Trendknowlodgy

Trendknowlodgy: The 2020 edition

Introduction Powerful mobile devices, augmented reality, user-generated content and the always-on society: these are all trends born from the rise and rise of the internet and evolvement of the world wide web into a platform where everything is possible: Web 2.0.

As our personal lives and global businesses become more and more dependent on connectivity through mobile technology, we observe a huge social change taking place as a result of this attachment.

We use devices such as laptops and smart phones to be “always connected� and yet we are lonelier than ever in our attempts to keep in touch with the world. Generation Y, the savviest technology generation ever existed, is faced with the toughest dilemma of the century: will we let technology take over our lives and turn us into robots or will our superb intelligence help us overcome this invisible threat?

Technology develops so quickly, that a decade looks like a century. It took ten years (19982008) for cell phones to evolve from mini telephones to smart, powerful devices which bring the whole world in the palm of your hand. Internet rose from a static placeholder for content otherwise found in print and broadcast media, to a medium of its own: fast, unique and reliable. Speed of communication and transactions became a measurement of quality: the faster we can connect, the better.

In 2010, as we are writing this magazine, mobile internet begins its infancy and is predicted to be THE internet of the new decade. The year 2020 marks an important moment in the lifetime of technology and media. It will be the 10th anniversary of the smart phone as we know it now, of social networks, applications and everything in communication technology that is now considered new and exciting.

This magazine will try to answer questions like: will we still struggle with the issue of quality of user generated content, will our iphones take over our lives, how will companies find ways to get the attention of the jaded consumers and last, but not least, will we go back to basics after less than two decades of being connected through digital technology?

What is more personal than controlling the content companies bombard you with on a daily basis?

It’s Sunday 8 PM and The Williams are sitting in front of the TV in the living room. At least dad Ed and mom Jennifer are the ones who are actually watching television. The 18 year old Dustin and 20 year old Cassie are very busy with updating their social network accounts on their laptops. The typing sound of both youngsters does not seem to annoy and distract the parents, since they are still focused on the TV show they are watching.

When the commercial break starts, dad clicks on the ‘Personalize’-button of the remote. Within a second, the regular commercial break gets replaced by brand advertisements that are selectively chosen by The Williams. For a moment, Cassie’s eyes switch from her laptop screen to the TV screen.

She sees the new Maybelline mascara commercial with Beyoncé Knowles. The commercial has impressed her so much that she decides to buy it by simply pressing on the ‘Buy Now’ button of the remote.

Meanwhile, Dustin still has his focus aimed on his laptop. He is really busy playing an online game with 6 of his friends, who happen to live in the same street as him. Dustin and his friends are real online game fanatics. They like most games, from sports to war games. When the 18-year-old wants to open a new game he suddenly sees a pop up message with the text “Do you wanna join our advertising service?”. Dustin does not hesitate that long and clicks “Yes”. After this he sees his screen changing. In the middle of the screen Dustin sees the game he wanted to open en around that game, advertisements are seen from the company he just accepted to be a advertising member of. Dustin gets distracted and feels like a kid in a candy store, since he sees all kinds of cool games. However, Dustin has not got enough money at the moment and decides to put two games on his online wish list for his 19th birthday and forwards it to all of his friends via Facebook.

When logging in to Facebook, dad Ed asks him if he can check the Facebook family account. When openened, Dustin sees that grandma and grandpa have send a message. They are currently celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary in Costa Rica and in the email they wrote that they would like to Skype with the family tonight to tell them all about their holiday.

The Williams turn off their television and Ed asks Dustin to log in on Skype and to call grandma and grandpa. After a few buzztones they finally pick up. “Hello sweet family”, the grandparents say. Soon after they say that, a webcam image of them in Costa Rica is seen. Dustin decides to put his webcam on as well so that the conversation is more vivid.

Grandpa uses his Mobile Buddy (MB) to Skype. This is a gadget which basically takes care of any mobile and technological services. It can be used to call, internet, turn on the TV, as a car/house key etc. Grandpa decides to show the hotel via his webcam and the family enthusiasticsly reacts to crisp clear beautiful views of grandpa’s webcam. During the entire conversation, ads are shown of holiday agencies which offer trips to Costa Rica since the family put on their ‘voice searcher’ which allows the system to search for online advertisements on the topic being talked about.

When it is 11 PM, the Williams family feels pretty tired and heads off to bed. All Ed and Dustin can think of is booking a trip to Costa Rica as soon as possible since they were absolutely enthusiastic on the Skype webcam images they saw of grandpa and the attractive ads during the Skype conversation.

Can you imagine a world where all you have to do is be at home and do whatever you like to do? Wanna talk to friends?

Just use one of your devices, e-mail them or send them a message on your phone and why not Facebook them? No more making bad decisions when you buy a product that you saw on the internet because one thing is for sure, you will like the product! A little low on cash? No worries, just go to the online supermarket that will always have products on offer that you like. Life is easy when you know that whatever you choose, you will like. Right?

In the environment of The Bubble people will only see advertisements that they like. Every year they will get a request to fill out their preferences on a special website and all advertisements will be adopted to those preferences. Also, the advertisements will be shown to them in a way they like it. Next to this, the people in the environment connect with others solely through devices.

Conversations will be held on networks like MSN and Facebook and they can order any of the products that are advertised to them online, and they will never have to worry that they do not like the product.

The trend of personalized advertising is gaining popularity in this day and age already. Not every company or brand has the ability to adopt to this trend yet, because of technological matters. By the time it is 2020, it might be possible for every company, brand or individual to distribute or to receive personal advertising. Nowadays, it is noticed that people display more critical behaviour towards advertisements. Almost everyone gets bombarded with hundreds of ads they do not care about; basically this is seen as spam. Consumers will be more satisfied if companies follow the trend of personalized advertising, since then they will have the option to choose which ads they like.

