries, information, and educational technologies: all issues very near and dear to my heart. And I suspect I’ll be spending a lot of time thinking through these issues as a result. As part of that I want to shift what I’m talking about here. As I read on various “future of” issues, I’ll talk about what I’m finding here. If I find cool things I’ll let you know.
I’ll still talk about educational technology, demographics, and the same kinds of things I’ve been blogging about, just through the futurism lens. I’m not sure what the format will look like yet, but look for something tomorrow. I’m guessing with such a broad topic, it will make for lots of blogging!
I have a BUNCH of stuff in my instapaper list and in zotero. If there’s something on the “future of” that you’re particularly interested in, please leave it in the comments!
