If you’re doing any level of technology searching or browsing, you will see more and more references to Web 2.0. This is all part of the move we’ve discussed before towards collaborative models and letting consumers gain more control of the products they use. Think experience economy. Future Wire has a compilation piece that does a pretty good job of describing Web 2.0. Click, read, and learn.
Implications for Extension: Plenty! How do we develop and fashion our web content for interaction and next level uses? From an organizational development standpoint, how do we push into more social networking and collaboration tools.
New Scientist has a brief snapshot of a proposed Kodak camera that has a wifi antenna built right into the camera. More steps toward a connected world.
Wired News has an interesting article about how today’s science fiction issues may become tomorrow’s legal issues. The major focus is on privacy, but the whole article is a good though exercise in starting to think through social and legal ramifications of the technologies that we are developing. It is good to remember that we create the technologies, then other humans develop ways to use the technologies that we never considered. How do you protect individuals but still allow the greater human society to flourish from our creative synergies?
Genius Now points us to this post at Business Week’s Blogspotting where they are asking for five assumptions about the future. Interesting and fun. Be sure to scan through the comments. I particularily think "Brian’s" comments are pretty good. Here is the permalink from Genius Now.
Futurewire has recently launched a wiki that acts "as a repository for future forecasts, thoughts and ideas. Your active participation in creating and maintaining this wiki is highly encouraged." What a neat concept! Drop by and check it out. Then add some thoughts to it. Here is the permalink on Futurewire.
Implications for Extension Professionals: A neat site to use and add to. Also a good example of wiki usage.
A trend that keeps appearing is how consumers are moving from users of information and services to becoming manipulators and creators of information and services. This interesting article (found via Lifehacker) discusses the possibilities of using iPods or other music sources instead of DJ’s to supply wedding music. Interesting concept. It makes me think about how we use technology and how it shakes up all kinds of professions. Are there other ways people can get or use the information that Extension provides?
Transhumanists and other groups have long talked about a wide open future where technology reaches a growth spike that results in technological change that is not comprehensible, one that will lead to super human intelligence - a singularity. Once considered a science fiction concept, it now tends to receive mainstream coverage. Back in June I briefly noted some recent books that were getting popular attention. There is a lot of attention focused on Ray Kurzweil’s new book The Singluarity is Near. The book is due out tomorrow, and I plan to swing by one of the Borders or Barnes and Nobles in Columbus (although Amazon has it discounted by 41%). Here is a good review of the book, and the book’s website. An additional commentary from Marginal Revolution can be found here. Kurzweil also keynoted the just finished Accelerating Change conference.
Implications for Extension Professionals: Good information about potential futures and the effects of exponential growth of information and discovery.
Yikes! Keeping up with the various management blog posts requires some major time management! Here is a good post from Management Craft with a potpourri of links to various posts/articles on change, learning, and to-do lists among others. Good stuff - good information for Extension Professionals.
A key trend in Extension right now is demonstrating the value and impacts in Extension Programming. The Northeast Regional Development Center and a host of other organizations are sponsoring a program on public value. It looks good. More information can be found here.
Extension Professionals doing programming and/or research in water systems will be interested in the National USDA CSREES Water Conference in San Antonio, Texas on February 5-9 2006. For more information, visit the conference homepage or check out the abstract/submission form. Information about presentations can be found by scrolling down the conference’s main page. The deadline for oral presentation proposals is October 5. Poster proposals are still accepted after Oct. 5.
For those looking to double dip on conferences, please note that this is close to the February 13-16 National Association of Community Development Extension Professional’s (NACDEP) conference in San Antonio (see posting here). NACDEP extended their call for proposals until September 16 due to Katrina. Here is the link to the NACDEP call - ignore the Sept. 10 deadline posted on the webform.
Two good conferences. Might a great way for someone doing programming that crosses both areas to attend both and have some vacation time in the middle. Also a good way for Extension and Land Grant Administrators to atttend two program related conferences.