Horizons Report COM 399

Kim Taylor

Future Horizon Reports

COM 399

            One of the technologies I found the most surprising was "Mobiles."  And I know it is part of my own bias on cell phones, and the real necessity for mobile devices.  When you have a computer at work, and you have one at home, I just don't see the need to have internet on my phone.  Since I am taking classes at Bradley, I have bought a netbook that I have brought in for a few of the classes where we were in a computer lab and there wasn't enough computers for the whole class (I know I digress, but that just doesn't make sense to me.  I pay for the "computer lab", but then I bring my own netbook because there aren't enough computers in the class...or wait, I can go check one out down the hall....)  However, after reading the Horizon Reports, I have a totally different perspective on this technology group.  Personally, I don't know if I will eventually get the internet on my phone, but I do text more than I did even a year ago.  But I am excited about some of the technology for mobiles that is in our near future, and even with all we have read about "The Dumbest Generation", I can see where some of these apps will be great! 

            Professionally, where I work now, mobiles are already becoming commonplace.  One of the main parts of my job is overall assistance with the three large job fairs on campus.  Since we now hold our fairs two blocks away in the new Renaissance Coliseum, we take several laptops with us, a printer, and then scanning equipment and label printers so we can operate onsite.  We can register students and employers by scanning student identification cards, and employer's business cards and print name tags for each, color-coded so we can easily tell if someone is an employer or a student.  I have a laptop and printer dedicated for me, and am usually the "command center" for the fairs.  I am online so I can check my work email in case any employers have emailed to cancel, and I am on our network, so if I need to change an employer table sign, I can do it right there on site, not to mention making new lunch tickets if we run out.  The possibility are endless on how we can operate for a day in a totally offsite location.  And my boss, who is not real computer-savvy, purchased an iPad.  In a short period of time she has learned enough about it, that when she travels, whether on Bradley business or personal time, I can receive emails from her via her iPad.  Although, I have not yet decided whether that is altogether a good thing or not!!  However, in the business world I can see how these mobile devices can be used as an excellent tool for keeping your finger on the pulse of an organization even while traveling, including international travel. 

            As a Public Relations major, I think it opens a wide range of possibilities for communication with both external and internal publics, for a position that would often have you out of your office and out in the public.  How great to be connected to the information you need at your fingertips.  It is easy to imagine Public Relations people totally mobile, and able to go where needed without having to rely on an office at all. 

            The 2010 Horizon Report, has this to say about mobile devices:

“The potential of mobile computing is being demonstrated in hundreds of projects at higher education institutions. Students in the University of Alabama’s Computer-Based Honors program, for example, are developing an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that will deliver blood-sugar check reminders to patients with type 2 diabetes and provide resources about diabetes management, as well as collect information on how patients using the tool are succeeding in keeping their blood sugar under control. These data will be used in a research project comparing the effects of standard patient care practices with self-management practices as facilitated by the mobile application.”

            Mobile devices are intersecting with every part of our life from our exercise, to our eating habits, to buying movie tickets.  In fact, my husband uses his phone to buy Starbucks coffee and in the very near future I understand we’ll be able to use our phone to buy groceries by automatically debiting money from our checking account.

            And even though I personally, am not the most early adopter of mobile devices, the 2011 Horizon Report said:

      According to a recent report from mobile manufacturer Ericsson, studies show that by 2015, 80% of people accessing the Internet will be doing so from mobile devices. Perhaps more important for education, Internet capable mobile devices will outnumber computers within the next year. In Japan, over 75% of Internet users already use a mobile as their first choice for access. This shift in the means of connecting to the Internet is being enabled by the convergence of three trends: the growing number of Internet-capable mobile devices, increasingly flexible web content, and continued development of the networks that support connectivity.”

            The next technology I found interesting was cloud computing.  The 2009 Horizon Report described this technology as follows:

The emergence of very large “data farms” — specialized data centers that host thousands of servers — has created a surplus of computing resources that has come to be called the cloud. Growing out of research in grid computing, cloud computing transforms once-expensive resources like disk storage and processing cycles into a readily available, cheap commodity…. infrastructure has made the cloud robust and reliable; as usage grows, the cloud is fundamentally changing our notions of computing and communication.”

            In the Bradley office where I work, we just recently have been notified that our network drive is close to capacity, and we all need to review our saved files and choose outdated or obsolete files to delete.  This will take many hours for myself, as well as the other staff, to sort through this information to decide what needs to be kept and what can be deleted or saved to a thumb drive.  This would not be the case if we were currently using cloud computing.  Although, I think the university needs to be cautious regarding security, we are missing a great opportunity not only to have unlimited storage, but to save time and effort in staff time by having to sort through old documents, deleting, and saving to other media.  Not to mention being able to access any of these documents from anywhere in the world by mobile devices.

            A good example of how cloud technology is infiltrating the computing world can be found in the 2011 key note address (www.apple.com) to Apple software developers.  Apple has decided to make a sweeping change turning all of their computing devices into mobile devices by focusing on cloud computing over individual unit storage.  This is a huge shift in emphasis based on the increasing availability of cloud storage and software that takes advantage of it.  Apple is in the prime position to take it upon themselves to tie all the cloud computing technologies together considering they are at the forefront of all the mobile technologies.  Starting in the fall of 2011, through cloud computing Apple is tying together the iPhone, the iPad, and the iMac computer.  This may well change the whole way people do computing.

