Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Tech experts offer split verdict: Some expect the open Internet and consumer backlash will minimize cooperation with authoritarian governments; others believe the urge for profits and global reach will compel corporations to allow their tools to be used against critics of the status quo
By 2020, experts think tech-enhanced homes, appliances, and utilities will spread, but many of the analysts believe we still won’t likely be living in the long-envisioned ‘Homes of the Future’
Our new report takes a close look not only at how Americans are using public libraries, but also what sort of services and programming they think libraries should offer — and what they say they would use in the future. For this last point, we asked about a range of potential offerings. Here are illustrations of some of these more innovative services, to see what they look like on the ground — as well as some “fun and funky” services that we’ve seen pop up at libraries across the county.
Experts say new forms of information analysis will help people be more nimble and adaptive, but worry over humans’ capacity to understand and use these new tools well
Respondents’ thoughts Descriptions of future economic stress and economic divides were prevalent in responses to this survey question on higher education. While some who chose the first scenario said educational institutions are too static and will not move forward quickly to implement new digitally assisted approaches, others who chose that scenario said such change is […]
Respondents’ thoughts The wide range of variability in the tone of the answers to this question can be represented by the following two opposing statements, made by anonymous respondents who filed their answers at the same time on the same day: “The development of the Internet as a complex adaptive system will continue to evolve, […]
Tunisians are broadly disappointed with the current state of their nation. Most are dissatisfied with the country’s direction and the economy, and the public is divided over whether things are better off now that Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali is out of office. Nonetheless, most Tunisians are also optimistic about their country’s future and the economy. […]
Respondents’ thoughts About half of survey respondents selected the more upbeat scenario positing that a significant number of the features of the Home of the Future might finally arrive by 2020. The respondents who said the scenario will not unfold by 2020 said it is still too soon for smart systems to become deeply rooted […]
How patron’s reading habits have changed since reading and borrowing e-books. While some of the respondents to our online queries of patrons said that their reading habits had not changed, many said that they are indeed doing more “impulse” reading since the advent of e-books due to the ease of obtaining and reading books wherever […]