I wanted to share with you the takeaways from the event, and how they will shape the near future of computing technology as well as our lives. As much as ideas by themselves could solve the problems of today's world, the reality is that much of it is driven by the markets and it is important to understand where you as the consumer, the citizen, and obviously the user fit into the trends.
First, I would like to make one point that I derived from my observations at SXSW: You do not have to buy into any given trend in technology if the cost to you outweighs the value it provides you. I am an avid believer that technology is our friend, but in so doing it must make life easier (isn't that what it's for, or am I wrong?). I noticed so many people constantly tweeting, texting, and checking-in (on Gowalla or Foursquare) on their mobile devices that it caused me to take a step back and wonder what it was all for. Does that constant need to be tweeting your thoughts and feelings truly make a good use of the time, focus, and energy you spent on it? More importantly, is the value you receive from that service worth that time? The power you have as a consumer is the ability to boycott the product, and the businesses know this. They are increasingly trying to provide sufficient value to the consumer to get you to adopt a given technology, and as the consumer/user you must know when to draw the line.
OK. With that said, let's take a look at a few things on the horizon:
- Current Trends in Technology. The future of the technology market is very,very bright. There is a prevailing trend of convergence of a variety of differing technologies as we find more and more ways to use the power of new information and computing to make a positive difference in things from biotechnology all the way up to energy management. This will lead to smaller, faster, and more embedded technology over time that will, in it's end form, become a part of the very thing it enhances (think a cell phone as part of your ear). In the short term however, that means that one device will perform nearly all of the functions that you need on a daily basis and we are very close to this. Also, location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla are touching the tip of the iceberg in using location data for social purposes, but soon this data will have massive implications for the way that we drive, work, and make decisions on a daily basis. Continued use of these services will only improve them in the future as more and more data is collected, more recommendations can be made, and the end user experience becomes more seamless.
- The Workplace. It's no secret the workplace is evolving. As entrepreneurship takes center stage and innovation and creativity become intensely valuable in the new market, the employee must adapt to the changing trends in order to stay relevant. Enterprise applications like those offered by Google are making work collaboration and communication much easier, however face-to-face interactions and competent communication skills are and always will be essential to business. With that said, innovative employers are allowing more and more of their workers to "work comfortably," meaning that they not only choose where they work (whether it be their home or an office located closer to their home), but what tools and devices they use as well (BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device). All of this is allowed through the use of cloud computing, which stores all of the information in one place that can be accessed from any device, anywhere.
- Education. With tuition rates at colleges and universities on the rise, drop-out rates on the rise, and the information revolution brought about by this age of computing, some are beginning to think very differently about how we should prepare our children, and adults as well, for the future to come. Dr. Dennis Littky, founder of Big Picture Learning and College Unbound, believes that a mentor-like program, somewhat akin to an apprenticeship, would be helpful in preparing relatively underprivileged kids for an entrepreneurial role in the future. His program starts kids on a path for their passion at a young age (9th grade, with the aid of parents, willing or unwilling) so that they can work with something that they love. There are a few downsides to this approach, as Jon Kolko, Founder of the Austin Center for Design, pointed out in their panel presentation at SXSW on March15th. The most prominent of which is that there is still value to the traditional form of education in that it provides students with not only depth of knowledge but breadth as well. Perhaps inducing them to learn things that they would not on their own that will be crucial to their development as an employee, business owner, and a citizen. Thinking on the subject myself, I realized that this structure is already somewhat in place now: We learn a large breadth of knowledge from a very young age to prepare us to be well-rounded students and citizens. Then as we grow older, we become more specialized through higher education and delve even deeper into a given subject matter. The problem is that some students aren't learning the skills they need to be successful in the workplace at school, but instead through experience in the workplace through internships or employment. This is great for current students in higher education, as often times a degree is required to be considered for those jobs, but this only perpetuates the status quo and does not address the issue of students that do not learn from this traditional model. Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions. Perhaps we should be asking why the kids are dropping out, not learning, and thus not fitting the bill for the new age. Yes, the current model is old, and perhaps broken. Yes, change is sometimes necessary. But up to this point in time, there has been nothing worthy of uprooting the traditional model on a massive scale based on preoccupation of ground. In an ideal situation, perhaps these two differing approaches could work side-by-side. Whatever the case, what is measured is achieved, the people measuring the value of education are the employers, and that should be taken into great consideration when preparing education for the future of humanity.
I hope there is some information that you can find relevant and useful in determining your next steps in your life and your career. Like I mentioned in my last post, changes are inevitable and we must learn to adapt in order to thrive in this new environment. SXSW Interactive is all about adapting to and creating that future for us, and ensuring that it is a future that we all want to live in. I resonate with that, and I hope you do too.
