TREND

REPORT 03/16/10

BY FABIOLA EIN

HO

RNHOW WE ARE HEADING TOWARDS PURPOSELESS COMMUNICATION(BOO TO SOCIAL MEDIA)

TREND

REPORT 03/16/10

BY FABIOLA EIN

HO

RN

WHY IS KNITTING SO POPULAR?

“For some years now, one staple of futurological speculation has been the quest for authenticity in what seems like an anonymous and artificial world. Witness, for example, the young fashionistas who self-consciously reclaim dreary leisure activities - everything from bingo to choir practice, from quiz nights to knitting - that would have bored even their parents rigid”¹.

www.netgranny.ch

¹http://trendwatching.com/about/inmedia/articles/2007_the_shape_of_things_to_come.html

TREND

REPORT 03/16/10

BY FABIOLA EIN

HO

RN

THE ROOTS

ABUNDANCE

“In an age of abundance, with a reduced need for non-stop securing of the basics, and physical goods so plentiful (and/or ecologically harmful) that the status derived from them is sometimes close to nil, only consumption of the experience* and thus the now, the thrill, remains. In fact, many ‘fixed’ items run the risk of becoming synonymous with boredom, hassle (Maintenance! Theft! Going out of style! Repairs!), eco-unfriendliness, and sinking a large part of one’s budget into one object (which impedes spending on multiple experiences).* Trends are never ‘or’, they're always ‘and’. There is, of course, always a need for roots, for non-transient relationships, for shelter. People, consumers, still need a base, and still need to be sure the basics are at least available at all times . Owning does imply a certain level of security, something that others can’t just take away from you”².

²http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/nowism/

TREND

REPORT 03/16/10

BY FABIOLA EIN

HO

RN

THE ROOTS

“IS GOOGLE MAKING US STUPID?”

“It is clear that users are not reading online in the traditional sense; indeed there are signs that new forms of “reading” are emerging as users “power browse” horizontally through titles, contents pages and abstracts going for quick wins. It almost seems that they go online to avoid reading in the traditional sense”³.

³http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/is-google-making-us-stupid/6868/

TREND

REPORT 03/16/10

BY FABIOLA EIN

HO

RN

THE ROOTS

“CHILDREN OF THE SCREEN ARE LOSING THEIR IDENTITY”

“This lack of reality in a child's life has a major effect on the formation of identity. There is a concern that intellectual activities are becoming obsolete in favor of "a quick laugh, a rush of adrenaline, and the immediacy of the next sensory kick." Greenfield speculates that the simplistic sensory sensations of the screen experience may be diminishing society's sense of reasoning⁴”.

⁴http://behavioural-psychology.suite101.com/article.cfm/children_of_the_screen_are_losing_their_identity

TREND

REPORT 03/16/10

BY FABIOLA EIN

HO

RN

THE PROOF POINTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKING

FROM PHONE CALLS TO TEXTING -A few years ago, we all went from talking to texting.

ARTICLES ARE GETTING MORE COMPRESSED-News articles are getting shorter and shorter.

ADVERTISING IS MORE DIRECT-Since the scene is so cluttered, the only way to grab your attention is to communicate a strong message in no more than two seconds.

MULTIPLE FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS-Social media is requiring us to create multiple online profiles for different purposes.

FACTS ARE LOOSING IMPORTANCE-Since everybody has access to the internet and all this information.

TREND

REPORT 03/16/10

BY FABIOLA EIN

HO

RN

THE PROOF POINTS IN SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKING

WE ARE SERVING TECHNOLOGY INSTEAD OF THECHNOLOGY SERVING US.

COMMUNICATION HAS BEEN STRIPPED DOWN TO ITS BARE MINIMUM.

IT’S ALL ABOUT QUICK FACT-BASED MESSAGING.

TREND

REPORT 03/16/10

BY FABIOLA EIN

HO

RN

SHIFT IN FOCUS

FACTS -> EMOTION

TREND

REPORT 03/16/10

BY FABIOLA EIN

HO

RN

PURPOSELESS COMMUNICATION

“We know that messaging technologies(IM, SMS) have been used extensively forpurposeless communication, just for the sense of beingin touch with other people. For example, the exchangeof ‘goodnight’ text messages creates connectedness [21].Similarly, Nardi and Whittaker [13] report that people intheir study of IM use in the workplace found value insimply knowing who else was ‘around’ as they checkedtheir buddy list, without necessarily wanting to interactwith buddies. These examples show that a sense ofpresence can be communicated in symbolic ways, via thedisplay of meaningful state information (e.g. availability,activity, location, identity etc)”⁵.

⁵http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1176934.1176940

TREND

REPORT 03/16/10

BY FABIOLA EIN

HO

RN

PURPOSELESS COMMUNICATION

INSTEAD OF FOCUSING SO MUCH ON THE WRITTEN AND SPOKEN CONTENT, WHICH FEELS “ARTIFICIAL” ANYWAY, WE WILL START SEEKING THAT PROFOUND EXPERIENCE IN COMMUNICATION, WHERE WHAT IS FOCUSED ON IS THE OBSERVATION OF ORDINARY TASKS.

IN OTHER WORDS: WE LONG FOR THE AUTHENTIC BASIC COMMUNICATION.

TREND

REPORT 03/16/10

BY FABIOLA EIN

HO

RN

PURPOSELESS COMMUNICATION

THE FUTURE MIGHT HOLD:

-Landscape screens in our living room where we would tune in to our friends and see what they are doing. The difference would be that the communication would be “passive” instead of “active”.

-An app where you would be able to “tune in to peoples’ environments” and listen to their everyday lives like you would listen to a radio station.

TREND

REPORT 03/16/10

BY FABIOLA EIN

HO

RN

AND THAT’S WHY KNITTING IS SO POPULAR.

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/17/future-of-publishing.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+boingboing%2FiBag+%28Boing+Boing%29