The Bubble

Irobot

The Happy Farm

Connected through Real World

Personal Content Social Butterfly

It is 23rd March 2021. Marc is French and he is one of the emissaries at the ICRI for the year 2021. He wakes up at 7.30 am and starts getting ready for work. Like every day, when he arrives, the institution is overloaded as it is open 24/7, without holidays. He enters his office and starts up his computer.

Immediately, a giant screen divided in 200 squares loads, each square representing a country of the world. His day is a simple one, today he doesn’t have problematic folder, for the moment! The computer indicates which number he has to read, for instance 232, then the folder is opened automatically and Marc has to read it and to press one of the three buttons he has under his right hand green means “this information doesn’t have to be taken off”, the red button is to tell that it should be taken off and corrected, and the gray button means neutral.

The squares of the screen turn green, red or gray depending on what the other emissaries have determined. The majority wins, except if one of the emissaries presses on the blue button, which means that this subject should be discussed longer (and these folders are the “problematic” ones).

Your blog is what you say when there is nobody standing over your shoulder telling you what to do

Behind the appearance of Wonderland lie a huge multi-national organisation and severe control of information. Indeed, everybody can participate but all information is controlled and misleading information is cancelled to ensure high quality of content.

This situation has some aspects of a dictatorship because of the strict surveillance and control and the only way to keep the rights of expression and creativity safe is to make sure the control is done by a neutral institution.

The Institution of Control and Regulation of Information (ICRI) is composed of emissaries of each country in the world, representative of their entire nation. The elections happen once a year, which seems to be often but it’s a security measure to avoid abuses.

The content domain of media is a broad field criss-crossed by controversies over ownership of content and freedom and credibility to publish user generated content.

The factors that determine the future if media content are clearly its quality and the amount of input allowed by amateurs in the creation and publishing of this content.

Wonderland

(false) Reality land

High Quality Content

Environment C Passive Interaction

Authoritative lecture

Given the perpetual growth of user participation and authorship in media, facilitated by Web 2.0 and 3.0, it is obvious that interactivity of user-generated content will grow exponentially.

The question remains as to how this content can be used constructively: 1. If the quality can be guaranteed, can individuals, like big publishers in the past, be able to generate profit from non-professionally made content?

2. If the credibility and quality of user-generated content are indeed guaranteed, would this be at the cost of the consumer (paying for legitimate content) or at the cost of the national governments?

We have selected a scenario that tries to answer both questions.

In this scenario, the future of free, credible and usable user-generated content has been outlined. It is inferred that the future holds the biggest challenges for the profit part of the equation: it is not very likely that capitalistic models will be applied to user generated media content. Most likely the national governments will have to interfere and finance the control and sustenance of a usable user-generated content. This implies that individuals cannot be trusted neither to create, nor to sell high-quality media content.

While their parents were waiting for the baggage to appear on the line, Sara and David decided to take a last walk around the area. Needless to say, their favorite lounge was the one for departures and every time they came back from a holiday it was somehow depressing to sit and look at all the suitcases on the conveyer line, full of memories from the terrific holiday. They were hanging around, looking for a place to sit with a good observation view to the walking by passengers and flight crew, and suddenly David said: ”Hey, Sara, see over there, they have from those new touch tables here too!”. “Cool, replied Sarah, let’s go and check it out, I hope it’s working!”.

As teenagers, they were always up to date with the newest technological developments. When at the end of the year it was announced that soon Schiphol was also getting one of those fancy touch tables, David and Sarah couldn’t wait until they went on a holiday to try them out.

So far you could only find the ridiculously expensive touch tables only in the most luxurious places: casino lounges, expensive hotels and now, also at the world’s busiest airports.

Sara and David approached the table and sat down on the opposite sides. On the sleek black surface, nobody could tell that actually the table is a touch screen. There was only one red Turn on sign which looked like the ones on the electrical touch-generated ovens. David pressed that with his finger and it turned green.

The surface of the touch table

colored in blue and a message appeared:”Dear passenger, welcome back to Schiphol.

While waiting, would you like to tell us about your trip?” David and Sara looked at each other with bewilderment: “What is that supposed to mean?”, “Well, David said, we have nothing else to do, let’s give it a try!”.

He tapped the Yes button and now a new question appeared: “Where are you coming from, please type your destination?”.

David typed “Valencia” in the provided field and clicked OK. Now a whole animation was launched on the screen and David and Sara could recognize some of the spots that they visited in Valencia and the surroundings. “Did you go to any of these, read the message, tell us what you think?”

Now Sara stepped in and started revolving the pictures towards herself to see them better. She exclaimed a few times that they have been to some of the places displayed, and started participating in the questionnaire. Basically, it was an interactive way of asking Sara and David about each place in Valencia, and asking them to rate their experience. Each time a picture of the place appeared, there was a comment field and a few questions. They could answer the questions but also type a comment, like: “The food in that restaurant was shitty”,..or something like: “You can have great paellas at the restaurant at that and that beach”. David and Sara really enjoyed this as it was like a long flashback of their holiday and all the nice

experiences they had together.

They weren’t realizing they were actually creating commercials for all the places they rated on this touch-table. When they were done rating, commenting and recommending, a message appeared asking them to say how old they were, their first names and from which city they come from. David thought this info was safe, and filled it in for himself, then Sara did the same.

When the data was processed, another message appeared: “Would you like to add a picture to your recommendations?

It will be displayed for other people to see when they look for activities in Valencia.” “Hmmm, thought David….I don’t know.”

But Sara wasn’t hesitating at all, like any girl of her age, she loved taking pictures.”Come on, you nerd, let’s take one, it will be fun.” So they looked down to the table surface, smiled and pressed on the “Ready” button. They heard the sound of a camera shutter and voila, the picture was taken.

Sara looked at it critically: ”Hmm….not too bad. I haven’t even been to the hairdresser and still look good”. After they approved the picture, another message appeared:”Would you like your picture to be displayed on screens in this airport where locations from Valencia are being advertised?”. Sara hesitated for a moment:”Hmmm, yes, why not, I don’t mind. I will be famous”. So she selected: “Yes”.

