Not Panels, It's Engagement!

In the past there have been occasions where technological change has led to swift societal change. And this has usually resulted from the fact that something that was once scarce becomes abundant overnight. For example, the invention of Movable Type led to the printing press which greatly expanded the disribution of text and messages.

Now we have a similar shift which of course where digitalisation is changing the nature of Journalism, Photography and Music.

In all cases we see that what was once described as a profession is changing. Mass amateurisation is changing the nature of who can publish and who can filter the information. So we have professionals but we still have others who can do for the love (and maybe, yes, the money too....)

What about research? Is research not also undergoing rapid digitalisation? And in a world where everyone is a citizen researcher what is left? Well, firstly a rapid re-evaluation of what research is, and what the profession is (and always was). Secondly, increasingly the edge is in data streams in terms of the professional vs the amateur.

So we move from an emphasis on people to proprietary infrastructure to integrate.

There is no doubt that marketing is becoming ever more like a service. A service that has utility to break through each of our personal bubbles by being personal, anticipated and relevant. One only has to look at behavioural targeting to see this trend.

Will research do the same? It seems to me that what the internet does is to amplify the very humanistic need which is to connect with others. Now we have the ability to connect with people from anywhere about things that we could only have dreamed of a short time ago. Some of these connections are positive, some not so positive (depending on your perspective of course). But this is where the interest is - connecting with micro-markets at a personal level.

Just as marketing does. Just as will research will do. Bring humans together to understand them deeper than we have ever been able to do. And that is happening whether we like it or not. And whether we talk about internet penetration levels or not.

Marx once wrote about the inevitabily of another C word - Communism. Whether you agree with that is up to you but there is something very useful in his thinking. Inherent contradictions in each method of accumulation would lead to the next linear phase from feudalism thru capitalism thru socialism.

In Russia, it is widely acknowledged that they tried to jump one phase with interesting consequences. China? Is that now also possible with communistic research? Will we see organisations jump one phase of on-line research and go directly to another? Will we see some countries or regions skip a phase of on-line accumulation? I think that we already are.

The consequences of this are going to be interesting and unknown just like those above. And that is what gets me out of bed in the morning. You?

At the moment all of the things that I read and play with revolve around C. So I am calling it the C Space.

Collaboration
Conversation
CrowdSource
Closeness
Cocreation
Ok, yes you can you have Community as well. If you must.