As we transition into a new decade, I am wondering what new sociocultural shifts will accompany technologies not yet on the horizon. In the past ten years, we have seen the rise of social media in the form of wikis, blogs, and MMORPG. The use of social media in everyday life has prompted many in academia to respond through augmented forms of writing, making, and teaching.
Perhaps the shifts are to be subtle, as seen in the recent announcement of the iPad: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/tag/ipad/
Perhaps they are to be socially oriented, as seen in the effectiveness of text message donations for Haiti relief: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1517056920100115
Or, perhaps, they are beyond prediction, though I would hesitate to follow this line of thinking, as it removes the individual user from the equation. As social media has proven, digital technologies thrive when they are accessible, easily modified, and serve a basic use function.
But they have to be used.
Which brings me to this forum; it provides a potential locus for information, conversation, and interaction, but only if used. Dormant, it only has the sheen of the new. My personal goal in this new decade is to use, responsibly and actively, that which I am privileged to access. What are your goals for the new decade, the new year, the new new media?
