01.12

Digital Darwinism: FutureMedia Report Examines Six Areas of Growth

By IEEE-USA Staff

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too), those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” — Charles Darwin

When Time magazine declared The Protester its person of the year for 2011, it was a validation of sorts for champions of social media. Not that the industry needed the approval of a group of magazine editors, but during a remarkable year of change around the globe, a common thread among the developing storylines was that savvy users were creatively leveraging social networking technologies to effect social and political change. Leafleting and phone chains, it seems, pale in comparison to the reach and influence of one Twitter account with a significant following.

In December, it was reported that Apple and Google were both developing wearable computing devices. As the stuff of science fiction becomes reality, apps developers, engineers, educators, healthcare professionals, social media experts, politicians, corporate marketing strategists, academicians — just about anyone with skin in the game today — are trying to keep pace with a rapidly changing media landscape. As new trends emerge, new technologies become novel and old technologies become obsolete before the e-ink has dried on the news release.

As part of its 25-year strategic plan, the Georgia Institute of Technology created FutureMedia^SM, a global collaborative initiative whose focus is to explore, enable and transform the new ways content is created, distributed and consumed. Areas of focus include research in Enabling Fundamental Technologies (e.g. Cloud Computing, Simulation/Modeling, Systems Integration, Mobility, Advanced Analytics), Application Domains (e.g. Contextual Location, Enhanced TV, Gaming, Augmented Reality), and Business Domains (e.g. Business Models, Commercialization, Policy/Regulation).

The FutureMedia Outlook is Georgia Tech’s annual editorial stance on emerging “megatrends” in technologies and business practices that will have a significant impact on the converging media ecosystem.

“Georgia Tech’s work in Future Media is part of our new Institute for People and Technology,” said Georgia Institute of Technology President G. P. “Bud” Peterson. “By partnering with business and industry on interdisciplinary research, we are able to identify trends and challenges and work to develop transformative solutions.”

According to the FutureMedia Outlook 2012, the coming years will bring increased personalization, innovation and flexibility in the media landscape. The report identifies six megatrends that will have a pervasive impact on how content is created, distributed and consumed:

·         Smart Data: In an increasingly noisy world, we'll have to sift, filter and be smarter about what matters.

·         People Platforms: Beyond “true personalization,” people will not just be consumers. They will be socially driven platforms made of algorithms from personal and associated data that they design and tailor themselves.

·         Content Integrity: Pervasive mobile devices, sprawling networks, clouds and multi-layered platforms have made it more difficult to detect and address our digital vulnerabilities, drawing us to trusted content sources.

·         Nimble Media: Media is evolving from a set of fixed commodities into an energetic, pervasive medium that allows people to navigate across platforms and through different content narratives.

·         6th Sense: Extraordinary innovations in mixed reality will change the way we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and make sense of the world — giving us a new and powerful 6th sense.

·         Collaboration: We will harness the power of many in an increasingly conversational and participatory world.

All good news for employees of the future who will thrive in an array of emerging opportunities spanning anything from data curation and analysis training, to "digital reputation" cleansing and management services.  Individuals who are highly skilled in customer analytics, brand protection, content risk management, and security compliance will be in demand across industries.

The Outlook 2012 also includes demonstrative clips and video interviews with leading Georgia Tech researchers offering real-world examples of how the Institute is proactively innovating in these areas.

“Breakthrough research, innovation and collaboration with our partners have given us a rich and pragmatic basis from which to formulate this annual FutureMedia Outlook,” said Renu Kulkarni, founder and executive director of FutureMedia.

IEEE-USA has collaborated with Georgia Tech on the FutureMedia Fest for the past two years, and during the summer of 2011, co-hosted a six-part series of roundtables exploring the six megatrends highlighted in the 2010 FutureMedia Outlook.

Follow @Renuvate on Twitter to stay on top of FutureMedia developments.

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