What’s Next: Top Trends

A few years ago Ross Dawson and I created an “extinction timeline” showing when a few familiar things might die out. For a bit of fun I put Belgium on it. There were two serious reasons for doing this. First, if there was one country that might not survive the 21st Century it was surely Belgium. Just look at it’s history.

Secondly, we assume that things like maps are fixed, but historically speaking they are fluid. We should not assume that where the lines are drawn today is where the lines will be drawn in the future.

Why am I telling you this now? Because Laurette Onkelinx, the woman tipped as the future Belgium premier, is openly talking about the need to “Get ready for the break up of Belgium.”

Via Robin Dickinson. There is amuch older version of this on the web but this one relates land mass to online population. Tasty. Wish I’d done this! Link is in comments – below.

Here’s a sneak peek of a small corner. Out September….

Here’s what everyone in Europe owes each other – as a map. Ohmygawd.

From the New York Times (link in comments)

For those of you that liked the quote a few days ago, here’s the offending powerpoint slide (via New York Times). I quite like it.

As you might know, I’m a huge fan of data visualisation so here’s something I really like. A map from the BBC showing where people go on the internet.

Link: http://www.fastcompany.com/1583565/infographic-of-the-day-comparing-the-100-largest-sites-on-the-internet

It’s finally done. My new trends and technology timeline for 2010 is now up. Please post any comments, criticisms or suggestions and I will incorporate these in the very final printed version. Please also note that it’s really a waste of time looking at this on a small screen or printing it out at less than A3 size because it’s hugely complicated. If you want giant printed colour copies just contact me.

The map has 16 lines representing everything from society & culture to news & media. There are also 5 time zones representing 2010-2050, so everything that falls outside the central zone (zone 1) is obviously a prediction.The map is published under a Creative Commons Share-A-Like Licence so you can do anything you like with it, including selling it, just so long as you say where it came from.

I have a feeling this map with get forwarded around cyberspace at great speed:.

The key mega trends on the map are:

- Ageing

- Power shift Eastwards

- Globalisation

- Localisation

- Digitalisation

- Personalisation

- Volatility

- Individualism

- Environmental change

- Sustainability

- Debt

- Urbanisation

Some of the predictions include:

- All televised sport becomes short-format

- Epidemic of new disorders caused by uncensored use of digital devices

- Turkey, Iran and Mexico become key powers

- Online communities gather offline to start physical communities

- The robot population surpasses the human population

- Brain holidays

- Communications free resorts

- People attending online funerals

- The appearance of laboratory grown meat in supermarkets

Some of the partial ruins (things that are partly destroyed) include:

- Intimacy

- Privacy

- Modesty

- Paper statements and bills

- Humility

- Optimism about the future

The link…see comments below for a click-thru version.

http://nowandnext.com/PDF/trends_and_technology_timeline_2010.pdf

It’s getting very close indeed – 2 weeks of polishing still to do….

It’s getting very close (and very complicated).

Here’s a sneak peek. Ignore the ’stations’ for the time being. What you can’t see here are 5 ‘time zones’. In the middle (zone 1) are current trends and as you move outwards are emerging trends and predictions. More in a few weeks…