[discuss] Report from Pew and Elon on Digital Life in 2025

Tue Mar 11 19:48:05 UTC 2014

Apologies for cross-posts...

Many people on this list may find a report released by Pew Research and the Imagining the Internet Center today to be relevant and useful. Titled "Digital Life in 2025<http://www.elon.edu/e-web/imagining/surveys/2014_survey/2025_Internet_Impact.xhtml>," it is an analysis of nearly 1,500 responses to a question about the impact of the Internet by 2025. (Thanks to the many people in this group who participated in the survey.)

Among the 15 themes that were identified in the analysis of the responses were several that prove that close attention must be devoted - as it is now and beyond - to the details of Internet evolution.

The 15 themes extracted from the 150 pages (single-spaced) of survey responses to the question on Internet impact by 2025 and good and bad results include:
- The Internet will be invisibly interwoven in daily life.
- It could be much more advanced or it may be much the same in 2025 but more people will certainly have access globally.
- The spread of the Internet will enhance global connectivity that fosters more relationships and less ignorance.
- The Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and big data will make people more aware of their world and their own behavior.
- Augmented reality and wearable devices will be implemented to monitor and give quick feedback, especially in regard to personal health.
- Political awareness and action will be facilitated and more peaceful change and public uprisings like the Arab Spring will emerge.
- The spread of the "Ubernet" will diminish the meaning of borders, and new "nations" of those with shared interests may emerge and exist beyond the capacity of current nation-states to control
- The Internet will become "the Internets" as access, systems, and principles are renegotiated.
- An Internet-enabled revolution in education will spread more opportunities.
- Dangerous divides between "haves" and "have-nots" may expand, resulting in resentment and possible violence.
- Abuses and abusers will "evolve and scale," human nature isn't changing - there's laziness, bullying, stalking, pornography, dirty tricks, crime.
- Governments and corporations will try to assert power as they invoke security and cultural norms.
- People will make tradeoffs favoring convenience and perceived immediate gains over privacy.
- Humans and their current organizations may not respond quickly enough to the challenges presented by complex networks.
- Most people are not yet noticing the profound changes communications networks are already bringing about.
- Foresight and accurate predictions can make a difference.

I highlighted the last three because they are of extreme importance, according to some of the wisest of the experts surveyed.

You can read the full details of the report and nearly all of the responses given or download the report here:
http://www.elon.edu/e-web/imagining/surveys/2014_survey/2025_Internet_Impact.xhtml  - full report online on one page
http://www.elon.edu/e-web/imagining/surveys/2014_survey/2025_Internet_Impact_credit.xhtml - all for-credit responses
http://www.elon.edu/e-web/imagining/surveys/2014_survey/2025_Internet_Impact_anon.xhtml - all anonymous responses that provide value (beyond answers such as "I have no idea" or "Same" or "Different")
Best regards,
Janna

--
Janna Quitney Anderson
Director, Imagining the Internet Center
www.imaginingtheinternet.org
Associate Professor
School of Communications
Elon University

andersj at elon.edu<applewebdata://F6329FAD-843F-49BE-86EE-ECC7DD8B3887/[email protected]>
(336) 278-5733 (o)
Twitter:  @JannaQ   https://twitter.com/JANNAQ
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jannaanderson
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/janna.anderson

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