David was a bit more apprehensive so he chose “No”. A final message said: “Thank you for participating in this assessment.

We wish you a pleasant day!”.

Is one flashy, 200 000-dollar commercial more influential than a free, unpolished, but genuinely honest feedback about your product?

“Thank youuuuuuu, it was fun!!”, said Sara. “Ok, let’s go now, the baggage must be there already and mom and dad will be looking for us”, said David.

On their way back to the exit, while passing through the entrance lounge, they walked past the ticket desk of Iberia Airlines and Sara could take a sneak peak of a commercial displayed on an LCD screen by the desk. The places looked familiar and she slowed down to see it better. Suddenly she recognized it:”Hey, this is Valencia, this is my commercial!”

She saw her picture next to one of the images of places to visit, and she was so proud of herself, she really looked good, like a model from a real commercial. The writing on the commercial said: “Sara from Utrecht enjoyed the delicious tapas at the “Las Tapas” restaurant on the South Beach in Valencia. “. Sara grabbed her brother by the shoulder and pointed at the screen: “Look, David, our commercial!!! Don’t I look pretty? You could have been there too, you silly geek, why didn’t you let them use your pic???”

Just fine

Play the Game Active involvement in advertising

Shared Knowledge Funky alternative

In the shared knowledge environment, multiple touch screen computers are a product for the business market and advertisement is active, so people can change this. Individuals can use the touch screen at a certain business and create their own advertisement to leave behind for another person who is going to use the device. As an example: A family is on holiday and staying in a hotel that has a multiple touch screen table in the lobby. They have visited a certain museum in the area and upon returning they want to make sure that everybody knows how wonderful the museum is. From the museum’s website they download a template advertisement with the logo and color scheme which they adjust with pictures from their own devices and text.

When someone else uses the device and searches for an activity the advertisement from the family will pop up and might attract the attention of the person.

Touch screens for businesses

Ad agencies are constantly searching for new and more effective ways to get the attention from consumers. Even now the agencies are trying to be more specific in who they target. Ads become personal instead of throwing the same message into the mass. Because of the personalized factor consumers are more willing to actually pay attention to the ads.

According to the NBC an average American sees 1000 ads per day. Simply, a human being is not able to actively respond to all the ads. Above that, may be 5% of the ads will be interesting for one particular consumer. It’s a fact that people pay attention when things are getting personal. At that point, consumers become a part of what is shown. There will be action and reaction which means that consumers will be actively involved.

When being active, the consumer will memorize the ad and product.

Within the Shared knowledge scenario, the consumers are actively involved.

They become interested and are enthusiastic. This is what ad agencies want from the consumers.

Touch screens already gained popularity for the past four years. With the introduction of the Iphone touch screens became even more popular. Many other telecommunication providers followed the footsteps of Apple. A touch screen mobile phone is not new or super cool anymore as it was 4 years ago.

Nowadays touch screen computers gain popularity. Most households don’t own a touch screen computer. New technologies go faster than the consumers can keep up with. The touch screen table from Microsoft is a new high tech invention that will be very popular in the near future. However, consumers need time to adapt to new high tech inventions and therefore we think that the touch screen tables will be spread into the businesses first during the next decade. Also businesses are more able to purchase the high tech touch tables.

Businesses will help to introduce the touch tables to the consumers and may be later on consumers think it will be worth it to purchase it for personal use.

Mike is a 22-year-old advertising student living in the year 2020 and has just received an electronic advert on his phone. The electronic advert initially is a puzzle, which states: resolve me in less than five minutes and you will get an invitation to our restaurant for free lunch for two. And of course Mike tries is trying to solve the puzzle, but unfortunately he isn´t that successful and can´t make it even after five minutes.

So after 5 minutes is puzzle resolves itself and a colourful picture of a Manhattan restaurant and a note appears on the screen: “Don’t get disappointed you are very welcome to come and have a dessert just for $ 4.99”.

Even though Mike didn’t succeed in solving the puzzle, he had so much fun while trying to resolve it , hewas pleased by the originality of the restaurant. He just couldn’t resist not going as his curiosity took over. He wanted to see with his own eyes the restaurant that came up with such an idea for attracting customers.

Interactive advertising is not exciting because it gets us closer to the brands.

It’s exciting because it brings the whole notion of advertising back to its basics: increasing sales above all.

This scenario, when development and evolution of interactivity in advertisements and involvement of consumers is high, seems to be very realistic and reflects the current growing tendency. By 2020 we assume this tendency will continue to increase as nowadays advertisements are no longer traditional since people are not interested in a simple statement that one product is better than the other. People ignore that, people no longer want to be passive consumers; they want to participate, be a part of an action, leave their own message, be able to say what they think, they want to be heard, they simply want to be entertained.

And that is what interactive advertising can provide them with.

With each day advertising becomes more and more interactive, tries to incorporate and involve people in a certain campaign, promotion and in that way trying to become more remarkable and attractive. It actually works as much more people are attracted by that sort of campaigns, they are more willingly reacting to it, they get involved, they participate and what’s more important they enjoy it and this is their own decision and choice.

In 2020 interactive advertising will become a common sense as well as taking part in it. Every person will get involved in it by his/her own choice. Different sorts of advertising and promotions would be held interactively and that would become some sort of an entertainment and fun for customers to participate in. An due to that, the involvement of the consumers will be much higher. In these future days, we suppose it will be a Golden age of advertising.

Consumers are already used to citizen involvement in advertising.

Happy Age

Favourable Wishes

Environment C

Low Consumer Involvement

Development and evolution of interactivity in advertisement Ignored Technology

The ads are too common and too generally focussed. A new era is entered in which citizen involvement becomes consumer involvement. This focus change will be a win-win situation for both the advertisers and the consumers. Consumers will be more interested because they feel like they are personally approached and advertisers will be more satisfied because the chance a consumer will react on a personal ad is many times bigger than it was.

Nowadays, you already see personal ads popping up while you are surfing on a website.

