When the disruptors become the disrupted
Futurist Thomas Frey: At what point will Wikipedia no longer matter? I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I predict a competitor will emerge to steal the majority of both mindshare and eyeballs from Wikipedia within the next ten years.
Continue reading… “When Wikipedia No Longer Matters”
When today’s data goldmines becomes tomorrow’s data carcasses
Futurist Thomas Frey: In 1859 the tiny community of Tin Cup, Colorado got its first taste of gold fever. A tiny amount of gold was all it took for prospectors to start poking around with hopes of striking it rich. Twenty years later they landed their first major strike and rumors of the find spread across the country.
Continue reading… “Ghost Towns of the Internet”
Futurist Thomas Frey: “Does being smarter make you happier?”
Continue reading… “Competing for Status”
Tobacco will kill 6 million people this year.
Nearly six million people, including 600,000 non-smokers, will die this this year from tobacco. Governments are not doing enough to persuade people to quit or protect others from second-hand smoke, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Continue reading… “Smoking Death Toll Could Reach 8 Million a Year by 2030”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1jek4U7vbg&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]
Short video clip on “Systems Thinking”
recorded at the Plan Fort Collins event on March 3, 2010
Futurist Thomas Frey: A recent article in iLibrarian explained it this way.
Online education seems set on its course to overtake traditional colleges within the next few decades, especially as our society becomes ever more dependent on the internet to get our work done. Thomas Frey, an expert on online education, compares our growing reliance on the education system to the reliance of ancient Romans on their numeric system. He indicates that much like the Romans, we have become increasingly reliant on our education system which is meant to pass on information from one generation to the next, hesitant to any change that may occur (explaining the rough transition to online education).
Continue reading… “Systems Thinking and the Future of Education”
Futurist Thomas Frey: When Hurricane Katrina hit the city of New Orleans the US Post Office was faced with a major dilemma. For countless centuries, the modus operandi for the post office was to deliver mail to a location, and the individuals who lived at that location would stop by and pick up their mail. But following the hurricane, the floods had destroyed all of the “locations”.
Continue reading… “Addressing the Problem of Addresses”
Futurist Thomas Frey: On Tuesday evening we had a packed audience at the DaVinci Institute to discuss the future of micro farming. Admittedly, we weren’t terribly well organized and the range of topics we touched on were far more than most of us could reasonably consider in a single setting. But for those who took part in the discussion groups, some amazing ideas came to light.
Continue reading… “Inventing the Rocking Chair Tree”
Futurist Thomas Frey: The total number of governmental bodies in the U.S. is approaching a staggering number – 90,000. During normal economic times there is plenty of money to go around, but now every city, state, county, parish, township, and special taxing district is competing for the same tax dollars that the federal government is.
Continue reading… “A Country of 90,000 Governments”
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can’t read & write,
but those who can’t learn, unlearn & relearn.” – Alvin Toffler
Futurist Thomas Frey: So what is literacy?
The first time I listened to an audio book I thought I was cheating. As a child, reading for me seemed like a lot of work, and my teachers kept piling on more reading assignments, continually feeding into the notion that reading is hard work.
Continue reading… “Next Generation Literacy”
Many baby boomers fear they have not saved enough and will run out of money during their retirement.
Nearly half of baby boomers face so much uncertainty that they fear that their retirement will result in poverty, according to a new study by California-based investment advisers Financial Engines.
Continue reading… “Baby Boomers Face Uncertainty, Fear Outliving Their Retirement Savings”
Libraries in the future will come in many different forms
NOTE: The following is a reprint of an interview that recently appeared in American Libraries Magazine
Without consulting a crystal ball, Thomas Frey, executive director and senior futurist at the DaVinci Institute, writes and speaks about a promising future for those libraries strongly connected to their communities and quickly adaptable to the changing world around them. Tom Sloan, executive director of the DuPage Library System in Geneva, Illinois, asked Frey to discuss the future of libraries.
Continue reading… “The Future of Libraries: Interview with Thomas Frey”
Futurist Thomas Frey: In March of 2007 I posted my original paper on the Future of Education where I talked about a system based on an iTunes-like approach where experts around the world could use a “rapid courseware-builder” to produce bite-sized courses, send them to a global distribution center, and students from around world could plug-in and learn whatever class matched their interests.
Continue reading… “Education as an App”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
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