Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:31:03 +0000 (GMT)
From: "Prof. Bruce Lloyd" <info@...>
To: pauls@...
Subject: Shaping Tomorrow Insight Newsletter

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Insight Newsletter 12 March 2008 Edited by Bruce Lloyd

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Trend Alert: Public Sector innovation in and around Web 2.0 Haydn Shaughnessy, Writer and former EU programme manager Haydn Shaughnessy is currently developing the  New Media and Social Media practice at Depo Consulting http://www.depoconsulting.com. Click here to view Haydn's blogg. The public sector leads the way in high value IT contracts, a form of innovation that ostensibly improves efficiencies. The Web 2.0 world however is not about applying technology; it is all about concocting new social models with the aim eventually of securing significant innovations. The public sector is beginning to feature prominently in this burgeoning new area. Globally, the small scale of Web 2.0 projects would not impress the average software sales professional but perhaps that too is why these developments are important – they are under the radar and they are about people rather than the machines. Wikis over the past two years have become a big area of activity in US Government agency work. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence in the USA recently proposed a new initiative Intellipedia, which is an adaptation of Wikipedia for intelligence purposes. The New Zealand Government recently asked the public to help rewrite the Police Review Act through a Wiki. In the US again the Federal Trade Commission last year created a blog to chronicle a series of Federal Trade Commission hearings and the popular website YouTube, the Google-owned video clips site – is inspiring Government YouTube lookalikes to store videos of different internal processes for new employees to use as learning materials. Virtual worlds too are being harnessed for innovation. NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration), NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) and CDC (Centers for Disease Control) are good examples of these are both virtual world advocatesSMM. The US National Guard has developed a virtual world, the Nexus, for training emergency responders across the United States. The project involves simulating local, State and Federal interaction in the event of crises. In the UK the Open University has been conducting research, under a scheme called the Schome Park Project, on the use of virtual reality for improving the communication abilities of troubled teenagers. One of the key findings of the Project is that the participants "have found it very liberating to be able to interact with other people through an avatar," according to a recent statement from the Director Peter Twining. American doctors are pursuing similar applications. The web-based newspaper reported recently that doctors at the Dallas Center for Brain Health in Texas had found that communicating with young people with Asperger Syndrome (a form of autism) in Second Life has improved the ability of their patients to relate. Why is this important? It is an apparently small collection of examples but the big message is that these initiatives cost very little to implement. Just as Web 2.0 is user-driven and content is user-made, here too we see initiatives that draw people in as the main authors/drivers. In a world where software sales and the public sector have a chequered history, and where pressure to innovate is measured in the millions of pounds or dollars, small and user-generated solutions look like being very beautiful.   Indeed these could be the models that drive participatory democracy in the future. Rather than e-voting and e-participation, Web 2.0 models offer semi-spontaneous ways in which public service officials and the public can define better ways to support public services. Using this Trend Alert: A six-step guide Want to contribute a Trend Alert? Please email Kerry Richardson if you would like to contribute a Trend Alert on foresight, strategic thinking or change management and earn money from publishing your full briefings. Want to re-publish this Trend Alert? We give our permission for anyone to republish this Alert on the following conditions: that you fully adhere to our copyright policies. See our Terms & Conditions (see para 2.). that you link the re-published article to the original article that you reproduce the Alert as it first appeared with no changes of any kind. Latest Insights Welcome to our latest Insight newsletter. Read the trend alerts, article and video links below to find your Trends before others do. Our weekly newsletter is just a gentle reminder of what's maybe changing imperceptibly around you. The website itself contains a much larger selection of structured content, with likely high relevance to you and your organisation, and is updated daily. We have added 189 new links this week including Green Revolution Extends To Pet World It doesn't take long for a human trend to envelop pets Gadgets Driving Couples To Sleep Separately High-tech gadgets are driving millions of couples to sleep apart Digital Home: An All-in-one Device To Control Most Everything Researchers are working on the wireless connection of electronic devices for broadcasting and entertainment in home networks From Geeks To Greens A continuing number of silicon valley entrepreneurs and other technology company leaders are continuing to fill green company positions, bringing business savvy and problem solving skills. First Humanoid Robot That Will Develop Language May Be Coming Soon iCub, a one metre-high baby robot which will be used to study how a robot could quickly pick up language skills, will be available next year India Losing Status As Offshore King? India is losing its stranglehold as the offshoring destination of choice as China, Morocco and Hungary gain ground China To Be World’s Largest Economy In 2025 China could overtake the United States by 2025 to be the world’s largest economy and is anticipated to grow to about 130% the size of the United States by 2050 Engineering The World's Fastest Swimsuit A highly specialised computer modelling technique has been instrumental in the design of a revolutionary new swimsuit which is now being hailed as the fastest in the world Evolution Of Cyber Warfare Washington has accused the Chinese of hacking into government computer networks at the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, and Defense—in some instances making off with data EU Looks Into Future Of Greener Shipping Greener ships and water-borne transport are vital components for reaching the 2020 CO2 emission target and giving Europe an additional competitive edge Future Of Web Apps Will See The Death Of E-mail The way people have been talking about e-mail at the Future of Web Apps conference, you'd think it were a cell phone carrier or a domestic airline. It's antiquated, it's backward, and everybody hates it.

Contents Trend Alert: Public Sector innovation in and around Web 2.0 Latest Insights Horizon scanning - Getting Started Tell us what you want Wanted - ST contributors! Free Foresight Network   Horizon scanning - Getting Started Important developments to celebrate Shaping Tomorrow's fifth birthday today. Collaborate The left hand navigation bar has been reorganised to put members’ and their content first under the title of ‘Collaborate’ Comments Members can now share comments with each other and privately with their colleagues Networking Members can now see who is joining, know who our top contributors are and ask to become one. And, read the latest Blog and Forum postings written by leading futurists. Visualisations Graphical, tabular, tag clouds and map representations of the database are now available Representative Offices We have appointed representatives in 22 countries Futurist Consultancy To support our rapidly growing international client-base Shaping Tomorrow now supplies its services to an independent advisory team called the Futurist Consultancy Predictify Predictify has created a dedicated "prediction centre" for Shaping Tomorrow Help A new help function replaces the previous single texts with an indexed and navigable user guide throughout the site For more detail please see What’s New.   Tell us what you want Please tell us what you want to know and we will endeavour to write about your interests in future Trend Alerts. Just contact us with a short description of the topic(s) of interest. We will do the rest.   Wanted - ST contributors! Shaping Tomorrow needs more researchers and writers to contribute to our growing service. In return we offer free access to Shaping Tomorrow plus opportunities for paid client work. We are particularly interested in attracting student, interns, post-graduate and professional futurists, strategists and change agents from all parts of the world. Those with European, Asian and Latin American foreign language skills are particularly welcomed. Learn more and see who is with us! Please indicate your interest in joining them, and us, by emailing Kerry describing your interests and skills.   Free Foresight Network Join our free international network of over 800 futurists, strategists and change agents and there will always be someone here to help you advance your future research and thinking, strategic planning and change management.

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