Most of the times the ad asks the consumer to click on a button or to answer a question; these are the first steps of interactivity between an ad and the consumer. With all the personal computers and mobile internet phones it wouldn’t be hard to approach the target group an advertiser wants to approach.

With the right, stunning interactive message, advertising in 2020 will be totally interactive, personal and successful again.

It is only 6 o’clock in the morning when Stacey’s “Star” starts ringing. Stacey named her Multi-Functional Device “Star” because she loves this name. With the sleep still in her eyes, Stacey says; “Star Stop”, and the alarm turns off. Today is a busy day for Stacey because she has to fly to Paris to do three castings. Stacey doesn’t feel like waking up now but she knows she has to for the sake of her modeling career. May be a little loud music could help her get out of bed. Stacey grabs her “Star” and turns on her favorite music.

The music gets disrupted because a call is coming in. Stacey’s agent is on the phone to make sure that Stacey is awake. Her agent insists that Stacey turns on her “Star” camera so she can see how Stacey’s skin looks today. Stacey is totally not happy with the fact that her “Star” camera exists at this moment!

Her agent tells her that she has to open her email when she arrives in Paris, because the agent will email her the casting addresses in 4 hours.

Stacey is in a hurry so she’s glad that she can hang up on him and go to take a shower.

After Stacey leaves the bathroom she walks into her room where her four year-old little brother Samuel sits on her bed with “Star” in his hand. Stacey tells Samuel to leave “Star” alone. Samuel starts crying and tells his sister that he forgot his “GI-Joe” (his multi-functional device) at their grandmothers yesterday and she is only able to deliver it back in two hours! He really needs to borrow “Star” for just an hour so he can play his favorite game. “Leave Star alone”, repeats Stacey! I’m not going to borrow you “Star” because you have to play a stupid game!”

Samuel explains his sister that he is in the half final of the game and he can win $1000 if he makes it to the final. He promises his sister to buy her that nice dress she wanted so bad if he wins the money. Stacey agrees and tells her little brother that he can borrow “Star” for one hour so that he only has to wait one more hour for his “GI-Joe”.

One hour later, Stacey is ready to go to the airport. Stacey takes her “Star” back from her little brother and tells him to be more careful with his “GI-Joe”. Samuel is irritated because “Star” rang five times while he was playing his half final. “I rejected the calls because they disturbed my game”! “It’s the last time you borrowed “Star”, she screams while she shuts the front door.

During her taxi ride to the airport, Stacey locates her co-workers (also models) with “Star’s” navigation system. She sees that they are already on their way too. Stacey checks her email, updates her Twitter and Facebook status and makes a video call with her boyfriend who is in Stockholm for his work. On her way to the airport she notices that her “Star” battery is low: “Oh, crap I forgot my extra battery!”. She has no time to go back home so she will charge it later while she is in the airplane. While Stacey and her co-workers wait at the gate Stacey’s agent calls again to see how her skin is doing now. Stacey gets angry inside: “I have no privacy anymore since I bought “Star”. My boss, my agent, my friends, my family, my boyfriend, all my connections know where I am all the time and they keep track of me 24/7!”.

Later this day in Paris, Stacey is on her way to her second casting. “Star” tells Stacey where to go. During her casting Stacey has to show her portfolio. Stacey opens “Star” but the screen is black. Stacey was so busy during her trip that she forgot to charge “Star”. Stacey is unable to show her portfolio to the agent. She failed her casting! Even worse, she will fail her third casting too because she can’t show her portfolio. Stacey is upset. As soon as she arrives in her hotel room she wants to charge “Star”.

She waits a minute, puts the charger back in her suitcase and leaves “Star” on her bed and goes out.

Four hours later she walks into the hotel where she gets overwhelmed by her co-workers: “Where were you, we couldn’t call or track you, we thought you were dead!” Stacey doesn’t say a word but just smiles and walks to her hotel room. She sees “Star” lying on the bed and decides to charge it now. Immediately “Star” starts to make all kind of different sounds. 20 missed calls, 10 high importance emails and 8 text messages! Her agent, her co-workers, the agent from the third casting and her boyfriend were the people who left her messages.

Almost all the messages are completely the same: they are all mad because they couldn’t reach or track Stacey.

Her boyfriend thinks she’s cheating, her agent thinks she can’t handle the pressure of being a model and the agent of the third casting just told Stacey to never make an appointment with him again.

Even though it would be normal if she was very upset right now, Stacey keeps on smiling. She puts her charger back into her suitcase again, turns off “Star”, jumps into her bed and says: “What an amazing feeling when nobody knows”.

IWorld Myworld is an environment in which a single device has replaced all devices one needs to interact and connect with the world.

People are highly dependent on one device which performs the functions of two or three devices they previously used. This is most probably a smart phone, a mobile, hand-held device.

In the era of 3.0 the nature of communication has been drastically transformed: people no longer communicate through devices, they communicate with devices. The device has thus become an extension of the self and is no longer a means, but also participant in the communication process.

Factors such as high interactivity, affordable connectivity, simplicity of operation and intensive user experience with digital applications and familiarity with their interfaces have turned devices into buddies (partners).

This phenomenon has been expressed in the Devices axis of our environment. Ideally, it is one, hyper-interactive device that will satisfy all communication needs of each individual and in order to be connected to the world, the owner of such devices is highly dependent on the interaction with it.

In this environment:  One device envelops all the functions of computer, telephone, navigation system, music player, game console  Therefore, people are highly dependent on this single device for their daily life, work and entertainment  The connectivity with this device is regarded as a necessary evil: people have recognized that the “always online” lifestyle can’t be avoided but they also know that it brings a lot of stress and unhappiness. They simply use the available technology because they have no other choice.

In the technological domain of our constructed future, we found two overwhelming factors (dependence and number of devices) that will determine the ability of people to be connected and to communicate with the rest of the world.

The Candy Shop

IWorld, Myworld

High number of devices Multiple Choice Low Dependency

The Middle of Nowhere

Before the Web 2.0 era: Message can exist independently of carrier. Sender and receiver do not have to own the carrier in order to have control over the message. As a result message delivery is slow and insecure, but the dependence on the carrier is also limited.

