With a theme of Beyond Navigation, Wednesday’s two-part closing session was always about looking ahead after two days of learning. But the assimilation didn’t stop just because the telescope was out. In fact Michael J Casey of IIC Technologies gave IEC09 a taste of futurology that at times Googled the mind.
His analysis of Generation Y held out plenty of potential for IT-savvy new kids to jump on the bandwagon but must also have given chart and machine-makers pause for thought about what they would demand as standard.
“This group learns from its peers, they are digital natives whereas the older generation are digital immigrants. They will take technology in a totally different direction,” he said.
Their interest in sharing – modifying, originating and collaborating means they work to new rules, but he said, research had shown that the digital generation really was able to track more objects and decode clutter.
The risks were that if something wasn’t online it didn’t exist and a tendency towards DIY build and usage meant that control of information and content might not be as rigid as now. The tools that shaped their world were mobile but they relied on new paradigms – the ubiquitous Google amongst them.
But none of that hardly mattered – as Casey said, they could be navigating 20 years from now and Moore’s Law meant the technology they be using would be very different too. “They will work in a world of instant updates, with no limits to drill-down or overlays, with 3-D realism and feedback provided as a matter of course.”
He also predicted that price would be – if not irrelevant – then certainly buried in continuous service provision. A call for a show of hands as to who was inspired and who horrifed by this prospect was pretty much even.
October 22, 2009 at 11:35 pm |
a couple of corrections
It is Michael Casey (not David)
and I work for IIC Technologies
(a great company filled with great people!)