Looking Back - Looking Forward - The Decades...

Well, here we are the end of one decade and the start of a new decade... Time to look back at where we were and look forward to where we are going.

• In 2000 I was working as a facilitator at ITI - the Information Technology Institute, one of two private IT companies that were to go bust early in the decade while I was working for them...
• In 2010 I'm now in my eighth year at NSCC and have found the best place to work for me. NSCC was just named one of the 50 best places to work in Canada - the only educational institution on the list...
• In 2000 I loved my Handspring Visor gray-scale PDA, but still depended on my paper DayTimer to keep me organized...
• In 2010 I use Outlook, my iPhone, Google Calendar, and text messages automatically sent to my cell phone to stay on track. Oh yeah and my DayTimer (some things never change...)...
• In 2000 I was using "high speed" wired Internet access on desktop computers to look at mostly static information push sites - Altavista was my favourite search engine...
• In 2010 I'm using much faster high speed, mostly wireless Internet access on my laptop, cell phone, iPhone, and iTouch using all sorts of Web 2.0 pull technologies delivering to me automatically the information I'm interested in (RSS, blogs, wikis....) and Google is my favourite search engine and so, so, so much more...
• In 2000 Web sites were predominantly static, presenting information the way the developer put it on the site - tables were cool and there wasn't a lot of downloading of information...
• In 2010 web sites are dynamic, customizable and present a user-centric experience allowing users to create an online experience that works for them. Downloading information is the norm...
• In 2000 buying something online was not a regular occurrence for a lot of folks...
• In 2010 many companies make more money from online transactions than they do from "brick" stores and in fact many are solely online - who hasn't heard of Amazon?...
  
• In 2000 I watched my favourite TV shows when they were scheduled, or I recorded them on my VCR...
• In 2010 I can choose to watch my favourite TV shows in high-definition, when they are scheduled or recorded on my DVR, time shifted, or not even on TV at all - watch them online or download them and watch at my leisure - even but them from the Apple Store to watch on an Apple TV or download them and show them on a Western Digital TV Live...
• In 2000 my main sources of information were still the "old media" tools - newspapers, magazines, radio, TV - remember book? :-)...
• In 2010 my primary source of information is the Internet and I'm giving my library away...
  

So over the last ten years things have gotten faster, user-centric and dynamic - I've moved from bulky and comparatively slow desktop computer systems to laptops and handheld devices - I can do things with my iPhone that I could not do with a year 2000 desktop computer. The sea of information available on line has now become a tsunami of information and the decisions we make now are to be skimmers or divers, but probably not both - as an educator I notice students who know a little about a lot of things, but probably have less depth of knowledge that they did 10 years ago. That may not be a bad thing, providing we teach them the information literacy skills they need to find that depth of information when they need it...

So where will be be in 2020? Here are some of my predictions for the next decade:

• The desktop computer as we currently know it will be gone - replaced by a multitude of highly customizable devices in a variety of sizes from pocket-sized handhelds, to information "walls" that will combine all forms of media - wires will be a thing of the past too - everything delivered wirelessly at speeds way beyond where we are today with Wireless-n or even Wimax...
• Many of the current media and information sources will be gone or significantly altered to allow for user customization - it will all be about the user and what they want
• Search technology will be real-time - this will have huge implications for education and the way we educate...
• Most students will learn through online or blended deliveries using personal learning environments, PLEs, that work for them - many of the best educational institutions will have an online presence only
• Technology will be less obvious and more immersive - whether that's holography, 3D (although I can't see running around with goggles all day), or a technology not yet considered, information will be all around us - simply just "there"
• The sheer volume of information will reuire search algorithms and technologies that have yet to be created, creating significant paradigm changes in how information is delivered, searched and made sense of - information literacy will be the single most important set of skills a person can have...
• The multitude of Web 2.0 tools that we are using today - RSS, blogs, wikis, Twitter, social media, Flickr and on and on and on will be consolidated into one-stop tools taht will do it all based on what you want it to do
• Operating systems - Windows, OSX, and all the flavours of Unix/Linux will be consigned to history, replaced by instant on access to the cloud - guess that would be Web 3.0 or even Web 4.0...
• Data storage will not be on the hard drives we use today - that technology will get exhausted sometime in the next decade - devices will be fast with some local storage, but most data will be in the cloud where it can be collaboratively accessed and used...
  

I have no idea if any of these things will come true - just my random musings. Will be interesting to see where we go over the next ten years - all I know is that it'll be an adventure. Hmmm...


(Photo - Janus Coin by Marco Prins)