In the Web 2.0 and 3.0 era: Sender and receiver own (are) the carrier. Control over the message is seceded to the carrier (device). Hence dependence on the device is huge, since otherwise no control over the data can be realized (messages are abstract terms, they do not exist if the device doesn’t exist (is not turned on).

The most overlooked advantage of owning a computer is that if they mess up there's no law against whacking them around a bit.

James wakes up by his computer which he has attached to a small screen in his bedroom. It’s his alarm clock. As he leaves to go to work, he takes his computer with him. As he steps into the car he connects his computer to a screen in the car. It navigates him through traffic and as he gets to work he takes the computer with him to connect it to a screen at work.

As he gets there, he orders a book online. The computer knows exactly what it needs to get the book to his place but doesn’t know anything else. No information for marketing purposes, this has become illegal.

As he gets browsing the internet knows his preferences but doesn’t know anything other than what is really needed.

This is all thanks to the personal identity chip the computer has built in. Because he only uses this computer, there is no danger anymore that someone tracks down his belongings.

In the afternoon, he purposefully drops his computer in the street, stands around the corner to see what happens. No one tries to steal it, because it is so well protected. People know it’s useless. The device is protected by an iris scan.

No one else can’t access the device. However, what happens if you forgot to bring it with you?

Well, that’s rather rare, since it will be your everything. Even then, there is an alternative: the so called guest version. This doesn’t allow you to access any of the files or documents, but lets you use only the internet.

When he gets home, he attaches the system to his audio installation to get his favorite music.

The book arrives which he ordered and the irrelevant information is deleted from the systems of the online bookstore.

A brave new world

Happily ever after

High level of privacy

Secured system

Back to the future

In 2020 the technology will allow us to work with computers that are more ‘intelligent’ than those of 2009 due to the semantic web.

Computers will be able to help us execute our daily tasks faster and more easily because computers can browse the web for us, instead of showing web pages that we requested. This artificial intelligence is limited because research has shown that people are afraid of technology that is too intelligent. Over the years, more and more information became public because of social networks, wireless networks everywhere, unsecure notebooks, public transportation tickets, and wireless paying methods. Back in the days, people didn’t much see the problems and more importantly – the dangers this brought along. Over the years global movements have caused a trend towards privacy and the protection of personal information.

Computers have shrunk to the size of packet of cigarettes and can be attached to all kinds of displays in all sorts of places such as in your home, your car, your work, the kitchen and even the bedroom. Privacy enhanced because of a built in encryption chip which allows you to browse safely and make transactions online more secure.

This is the benefit of taking your personal computer anywhere you go. No longer will people know where you go at what time.

Low usage of semantics

With nowadays innovations it seems to be very logical that the computers become that small, smart and mobile. Even now the newest Macbooks are as thin as a regular laptop screen. Even today people are starting to see the downside of the unsecure internet environment; they want more protection on things like social network sites and get fed up with their information being shared for marketing purposes. Therefore the idea that people will not want very intelligent computers and have personal security appeals to us.

Cindy opened her laptop and logged into Facebook. Incorrect Email/Password combination.

Not again! She thought. She had changed the login settings of all her online accounts last week and was struggling to remember the passwords. When she was younger a classmate had hacked her account and although all the person had done was sending strange messages to friends and family she decided at that moment that this would never ever happen again. Now, where did she hide her notebook with the passwords?

The greatest danger in modern technology isn't that machines will begin to think like people, but that people will begin to think like machines

Once logged in, Cindy checked the messages she got from her friends. She had never wanted to sign up for social networks but her friends had pushed her into creating an account so they could contact her that way. At first she did not understand why they could not just use e-mail or the phone but now she kind of liked checking pictures and status updates. She skipped through a long list of Farmville, Sorority life, Doodle jump and other ridiculous information. Seriously, why would she care that someone just cleaned his house, like that is special!

When Cindy went to her inbox she saw she got an invitation to a New Year’s Eve party organized by a friend. She checked the chat box and noticed another friend, who was invited, was logged in as well. Hey Jess, did you get David’s invitation to the end of the year party? She went to check her work e-mail and only ten minutes later noticed the moving sign on the tab where she had opened Facebook. Hey Cin, I’m def going! Remember last year? He throws a mean party hahaha! Do you already have something to wear? Unfortunately Jessica was already offline, that always happened to her. It was exactly why she preferred the phone, you would never forget that you were talking to someone when you are on the phone, at least not in a sober state.

She finished some research she still had to do for her work and opened her closet. The party was in less than two weeks and she wanted the perfect outfit, but nothing seemed to fit the ‘Sparkle’ dress code so she went to call her friend. “Hello?” “Hey Jess! You sound sleepy, it’s already 1pm!” “I know, but I discovered a new website yesterday that holds links to all sorts of series so I was watching old episodes of Lost till 4 in the night.” “You see! I told you, internet is evil. Anyway, I have nothing to wear to David’s party so how about doing some shopping tonight?”

“Sounds good, I need something as well, I can come to your house and we can check what they have to offer online?”. “Sure, just like last year when I ordered that perfect dress and they send the wrong size so I ended settling with the first dress that kind of fit the theme since I only had one more day.” “Oh yeah, I remember, you were not pleased.” “Haha no, and that is why I am going to take you back into the real world. I’d say we meet up at that cute restaurant in the city centre at 5, have a small bite to eat and then do some actual shopping like our Mom’s used to do.” “You know what, that sounds good! And it actually gives us some to really catch up!”

When Cindy returned she dropped her bags on the living room chair and went to update her status. Found the perfect turquoise and sparkly party dress! Now just need a bag to go with it. Someone happens to have a black or dark purple purse I can borrow?

The internet offers numerous possibilities for consumer/users to relate with each other and with businesses. However, these relations will only be successful if there is trust between them. We explore the relations between consumers in the virtual and real world.

