AGE OF REAL-TIME
Future Trends in a Digital World
September 2009
Teemu Arina
tarina.blogging.fi tar1na

We are in the midst of a historic “upload”,
a frenetic rush to transfer
the vast wealth of analog
culture to the digital
domain.
It is still barely
understood how the
media of the past ought
to be preserved, presented
and interconnected for
the future.
– The Institute for the Future of the Book (2007)

35%
of book sales at
Amazon when Kindle
editions are available
Source: Amazon

HELSINKI CITY LIBRARY
PHYSICAL VISITS VIRTUAL VISITS
7,06m
6,44m
6,39m
3,50m
2003 2007 Source: tilastot.kirjastot.fi

LIBRARIES ONLINE?

SCHOOLS ONLINE?

e-Learning 1.0

NETWORK

WEB 2.0: Architectures
of Participation
Photo: Christopher Chan

Ref: Scott Leslie

e-Learning 2.0

WHICH SHELF?

Digitalization frees
information architecture
from the constraints of
physical location.

AVG 80 YEAR OLD
15 YEARS
WATCHING TV

TV > MOBILE HEAD
Image: Judy Breck

1 TRILLION
hours of TV / YEAR
1% = 100 Wikipedia
projects
Source: Clay Shirky

ALEXANDRIA
WIKIPEDIA
10 times larger than Library of Alexandria
Source: Wikipedia

Years old
7th MASS
500 Print
MEDIA
100
Radio
Cinema
Recordings
50 Television
15 Internet
10 Mobile
Ref: Tomi T. Ahonen

A LOOK AT THE HISTORY...

PRE-GUTENBERG ERA

PALIMPSESTS
“Scraped again”

MANUSCRIPTS
Manuscripts as visual communication

3D INTERFACES
Church as a medium for visual communication

LEARNING AS LOOKING

LEARNING AS READING

MOVABLE TYPE
Johannes Gutenberg, 1439

“Only a fraction of the history of literacy
has been typographic.”
Marshall McLuhan (1962)

PRE-HELVETICA

LEARNING AS READING
Decorate the margins as you go

MASS-EDUCATION
Copy/paste text into brain

CONTEXTUALITY

MAN-MACHINE SYMBIOSIS
– J. C. R. Licklider, 1960

ONE MACHINE
Technology as an extension of man.
Man as an extension of technology.

SOCIAL MEDIA
“We are the genitals of our technology.” – McLuhan

CONTEXTUALITY
Nonlinearity and probing

FRAMING
SOCIAL
OBJECTS

Pattern Recognition
“Information overload is an opportunity for
pattern recognition” – Marshall McLuhan
Image: jbum

Look Read Perceive patterns
Pre-Gutenberg Era Gutenberg Era Post-Gutenberg Era

< Mechanic Age of Speed
> Digital Age of Real-time

The web is transitioning from mere interactivity to a more
dynamic, real-time web where read-write functions are
heading towards balanced synchronicity.
The real-time web is the next logical step in
the Internet’s evolution.
– OM Malik, Giga OM (2009)

From Pages to Streams

FROM COLLECTING

TO PERCEIVING
PATTERNS

FROM SEQUENTIAL
MODELS

TO SIMULTANEOUS
HAPPENING

THE SIXTH SENSE
colored
caps
camera
projector
phone mirror
Ref: MIT Media Lab

Ref: MIT Media Lab

Magic Wands
What do you call a h
andheld interface fo
real, actual objects? r
"A wand."
– Bruce Sterling

"It is the framework which changes
with each new technology and not
just the picture within the frame."
Marshall McLuhan

Thanks!
Teemu Arina
ceo - dicole ltd.
mail teemu@dicole.com
blog tarina.blogging.fi
web www.dicole.com
“Imagination is more
important than knowledge”
– Albert Einstein
tar1na