Visions of the Future

Week 15 (the last!) Assignment: Storytelling and interactivity: your vision for the future of media. 100 years is too far away. What will we be interacting with in 7 years?

Wow... if I had this crystal ball already... My vision of the future makes it easier for me to plug in and unplug at the same time. I long for an electronic assistant that helps analyze and prioritize these decisions for me. I dream of technology that helps me unplug and helps reduce the number of interruptions in a day. I want technology that makes it easier for me to have complete thoughts without feeling like I’m becoming ADD.

7 Years from now...
An all-powerful portable device that I plug into my computers at home and work and sync up everything from bookmarks to passwords to downloaded images. This little uber-phone (I’m guessing it’s a phone) will filter, analyze and prioritize my messages, alert me when I’ve missed a meeting or phone call, and connect me with everything I need. There will be a hook-up in my car, giving new meaning to the words “hands-free.” Blackberries are just the beginning. These devices will be smart and develop “intelligence” based on my previous requests, notes, messages and actions to help make things even easier for me. And, maybe even prompt me with a note when I haven’t called my best friend in ages.

Smarter, interactive Ads. I expect we’ll see ads even smarter than what Amazon and A9 are doing now: ads that change based on content plus my interests. All linked back into what data the websites derive from my handy-dandy, I’m-so-lost-if-I-lose-it, uber-phone.

Enhanced photo, video and multimedia searching. I dream of a search engine that can look at photos, video, multimedia and Flash-based documents and the metadata attached to these media on the web to help me determine what’s in the image. Currently, searching for these media depends a great deal on the keywords humans have added to the files. I want a smart search that looks across those tags and at the content of the files and help me find exactly what I’m after.

There’s a way to un-multi-task so my brain can recover from all the electronic attention (overattention?) it gets on a daily basis. I want my technology to make it easier to unplug and not demand that I be in front of the computer more often.

Ways to find smart NEW content. Not just recycled information, which is handy if you’re doing research. I want smart ways to find new and insightful content. I want ways to find individual thought not just the group thoughts and reactions that follow.

And a universal sign-on for everything. That’s a dream I know... but how many versions of “leslie” “j” and “wilkinson” can I come up with? And passwords. Oh goodness the passwords. (Random morbid thought... what happens to all those accounts and addresses when people die? How do your relatives get that stuff turned off and cancelled if they can’t figure out which combo of username and password you’ve used?)

Of course, this also means there will have to be ways to resuscitate my uber-phone if I a) lose it or have it stolen b) drop it in water, step on it, smash it just because I’ve had a bad day or c) fry it because of overuse.

And, just because I can dream it: I want a computer that keeps up with my typing, mousing and the demands of this user. :-)