This environment is characterized by digital relationships with low level of trust. People from this environment are well educated about the risks of online behavior because they are avid users of the internet. Most of them have not only email, but Skype, MSN and Facebook, even Twitter accounts.

These people have discovered that internet is a necessary evil to modern life: they are no longer excited about it, because they know that if used improperly, internet can bring a lot of damage. They try to reduce their time spent online reasonably. Usually people from this environment would spend a lot of time online because of their highly qualified jobs.

Representatives from this environment have different passwords for each account they have online and meticulously protect their personal data. They do online shopping and social networking, but with great caution. You wouldn’t see them all over the place like the users from the Out in the Open environment.

People from this environment seem quite passive online, because of the safety measures they take. However, they can also be active and enjoy entertainment and other activities. They download movies and music and take full advantages of the free services online.

However, when they do that they are extra careful: even though they are on Facebook, they rarely post status updates and only have a few pics. They usually sit and observe what other people are doing. They only Skype with their friends and rarely add new people to their lists. It seems as they are quite passive but this is simply a protecting shield: they are too intelligent to go along with the flow and are aware of the risks of being exposed to too much online communication. These people are connected online by necessity but they appreciate the connections in the real world, because they know how important they are and how much joy they bring.

Out in the Open

Better Safe than Sorry

Good Friendships

Real world relationships

Low level of trust

Scaredy Cat

We believe that people will demand more safety within a couple of years, they are getting fed up with the fact that everyone can find all sorts of information about them online.

On the other hand we become more and more dependent on digital devices for our daily life and even relationships. We live busy lives and are already so used to speak via chat programs and social networks instead of face to face that we do not see this turning around. Even those who refuse to use social networks now will see the advantages in a couple of years.

Jack is a, 25-year-old, trend watcher, working for WWYC (We Watch Your Choice). He has a nine to five job and about 100 colleagues, from whom he knows maybe ten for real. Once a week Jack operates from the office and the other four days he stays at home. Today is one of his @-home-days and he just got out of a video meeting, displayed on his wall, with three of his colleagues. Suddenly he remembers there is a need for some groceries, so Jack puts on his glasses and draws an augmented list in the middle of his room and uses his finger to write down what he needs to buy. There are two options now: going outside to visit the store or let the store deliver the groceries. Urgency requires him to visit the store himself. Outside he puts on his glasses and experiences all kinds of marketing messages pointing towards him. When he left the house, Jack made a note on his laptop that he would go grocery-shopping. This info is used for augmented marketing and the ads Jack bumps into on the way make him think about adding some groceries to his shopping list. Back from the store, Jack opens a new augmented window, in order to be instructed about preparing his meal. He cooks, sits down and enjoys his meal…alone.

Technology is a way of organizing the universe so that man doesn't have to experience it

Together and more

Getting back Together

Augmented Reality

My World Virtual Individuality In the year 2020 the society has become more individualistic than expected. Even though there are differences between the degrees of individualism versus collectivism between countries, overall individualistic behavior has increased.

This of course is due to the technological developments, which decreases the necessity to leave your house or talk to people in real life. In the past, mobile technology and social media decreased collectivism, but with the digitization and web 3.0, individualism will be more present than ever before.

Individualism

A result of the individualistic growth, in 2020, will be the use of augmented reality, especially for marketing purposes.

Augmented reality will have its place in society, of course, in combination with technology.

The consumer will be targeted as an individual and mass media will vanish, because personalized media is way more effective. This personalization matches the individualistic behavior of the consumer in 2020.

The past has proven that through constant technological improvements, innovations and inventions a switch is seen from collectivistic to individualistic behaviour. Of course this switch is not seen everywhere and does not apply to everyone but the majority of people communicate regularly through devices instead of ‘real-life’ conversations nowadays. It is possible that this trend will become more popular in the future.

By the time it is 2020, augmented reality technology might be accesible for everyone, which might lead to the situation that people get stuck in their ‘own’ virtual world and solely get in touch with other people through technology. Companies and brands will make use of personalized advertising so that expenditure has the chance to increase effectively and rapidly.

This virtual world can make people either feel lonely since they might be more isolated from the real world, or less lonely since they can control, order, watch, learn everything through their augmented reality ‘tools’.

About the Authors

Tessa

Silvia Silvia´s Personal outlook for 2020

Tessa

is a 24 year old Dutch student International Communication & Media. Her interests go out for PR, HMR, online/ written media and online marketing. Creating brand awareness and writing articles are her strong points. She has a great interest in the United States and therefore the American market.

Her internship was also done in Miami, Florida. She interned at the PR & Marketing department of a Fashion Jewelry. There she learned how to write touching press releases and the ins and outs of the fashion industry.

Ten years ago we all stood aghast at the potential destruction of the Millennium Bug: the most powerful computer bug that threatened to turn around businesses worldwide upside down overnight. Even though eventually the effect of this “bug” was so small that now only few people remember it, the thought of the overwhelming power of technology and its grasp around our whole existence was quite terrifying.

10 years later, technology has only evolved from a fear-factor to a friend of innovation and intelligence.

As of now Tessa works in a clothing store and is a promoter for different brands in the Netherlands. To expand her CV she also works as a party reporter for two websites (clubjudge & djguide). Tessa likes to give her opinion as a consumer to help organizations and companies improve their strategies. Analyzing, interpreting and reporting are the tasks she likes to do most.

Tessa´s Personal Outlook for 2020

Tessa is always interested to try new things and that also counts for the newest technology inventions. She likes to know what’s on the market, not only in the Netherlands but also in other countries. To satisfy these needs Tessa travels and goes shopping whenever she can. Tessa likes to know what people from other ages, countries and cultures think about things like technology, sports, brands, politics and all what’s happening in this world of evolutions and change.

Consumers will be more in-house than they will be on the streets and in stores. In 2020 almost everything could be ordered and delivered with one click on your computer or personal device.

Personal devices with personalized content will be the trend in 2020. People will receive millions of advertisements but all with a personal touch. Interactivity will be everywhere, where ever someone is, they will all be connected 24/7. Mobile devices will become personal devices. All what is needed is in there.

