It is 12 years since I started this Trends in the Living Networks blog to accompany the launch of my book Living Networks. It is interesting to look at my posts from October 2002, in which I reflected on some of the earlier signs of the networks coming to life.
The original blog was on the book website, but a couple of years later I moved it to this domain, rossdawsonblog.com. At the time I put quite a lot of consideration into whether that was a good name, given that ‘blog’ was a neologism that might fade or be replaced.
The concept of a blog is now firmly mainstream, with not just tens of millions of people and many companies blogging, but a significant chunk of mainstream media having shifted to blog-like formats.
I still spot many articles about how to get attention to your new blog, and many people still seem to be setting up blogs (though of course many are also abandoning them after having tried for a while).
So what are some of the things I have learned from 12 years of blogging?
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Today show on Back to the Future: celebrating the exceptional ‘future’ that is 2015
By Ross DawsonThis morning I was interviewed on both of Australia’s national breakfast TV programs, Today and Sunrise, to greet 2015. Many of the media outlets interviewing me at this turn-of-the-year have wanted to know how well the film Back to the Future II, which in 1989 depicted the world in 2015, anticipated today’s world.
Click on the image below to watch the interview on the Today show.
Some of the ideas we covered in the segment:
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7 defining themes for 2015 (with videos)
By Ross DawsonAt the end of every year since 2006 I have created structured thoughts about the year to come. The last months of 2014 have been so crazy that I have, unfortunately, not had the time to create highly designed content on the year ahead.
However in preparing for some TV interviews at the turn of the year I have pulled together 7 themes that will help define 2015. Here they are, together with illustrative videos.
1. Robots are here
Robots have so long being part of science fiction that many have come to believe they will never arrive. With recent technological advances, the age of robots is finally beginning, with humanoid robots finally entering the mainstream in work, retail, aged care, the home and even warfare.
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Envisioning the future of government as solution enabler
By Ross DawsonWhen you look at the future, there are few more important topics than the future of government.
Government was designed to be institutional, providing stability to nations. Yet that design and structure means that governmental institutions are generally very poorly prepared to change as required in the face of extraordinary shifts in society and business.
I have been drawn more into the future of government over the last few years, among other activities creating and sharing my Transformation of Government framework with a variety of groups of senior policymakers.
William Eggers and his team at Deloitte have distilled some excellent analysis and insights into the future of government at their Government 2020 site, which includes an overview of drivers and trends shaping government, and views on the implications across domains of government.
The following slides and video provide nice high-level overviews of the work.
The other resources on the website are well worth a look, including the Drivers and Trends sections.
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Timeline of Emerging Science and Technology: A visual framework
By Ross DawsonMy colleague and friend Richard Watson and I have created a number of visual frameworks together, including Trend Blend 2007+ based on the London tube map, which has spawned many imitators over the years.
Since Richard has moved back to London we’ve collaborated less on frameworks, however Richard has continued to do some marvellous work.
Here is the Timeline of Emerging Science and Technology, created by Richard’s What’s Next in collaboration with Imperial College Tech Foresight.
Click on the image to view the full-size pdf.
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Flying cars are here! Will they become mainstream?
By Ross DawsonI’m at the Marketing Summit 2014 in Istanbul, where I’m giving the closing keynote later today. It is proving a delightful event, drawing on a framework on GameChangers from conference chairman Peter Fisk to invite inspiring speakers from around the world.
Yesterday Stefan Klein of Aeromobil described his journey to create a flying car. The beautiful video below shows the maiden flight of Aeromobil, just one month ago.
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Latest insights into the state of global telecommunications
By Ross DawsonA delightful report out from International Telecommunication Union (ITU) today, Measuring the Information Society 2014, examines in depth the state of global telecommunications.
Below are a handful of the particularly interesting insights from the report.
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The massive opportunity of open innovation for mid-tier firms
By Ross DawsonI recently gave the keynote at an American Express function for CFOs of mid-tier firms. I wrote before about the event in a post on the central role of CFOs in innovation and future-proofing in mid-tier firms.
The video below nicely summarizes highlights from the event, including some excerpts from my speech from 1:38.
One of the issues I discussed was the potential of open innovation.
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Why it matters that networks in organizations and social systems are shifting to power-law distributions
By Ross DawsonI recently gave a keynote address on Science and Leadership for the Future to a small group of major media and corporate clients of New Scientist magazine.
Given the context, I was able to delve a little deeper into the issues than I would for most audiences.
The video of my presentation was sliced into a number of brief segments. Below is the video of the section of my presentation on Networks.
Here is a summary of the points made in the video:
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Four lessons learned from 12 years of blogging
By Ross DawsonIt is 12 years since I started this Trends in the Living Networks blog to accompany the launch of my book Living Networks. It is interesting to look at my posts from October 2002, in which I reflected on some of the earlier signs of the networks coming to life.
The original blog was on the book website, but a couple of years later I moved it to this domain, rossdawsonblog.com. At the time I put quite a lot of consideration into whether that was a good name, given that ‘blog’ was a neologism that might fade or be replaced.
The concept of a blog is now firmly mainstream, with not just tens of millions of people and many companies blogging, but a significant chunk of mainstream media having shifted to blog-like formats.
I still spot many articles about how to get attention to your new blog, and many people still seem to be setting up blogs (though of course many are also abandoning them after having tried for a while).
So what are some of the things I have learned from 12 years of blogging?
Read more →
The rise of robots in retail will be swift
By Ross DawsonYesterday US retail chain Lowe’s announced that it will be launching a robot assistant named OSHbot in one of its Orchard Supply Hardware outlets.
The Wall Street Journal notes:
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