The horizon metatrends: after five years of the horizon project, the 30,000 foot view

ABSTRACT

After five editions of the *Horizon Report,* seven patterns in the recent evolution of emerging technology have emerged that are clearly evident when the project data are examined over time. While the thirty technologies and practices highlighted in this series of reports have converged, morphed, and shifted over the years, it seems clear they are evolving in ways that are consistent with this set of metatrends. The NMC's research suggests these metatrends will continue to describe the flow of emerging learning-related and creative technologies for a number of years to come.

Some of the thirty technologies identified over the five years of research have already become quite commonplace and integrated into our everyday activities; others while clearly still with us, have seen their current form influenced by parallel developments that are pushing them in one direction or another. While the currents and eddies of emerging technology are complex, it has become clear that the Horizon Report metatrends have not only been important for at least the last five years, but are projected to continue to be important for at least another five as well.

The seven Horizon Report metatrends include: 1) increasingly ubiquitous networks accessed by ever more portable devices; 2) a shifting emphasis to people as the organizing principle of the network; 3) an increasing emphasis on collective sharing and generation of knowledge; 4) ever more natural communication between humans and machines; 5) increasing applications for 3D across the range of computing; 6) an increasing use of games as learning and workplace platforms; and 7) a growing shift of content creation and production to users

Join Horizon Project founder and NMC CEO Larry Johnson as he outlines the pathways of innovation and technological evolution that he believes are already profoundly impacting how we teach, learn, create, work, and communicate.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.1 THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY
      Subjects: Markets

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.1 THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY
      Subjects: Statistics; Suppliers; Standards
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.1 Computer Uses in Education
          Subjects: Distance learning; Collaborative learning; Computer-assisted instruction (CAI); Computer-managed instruction (CMI)

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Measurement, Theory

Keywords:
Horizon Project, collabaration webs, collective intelligence, emerging technology, grassroots video, mashups, metatrends, mobile broadband, new media consortium, social operating systems