In 2020, people will be more attached to their personal mobile device. This device will become everyone’s best friend. Online social contacts will be more popular than on site contacts. People all over the world will be connected with each other. Social networks are the new living rooms. Every single person can talk and see anyone, anywhere and anytime. People will think that they are more independent than ever before, only they forgot that they are highly dependent on technology than they ever were.

People become more critical every day. Nowadays already consumers have the opportunity to become a prosumer. They write Blogs, create own websites and communicate with people all over the world. In 2020, consumers will be more critical and therefore the quality of content will be higher as ever.

Rules and restrictions will be more present as before. It sounds sad but actually, the high quality content that will be there also be more appreciated and taken seriously than ever before. The gap between consumers (amateurs) and professionals in the field will be bigger. Quality grows when criticism rises.

Silvia is 23 and comes from Bulgaria. She is interested in technology, social media and online marketing. As a part of her study in Communications and Media she has gained experience in PR at Burson-Marsteller, an international PR firm. During this internship she worked mainly for the European-wide Corporate Social Responsibility practice of the company.

Currently Silvia works part-time as an online marketer at Logaholic Web Analytics. Here she learns about online marketing and writes a guide about Web Analytics, a part of which is being posted every week on the website of Logaholic (www.logaholic.com).

For her dissertation Silvia is going to do research on the use of social media in politics. She hopes that this research will extend her knowledge of social media and its various applications for political marketing purposes.

Silvia’s interest in technology is mainly expressed in her passion for new gadgets. As a young woman, she also enjoys shopping and getting together with friends.

She loves reading, cycling in nice weather, speaks English and Dutch fluently, and tries to raise her Spanish to the same level.

The most visible change was the gradual shift from analogue to digital, which will continue in the next decade but now heralded by the rise and rise of the youngest offspring of digital tech: mobile. Mobile connectivity will be the new online of 2020. Mobile working, shopping, meeting, entertainment… everything which ADSL internet made possible at the beginning of this decade will be quickly outweighed by the power and ubiquity of mobile technology and wireless connections.

As devices become more “detached” from their physical environment, so does the information they transmit and its format. If in 2010 mobile device producers such as Apple still try to impose standards on mobile software and limit interoperability, in 2020 the mobile device will be completely detached not only from its location, but also from its software. Mobile devices such as smart phones and e-readers will become simply containers of highly personal (ized) and customizable software applications, allowing individuals to access, edit and transmit highly personalized data.

The independence of behemoths in software development such as Microsoft and Google will spur innovation in the creation of highly differentiated applications and formats, which will be needed to accommodate the needs of the highly selective and fragmented users and their devices. While devices will remain branded and ownership will entail a certain attachment and dependence on a certain brand, the applications that make these devices so unique will be developed and distributed by users, not companies.

The most exciting progress in mobile technology for 2020 will be thus the disintegration of hardware and software, which will continue to evolve individually and independently, with hardware trying to catch up with the rapid developments of newer and faster software applications. The next big challenge for mobile technology producers will be to accommodate the growing need for personalization and fragmentation of user’s applications and formats in the hardware that is used to run them.

Ixia

Annemarie

4 years ago 20 year old student Ixia Verdooren finished her HBO education and started her study in Communications and Media with lots of enthusiasm and interest. Soon she discovered that this was the right study for her since she gained knowledge in various fields of business like (online) Marketing, PR, Cultural studies, Media and Communication.

One year ago Ixia decided to run as an intern at the Music Publishing department of Sony Music Entertainment in Hilversum. Here she gained a lot of valuable work experience and got in full charge of several challenging projects. A few of the work tasks she performed were setting up artist contracts, developing and organising musical events, like songwriter sessions and serving as a temporary manager of an upcoming jazz fusion band. After her internship, the Finance Manager asked her to stay two months longer at the company to work as a Finance employee.

Ixia has a fascination for the latest technology and media trends and therefore she would like to write her final dissertation on the emerging popularity of social media and/or social networks. Besides this, Ixia is fond of travelling, music, hiphop dancing, going out with friends and spending time with her family. In the future she would like to set up her own company which focuses on both social media and entertainment.

Annemarie van der Zwet was born in a small village in January 1987 and grew up in an environment where a lot of people where quite hesitant towards new devices and types of media. When she started high school in the city she got more and more curious about new ways of communication and interaction and after discovering that becoming an elementary school teacher was not really her thing she decided to start the International Communication and Media study on the Hogeschool Utrecht.

Ixia´s Personal Outlook for 2020 How will the world look like in 2020? Which media and technology trends will occur? And what effect will this have on our society?

These are a just a few questions which many researchers are trying to find an answer to, as well as our Media Trends research group.

What is remarkable and worth mentioning is that due to the constant innovations in mobile and online technology, a shift has taken place in the behaviour of our society. People tend to be caught up in the hype of online and digital communication instead of communicating in real life. Skype, Facebook and Twitter have gained immense popularity in the last ten years and it is actually hard to find a person of this generation who is not in the posession of the newest mobile phone or who does not make use of the web. Clearly, technology can be so impressive and addictive to people that it becomes part of a certain lifestyle.

By the time it is 2020 the world will look a whole lot different.

With the development of augmented reality techniques and software, society will be introduced to a new lifestyle and environment, which will look like or be similar to a virtual 3D world. The question is whether the entire society will adopt to this trend. If it does, it may lead to the fact that people get even more caught up in technology and devices than they do now, which in turn leads to a more individualistic society.

Although she initially started this study for the included journalistic courses, her interest in Annemarie´s Personal Outlook for 2020 new media continued to grow.

