Research Roundup
Date: December 31, 2008

To usher in the new year … predictions about the near future:
  • Trendwatching.com offers “Half a dozen consumer trends for 2009”: Nichetributes, Luxyoury, Feedback 3.0, Econcierge, Mapmania, and Happy Ending (“The silver lining of each downturn”).
  • The Futurist magazine offers its own “Top 10 Forecasts for 2009 and Beyond,” starting with the cheerful prediction that “Everything you say and do will be recorded by 2030.”
Social trends, etc.:
  • According to the Wired Campus blog, “By 2020, Access to Internet Will Be in Everyone’s Pocket”:
“The verdict on the future of the Internet is in (once again), and experts overwhelmingly agree that by 2020 much of the world's population will connect to the Web using mobile devices, according to a new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The report, The Future of the Internet III, included predictions from some 600 experts, including scholars and Internet stakeholders, about what path the Internet will take. … An earlier report, published in 2006, also predicted what the Internet would look like in 2020.”
  • Two new papers from CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) examine rates of voluntary service and other forms of civic engagement among various subgroups of Americans. One paper shows that “race and ethnicity and socioeconomic status are each predictors of voluntary participation.” The other “summarizes historical trends since the 1970s and provides hypotheses about why we may see different rates of participation in various specific forms of civic engagement by race, ethnicity, gender, age, and socioeconomic status.” See more at New Working Papers on Underrepresented Groups in Volunteer Service.
  • A new survey sponsored by Pepsi shows that “Millennials [are] Anxious Now, Optimistic about Future.” (Are Millennials the current Pepsi Generation?) The survey is part of the “Pepsi Optimism Project” (POP). According to the press release, “Nearly all Millennials (95%) make positive associations when they think of the word ‘change,’ associating it with ‘progress’ (78%), ‘hope’ (77%) and ‘excitement’ (72%).” These results are similar to the findings for other generations – but the “Millennials (57%) are … much more likely than Gen Xers (49%), Baby Boomers (38%), and Post-War Americans (27%) to report feeling ‘excited’ about the future.”
Research Reports:
  • The Institute for Museum and Library Services has just released the first comprehensive report on public funding for U.S. museums, Exhibiting Public Value: Government Funding for Museums in the United States. The bottom line is that public support accounted for just 7% to 33% of museum revenue in 2006, depending on museum type. The Museum Financial Information survey conducted by AAM in 2005 pegged government support for museums at 24%, which is comparable to the latest results from IMLS. By contrast, the latest Arts Research Monitor from Hill Strategies Research summarizes several reports on government funding for museums and related institutions in Canada; there in our Northern neighbor, government support accounted for 67% of all revenues for non-profit museums and galleries in 2006-7.
“Britain’s National Endowment for Science, Technology, and the Arts (NESTA) has released yet another interesting take on the nature of innovation. The latest study assesses the distinctive innovation contributions made by arts and humanities research. Arts and humanities scholars bring unique perspectives to the table. They are able to help gauge the effects of scientific change on societies, and also help translate the findings of scientific research to a broader population. The report notes that arts and humanities organizations can serve as important intermediaries and partners with other key stakeholders among businesses, researchers, and others.” Download the full report at Arts and Humanities Research and Innovation.
  • According to Internetnews.com, information overload imposed a $900 billion burden on the U.S. economy in 2008: “Every year, research firm Basex calculates the cost of information overload and the numbers keep going up by a staggering amount. For 2008, Basex estimates information overload cost the U.S. economy $900 billion in lost productivity. For 2006, that figure was $588 billion.” Meanwhile, the Columbia Journalism Review tries to tackle the overload problem from a different direction in “Overload! Journalism’s battle for relevance in an age of too much information.” 
Abstract: “New research on arts and culture points to a range of impacts in US communities. Arts and culture - including informal activities such as gatherings in parks and community centers where group traditions are maintained and/or invented, church-based artistic activity, and through the convergence of professional working artists in neighborhoods - shape communities in a variety of ways ranging from community health to community development and the creation of social capital. Planners and policymakers would do well to incorporate new research findings about arts and culture into their work on the design and revitalization of communities.” The full report is available at http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411806_arts_and_culture.pdf.

Other articles, essays, and recent items of interest:
  • Want to know the latest about crowdsourcing and the interface between Web 2.0 and consumer goods? Read Mass Customization & Open Innovation News, a blog about “mass customization, personalization, customer integration, and open innovation.” 
Useless Time-Wasters:




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