Research Roundup
September 25, 2009


Tools for the Future
The Near Future (and Recent Past)
Social Trends, etc.
Other articles, essays and items of recent interest
Refresh and Reflect



Tools for the Future

  • A cutting-edge web tool from the Nature  Conservancy employs the latest climate data to let users see the direct impact of global warming and other climate trends at the local, regional, and global levels.  (According to one model, for example, parts of central New Mexico will experience a 20% decline in precipitation by the year 2100.)
  • The World Future Society offers 20 Forecasts for 2010-2025—"trends and  forecasts that are likely to affect virtually all aspects of your life in the years immediately ahead." Some of the forecasts (such as a national WiMax network providing high-speed internet access) have direct implications  for museums; others point to social trends that museums can help shape (such as the need to educate Americans about new nanotechnologies). This site also offers general advice about forecasting the future.

The Near Future (and Recent Past)
  • An impressive 93% of the growth in the U.S. labor force between 2006 and 2016 will be from workers age 55 and older, says a new report from the Pew Research Center's Social &  Demographic Trends Project. For more details.
  • The British journal New Scientist asked eight leading science fiction writers to speculate about the world 100 years from now. You can read their short stories here.
  • How big a problem is  the language gap between Americans and the rest of the world? "This year, as 200 million Chinese students study English, fewer than 50,000 American  students will study Chinese. While virtually 100 percent of European and Asian elementary students study a second language, 97 percent of Ohio and Kentucky  students do not because their schools don't offer one." Read more in this article from the Cincinnati  Enquirer.
  • Nearly half of nonprofit  organizations (47.5 percent) have laid off staff members since the start of the recession to cut costs as donations dwindle, according to a recent survey by the consulting firm Campbell & Company. Read the short version here or the full report here.
  • Real spending on U.S. travel and tourism declined 1.4 percent in the second quarter of 2009 (after a dramatic decline of 8.9 percent in the first quarter), according to a new report by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.  Tourism prices and tourism-related employment were also down sharply—with few signs of immediate recovery. (Thanks to Hotel News Now.)undefined

Social Trends, etc.:
  • Prefer smaller cities?  Then visit Small Town Gems, a website devoted to the best (and worst) small towns in America.
  • Worried about rural America? This article from the Chronicle of Higher Education on the rural brain drain will probably add to  your concerns. However, researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture report that "Members of the baby boom cohort, now 45-63 years old, are approaching a period in their lives when moves to rural and small-town destinations increase. ... If baby boomers follow past migration patterns, the nonmetro population age 55-75 will  increase by 30 percent between now and 2020." See a summary here and the full report here.

Other articles, essays, and recent items of interest:
  • Historian (and head of the  Harvard University library system) Robert Darnton makes a case for the continued relevance of books.  He reminds us that "every age has been an age of information, each in its own way" and that the current obsession with new technologies hardly means the book is dead.
  • Modern art appeals to the  heart; ancient art appeals to the head. That seems to be the conclusion of a  new study by researchers at the University of Rome, as reported by Miller-McCune.com.  

Refresh and Reflect:
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