Horizon Report 2011

The technology identified from the Horizon Report 2011 is Augmented Reality (AR). AR as defined by the report is "the layering of information over a view or representation of the normal world, offering users the ability to access place-based information in ways that are compellingly intuitive." This falls into the second adaption horizon and the report expects this to be in widespread use within two to three years. This technology I believe is already in use to some extent and reminds me of the emergence of Graphical Information System (GIS) over 10 years ago which provided the framework for AR. The layering of related data as it relates to a geographical map. Google Maps for instance currently provides three dimensional views of locations giving building size, addresses superimposed on location and also an actual picture of the location and I believe this to be just the tip of the iceberg that leads to AR.


The trend identified from the Horizon Report 2011 is "The technologies we use are increasingly cloud-based, and our notions of IT support are decentralized."  This I believe is a highly debatable statement and is somewhat contradictory. In cloud based technology I perceive IT support to be centralized as opposed to decentralized to a great extent as opposed to a decentralized IT support for stand-alone systems. Also "increasingly cloud-based" as opposed to what distributed computing which has been around for many years now? The cloud-based notions are primarily being driven by large corporations who stands to gain financially from its widespread acceptance when in fact it will always be cheaper and safer to maintain your own data especially as storage space and CPU performance ratio to investment dollars continue to increase.

Horizon Report Wiki. Does the modified Delphi process that they used to develop it affect the results?

I do believe the process affects the results. The most impacting phase is the multi-vote system which I believe can skewed the outcome as a result of the influence of a particular technology which has widespread use amongst the Advisory Board members. So although the group is diverse there may be enough similarity especially in this globalized society that leans the vote in a particular direction. 

Irie Bam.