TrendsWatch – Page 5 – American Alliance of Museums

Visualizing the Future

By Elizabeth Merritt

As someone who reads a killing amount of text every week—news, blogs, email, journals, newspapers, reports, even (luxury of luxuries) books—I find switching over to nonverbal mode to be a sweet relief. Besides, other modalities (pictures, …
Monday Musing: TrendsWatch Watch

By Elizabeth Merritt

Here’s a quick roundup of recent stories related to the themes in TrendsWatch 2015 (Haven’t got your copy yet? Download the free PDF here. Print copies will be available in the AAM Bookstore soon.) Open Data Here’s a story I featured in …
Finally Beyond the Hype? Simulcasting Experiences and Virtual Reality

By Elizabeth Merritt

I hope you’ve had a chance to look at TrendsWatch 2015 (download your copy here.) In coming months, a host of guest bloggers will explore each theme in more depth. First up, CFM Council member Garry Golden, a professional futurist who …
Releasing TrendsWatch 2015 into the Wild

By Elizabeth Merritt

I want to say “Tada!” but I think all I have the energy for is “whew.” This year’s TrendsWatch is now available for download, and for the next week I’ll be hovering anxiously over my Twitter feed (#TrendsWatch), blogroll and e-mail to …
Privacy in a Watchful World TW 14 update

By Elizabeth Merritt

This is one of a series of mid-year updates on the 2014 TrendsWatch trends. I’ve already posted entries on Big Data, Social Entrepreneurship, the Sharing Economy and Robots, as well as updates on the Crowdsourcing and Philanthropy …
Keeping up with the 2014 Trends: Big Data

By Elizabeth Merritt

This is the second midyear update on the CFM report TrendsWatch 2014. Last week I week I reviewed recent developments related to “For-profit For Good”—the rise of social entrepreneurs. This week I take a look at the last six months of news …
Keeping up with the 2014 Trends: For Profit For Good

By Elizabeth Merritt

It’s been about 6 months since the Alliance released TrendsWatch 2014, so I’m going to blog a round of updates on each of this year’s six trends. In each of these posts I will recap the trend, report on its overall arc in the first half of …
Robots! Are Rosie, Voltron, Bender and their kin finally coming into their own?

By Elizabeth Merritt

For decades (if not centuries), futurists, writers and inventors have promised that robotic help—mechanized beings ready to serve as soldiers, maids, chauffeurs—is just on the horizon. In 1988 pundits predicted “convenience robots” would …
Privacy in a Watchful World: What have you got to hide?

By Elizabeth Merritt

In a world where companies and governments can, and increasingly do, track vast amounts of personal information about our habits, preferences, behavior, communications and even our thoughts, where will we draw the line? People evidently …
What’s Mine Is Yours: The economy of collaborative consumption

By Elizabeth Merritt

Nature abhors a vacuum, and both environmentalists and capitalists hate waste. That empty room in your house—why not rent it out? You only drive your car on weekends—why leave it sitting at the curb the rest of the week? You have a couple …