This is one of nearly a thousand foresight statements shared by people from around the world. To return to the Voices of the People home page or to refine your search, click here.
Name: Steve Borsch
From: Minnesota
Bio: Strategist; Business/Market Development; "dot connector" (www.iConnectDots.com)
Area of Expertise: Futurist/Consultant
Topic: Communication
Headline: It’s all about the signal-to-noise ratio
Nutshell: The current cacophony of noise on the internetwork is manifested in inefficient and low-signal communications...but signal will rise exponentially and human communications and connections will be augmented in startling ways.
Vision:As bandwidth grows and access to the internet becomes increasingly ubiquitous in both wired and wireless forms, a drive toward making human communications more signal than noise will result in virtual spaces (virtual worlds, rich audio and video environments, and more) making communicating with others almost like being together in person.
Here’s one example from today in 2006: Skype’s 16khz vs. the Public Switched Telephone Network’s (PSTN) 8khz audio quality results in significantly reduced noise, higher signal and the result is (as many users report) a "calm, quiet and enhanced call. It seems more intimate and like you’re nearly in the same room."
Business strategists today look at the internet as a network that assists in increasing global collaboration, reducing cycle times in innovation and business process, and simply making business more efficient.
Imagine a future where ideas propagate globally at the speed of the internetwork (i.e., milliseconds). Where like-minded groups of people work side-by-side both synchronously in real-time and on projects left for others to continue on in an asynchronous way. All done in ways (with such high "signal") that it’s as though they’re together in the same room.
That incredibly high quality human communication and connection is the future of the internet. Audio, video, screen sharing, virtual worlds close to real world resolution, combine to provide people with the ability to connect, share, discuss, collaborate and communicate with each other regardless of distance *via applications, in "spaces" and via methods which closely approximate being together in person*.
Date Submitted: October 3, 2006