            Who wouldn’t want to be able to have a huge, glass screen to stand in front of and use sweeping motions to go swiftly through different programs and software, and manipulate data as in the movie “Minority Report.”  I watched that movie in awe of what they could even imagine and make look realistic on the movie screen.  I have never used gesture-based computing, but I have seen my boss who struggles with new technologies, gesture through her iPad with ease.

            It is mind boggling to me, how mobile devices with gesture-based computing can easily bring a “command center” to a distant location.  Future professionals would be able to function equally in the office and on the road.  Or future researchers providing demonstrations of complex procedures with the touch of their hand or a sweeping motion.  Limitless possibilities.

            The 2011 Horizons Report predicted the following:

“Imagine an interface that allows students to determine or change the DNA of a fruit fly by piecing it together by hand, page through a fragile text from the Middle Ages, or practice surgical operations using the same movements a surgeon would. With gestural interfaces, discovery-based learning opportunities like these are likely to be common scenarios.”

            This is no longer science fiction, this technology is now in use on every one of the millions of iPhones and iPads being used all over the world.

            The next technology I chose was electronic books, of which I am currently not a fan.  In fact, I fought the temptation to print the three Horizon Reports we were assigned to read, as I prefer a hardcopy.  I like to carry it around and read it as I have time at lunch, or standing in line, or curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee.  I enjoy hi-liting interest points or places that have good quotes to use, or dog-earing the pages.  To me, it is all part of the reading experience. 

            But as I read of all the possibilities with electronic books, I could see where the future of electronic books open up a whole new world with a reading experience.  In a marketing class I attended last semester, our text book included in each chapter different websites you could go online and access to play interactive games, or visit video clips, and take practice quizzes, to further enhance your learning and understanding of that particular chapter.  As interesting as that sounded, I found it cumbersome to grab my textbook and type in the website address, and also occasionally have them not work.  So, as much as “in theory” this sounds like this is a great idea for a textbook, the truth is, how awesome would it be to have this textbook as an electronic book so all these interactive programs and links were all easily accessed right there from your electronic book?  And how much more likely will a student be to access them if they were all right there on your mobile device?

            I think this has unlimited possibility out in the professional world, with everything from public relations professionals to healthcare professionals.  The nurse in a long-term care facility checking her iPad to check an electronic book and remind herself of a certain procedure, and then click a link to a video to see it performed.  Or to check a diabetic’s sugar level and consult a chart for her age, height and weight to see what might be normal.  Or traveling to a foreign country and bring up an electronic book of the native language, and click on a link to hear the pronunciation of it.  Electronic books combined with mobile devices bring a whole new level of possibilities into view.

            The 2011 Horizon Report talks about the future in the same way as quoted:

What makes electronic books a potentially transformative technology is the new kinds of reading experiences that they make possible. Publishers are beginning to explore richly visual interfaces that include multimedia and collaborative elements. For three compelling visions of the future promised by the electronic book, see the five-minute video The Future of the Book produced by design firm IDEO (http://vimeo.com/15142335).

         My husband, a Pastor, uses an electronic version of the Bible called “youversion” (youversion.com) to do his Bible reading and study.  It utilizes many of these technologies already, as it allows him to select from different specific reading plans, notifies him through email and texting what his next passage is, allows him to take notes within his Bible, and allows him to share his observations with others in the “youversion” online community.

            The last technology I picked was something I could see that would greatly enhance those experiences that by itself, was never really all that appealing to me.  I have never been very fond of going to museums, except for the science museums that had cool experiments you can participate in.  Other than that, walking through, looking at things, pushing a button to hear a pre-recorded video I don’t find all that exciting. 

            However, the description of Augmented Reality in the 2011 Horizon Report put a whole different perspective on visiting historical locations:

“A project called iTacitus (Intelligent Tourism and Cultural Information Through Ubiquitous Services) allows users to visit historical locations, such as the Coliseum, pan with their mobile device, and witness an event from the past. Augmented books are also gaining traction.”

            Now I am one that has never found history all that interesting, but I find movies about historical events bring history more to life.  I think it would be fascinating to visit a museum or historical site and be able to witness an event from the past.  It would be interesting to stand at Mount Rushmore and witness some of the events that happened during its construction.  This would be a great opportunity for educators to bring history to life for a class, or to bring a potential scenario together at a crime scene. 

            Augmented Reality could enable people to stand at a building that is being erected, and pan with your mobile device to see the visual plan for the building in the future.  This would be great for land developers or construction companies who need to paint a better picture of the future possibilities, or a public relations professional to help a client envision a planned event at a certain location. 

            Imagine how much this could impact simulation for situations that might normally be dangerous, but now can be merely simulated in the actual environment where they take place.  The possible applications for military training, driver training, or even sports training are unlimited.  This is another technology that seemed like science fiction only a few years ago when the terminator could tell you everything about his target before he selected them.  Or instructions for hot-wiring a car would show up on his heads up display.

            Another reason I like this particular group of technologies I chose, is that they are not only great tools for the future, these tools also have many possibilities added to them when they are combined.  Mobile devices are used with cloud computing, as well as with electronic books, gesture-based computing, and augmented reality.  They are all interconnected and help form limitless possibilities for the future of electronic media technology.

 

References:

1.      Johnson, L., Levine, A., & Smith R. (2009).  The 2009 Horizon Report.  Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

2.      Johnson, L., Levine, A., Smith R., & Stone, S. (2010).  The 2010 Horizon Report.  Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

3.      Johnson, L., Smith R., Willis, H., Levine, A., & Hayward, K. (2011).  The 2011 Horizon Report.  Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.