#newnewspaper

Smart windows.  Virtual Gloves.

In the last ten years technology and the way we interact with it has changed immensely. We have a seen people go from reading and believing the news to actually becoming influential voices through the use of social media. People are actively providing information, blogging, and sharing their interests with whoever is willing to listen.

In the following ten years this culture of sharing, blogging, and being active in information sharing will only continue to increase. This means that ten years from now accessing information remotely and sharing it will be easier but in a way create a problem of a world polluted by information. Filter systems are going to have to be set in place so the online world does not become over saturated. In the same way that we currently filter our interests through tagging, hash tags, and categories we predict that in ten years there will be better ways to filter the information we receive. We have seen the rise of apps like Snapchat that allow users to send temporary photos and videos to friends. This adds a sense of safety since the messages have an expiration date of sorts. The idea of information transparency will be huge since governments and corporations have understood that freedom of information is necessary.

Technology has advanced very rapidly in the past years and recently Google Glass was introduced to the market. This wearable technology allows users to quickly get information on the go with an interface that resembles that of a sci-fi movie. We expect technology like this to continue its rapid evolution and by doing so become more affordable. In ten years interfaces that are now common in smartphones and tablets will be transferred to windows and store displays called “Smart Windows”. This will allow storeowners to quickly change the store displays, and advertise sales. This however will give birth to new opportunities to hackers and street artists to express themselves by hacking these windows. Imagine a whole skyscraper hacked and tagged by Banksy who now tags using gifs instead of spray paint.

Video games are so popular right now and the graphics and game-play of these games get better every year. Communities such as the one in WoW are super popular, by giving users the ability to create and customize their avatars and interact with large groups of people from all over the world. Ten years from now virtual reality technology is widely available and extremely popular among the population. People now have in home access to virtual reality goggles that allow them to experience different worlds and locations. Imagine experiencing your Instagram news feed like if it’s a virtual world that you can actually explore and see. Instead of seeing photos of what your friends are eating you could step into the restaurant they are in, see its surroundings and actually share their experience. The same idea would be possible for still photos and even news events, for example being able to virtually explore a warzone you read about on BBC’s website from the safety of your home. The ability to share information and share experiences will drive this technology. The possibilities are endless but would range from the interaction with video games and movies to sharing and being involved with a news story.

Analogous Experiences: 

1. Listening to free songs on Spotify.

By going through the most popular song list on Spotify, you get the feeling of getting informed about what the majority listens to. It is fairly easy to reach all kinds of music through the Spotify. 

2. Buying a physical CD from a store.

 As our research progresses into re-designing the newspaper our biggest challenges so far are finding extreme users and having deeper more fruitful conversations during our interviews.

We’ve interviewed professionals who interact and work with news and people who are aware of important news stories but are getting the information online. However finding an “extreme user” who doesn’t read the newspaper and isn’t aware of current affairs is more difficult than it sounds. What we have found is that everyone interacts with information in one way or another. People follow and keep up with their individual interests on a daily basis and it “depends on what their definition of news is?” as someone said during a casual conversation.

"I really want to have a newspaper reading habit"

During the protest

The media was a mess