Within this field she got parMy personal outlook on 2020 concerns the influence of digital ticularly interested in the way devices on our personal life. As of now we have multiple devices (new) media influence people’s that we use throughout the day and they become smaller and daily lives and bigger events more mobile all the time. These devices influence a lot of what that occur around the world. we do and how we act. In my believe in 2020 we either end up in a sort of bubble-like environment but what seems more logical In her third year, Annemarie to me is that we want to return to the roots of personal contact. went to Barcelona to follow With the bubble-like environment I mean that we cannot live without her internship abroad. Durour devices anymore and forget about the real world. With online ing this internship she worked shopping, chat programs, social networks and even such things as 50% of the time on her writvirtual and augmented reality the need to go outside to experience ing skills through blog posts new things and maintain a social network completely disappears. about happenings in BarceWhat seems more logical to me is that we will continue to- lona and 50% on SEO marketwards the bubble environment for about five years before we ing, which again sparked her discover the downside of digital devices defining our every- interest in how new media inday life. At that moment movements will arise against this digi- fluences the way people think. tal life and we will return to real life. We will not get rid of devices completely but we will only use them for computer work After finishing the ICM study and to initiate face-to-face contacts, like about five years ago. she will continue to do her master study in Journalism and new media to ultimately pursue her dream of using new media to report about events occurring in the world.

Mayen

Conclusion

Mayen de Vries grew up in a small town just outside of the big city in a multicultural home, loving both cultures. She always had a fascination for the latest technology devices and media. As a young girl, while ripping out pages of magazines she liked, she would dream of having her own magazine. But it stayed a dream, just like many other professions, her problem being that there were too many things she liked to do.

When she graduated high school, still not knowing what to do, she to the Philippines for a year working at an international school. There, she fell in love with different cultures, and when she came back she knew International Communications and Media was hers.

As an communications intern for a student organization in the United Kingdom, she got the freedom to develop her skills in writing, photography, filming and even created her own e-zine for students.

While her interest in all different types of media stays, her interest in the magazine world has always been key. Therefore she plans to write her final dissertation for a big national magazine, researching new ways to reach their audience and use new media, as well as learning as much as she can about this fascinating world.

Mayen’s Personal Outlook for 2020 You can see it starting already, social networks are taking over the world. Facebook, Twitter and mobile web services make it possible for people to stay in touch with everyone at any place, any time. A smartphone is the next best thing, holding your whole life in your hands, compact in one device.

In 2020, this will only have developed more. People will keep each other updated about their lives, via the web and they will have no reason to go out anymore. Everything will be available to them with the push of a button. Technology will be everywhere, doing everything for you and everything will be completely user friendly, making life as easy as possible.

Sure, people will still go out for the occasional shopping spree, the beach and restaurants. But only after they’ve checked out all the best places to go on the web. Then, they will tell all their virtual friends about those places. People will be all on their own. We will be individualistic, but not totally aware of it because of all the social networks we are keeping up with.

We will still ‘talk’ to our friends, but not really. It will change society without us really noticing it. Then once in a while, we will suddenly realize that we’ve been too focused on our devices instead of actual human beings and will try to change.

But technology always finds a way back in to our lives.

What you have read in this magazine is the vision on 2020 as constructed by five girls from completely different backgrounds who all have one thing in common: their interest in, and knowledge of media. Despite our different backgrounds, whether we have grown up with or without the newest technology and no matter which direction of media has our interest, we have one clear vision of the future. Some of us fear it, some us want it and some of us see it as something inevitable but the fact that we become more and more dependent on our devices is clear.

We wake up in the morning by the sound of the alarm of our mobile phone, after checking if we have received e-mail on our PC in the bedroom we rush to get our train to school. Barely seated we take out our smart phone to update our social networks and entertain us during the travel. We might have five minutes to catch up with our friends in front of school but it won’t take long before we have to be in class where we open our laptops as soon as class starts. This goes on the whole day, especially with the invention of the smart phone with 3G internet connection there is hardly a moment in our lives where we are not using one device or another.

Something that has contributed to this, is the development of social networks. Particularly Facebook, on which all five members of our group have an active profile. In the end it is nothing more than an averagely designed webpage on which we update those who

we allow in our personal network, and therefore call friends, on what we do throughout the day. Such networks are an ideal place to update those who do not live near us all in once but at the same time they give us a false feeling of social life. Users might feel that they are always in contact with people around them but at the same time they become very individualistic without realizing it; they do not learn those important skills that you need in real life face to face contact.

Then again, who needs social skills in 2020 when technology has advanced so much that we do not need to leave the house anymore to live our lives.

We can order our food online, helped by smart devices that tell us what we need. We do not need to get outside to get to enjoy new things since augmented and virtual reality deliver us all the stimuli we need.

We do not have to go to school when all study materials are available digitally, and they are even more advanced than the old-school books we receive in college. Why bother going to a bar and waste energy on trying to find a boy/girlfriend when the internet contains such smart tools that someone can be matched to you with 100% chance of success? And when we start to grow out of our favorite jeans, we can just turn on our game console that brings us entertainment and a workout at the same time.

With all those great innovations that make our lives so simple the problem of security arises. Ordering daily goods online might be convenient but it

forces us to send personal data like bank account numbers to people who are safely hid behind the wall called internet. Of course life is easy when even our devices can determine even what we eat for diner, but that means putting our trust in a machine that does not have a heart or soul and for sure will not have feelings of guilt. And what about those people on social networks we call friends? Some of them we have never met, can we really trust them with our personal thoughts and feelings without having to wonder if they would use them against us?

The question while predicting our lives in 2020 is not how far technology can take us, but how far we will allow technology to take us. Will we continue towards this individualistic future, a life in a bubble? Will we find a way to live our life through devices without having to worry about security? Or will we rise against this and let technology be nothing more than a helpful tool for those difficult tasks that come along with life in the real world? Only 2020 can tell.

Š2010 ICM Media Trends group 5 Text by: Media Trends group 5: Mayen de Vries, Silvia Todorova, Ixia Verdooren, Tessa Jane van den Berg, Annemarie van der Zwet Design by: Mayen de Vries Pictures from:, Google images, Flickr, Worth 1000, Deviantart Commissioned by: International Communication and Media, Media Trends: Erik Hekman, Matthijs Rotte Printed in The Netherlands