1. IFAP Special Event: Information and Knowledge for All, Emerging Trends and Challenges Digital natives (are they) walking on the tightrope ? Alfredo M. Ronchi EC MEDICI Framework alfredo.ronchi@polimi.it

2. IFAP Special Event: Information and Knowledge for All, Emerging Trends and Challenges

3. Some clues Ontological point of view: digital “objects” represent a completely new class of objects – Copies are clones – Almost zero cost of reproduction – Instant transfer and dissemination – … Lower threshold to reach masses, immediate broadcast New Agorà Real time action and reaction Point to point and peer to peer communication Basically no difference due to census, sex, geographical location, etc Moore’s Law, dropping costs Quick implementation even from scratch No real need for backward compatibility …. Why “Digital revolution”

4. IFAP Special Event: Information and Knowledge for All, Emerging Trends and Challenges First of all we need to agree on the relevance of access in the nowadays society. Stating from 1995 an increasing number of information and services are mainly available through digital platforms. The problem is shared between industrialised countries and emerging countries, no matter for census, sex, location, … Elderly people, disable, etc Plus: Democratic access to mass information Bottom up processes enabler Platform for ”smartness” (smart cities, smart transportation, etc) “Info sphere” (plus and drawbacks) …. Drawbacks Distraction due to continuous request of attention Risk to be “interaction” addicted Misinformation & misuse Virtual life overtaking real life … Access: why is so important ?

5. IFAP Special Event: Information and Knowledge for All, Emerging Trends and Challenges Technology is evolving... PCs... ubiquitous access to services (*) From “e” to “m” (e.g. eGovernment -> mGovernment); From “programmes” to Apps Local Storage and Processing to Cloud Computing (SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, Haas) … And as it happens in the maturity phase of many sectors “performances and good by definition…. The choice is about appeal” Users are evolving.... new way to use / “consume” media, information & news From professional users / Computer Scientists to former digitally divided; From content consumer to content prosumer: From information provision to service provision; From Information Society to knowledge society and more over consciousness society:.... Market is evolving From plastic box on the shelf to on line shops From few expensive software solutions to many cheap Apps.... From software companies to single or small groups up to social & crowd sourcing … Software Market Developers side: Online distribution and payment based on e-shops enabled the access to the mass market to single developers; Standardization of systems and guidelines helped... Customers side: People is looking for the Top 10 Apps; The consume of Apps is continuous; The market model is based on low costs /big numbers; The IPR management is evolving... Digital media are evolving....... The present: some trends

6. IFAP Special Event: Information and Knowledge for All, Emerging Trends and Challenges Islands, archipelagos... Technology it is not enough Hardware it is not the solution – sometimes it is a “bad ambassador” Hardware and software without content and services it is not useful We may enjoy happy islands or even archipelagos thanks to some content and service infrastructure Political approach of announcements... We announce the day after tomorrow skipping the present day

7. IFAP Special Event: Information and Knowledge for All, Emerging Trends and Challenges We own a thousands of years expertise in preserving physical information only few decades about digital information The problem is still underestimated and involves both institutions and private citizens creating a potential “black hole”. Some keywords are: pipelining digital objects, appraisal, digital preservation, etc. etc. Last but not least allocate budgets for preservation Future Access... Preservation

8. IFAP Special Event: Information and Knowledge for All, Emerging Trends and Challenges BLACK HOLE ? Activate principles of digital preservation Awareness Policy and guidelines (who is in charge, hosting, etc) Best practice ICT companies cooperation …. DIGITAL & FUTURE HERITAGE

9. IFAP Special Event: Information and Knowledge for All, Emerging Trends and Challenges Taking adequately into account the transition period toward ….. Promote identification of future scenarios (+5 +10 +…) thanks to cross-”cultural” working groups Promote awareness about potential benefits and risks Promote an harmonious implementation of “eSociety” (e.g. quality content & services) Protect users against hidden threats... Institutions‘ role

10. IFAP Special Event: Information and Knowledge for All, Emerging Trends and Challenges Cloud of Keywords Clear goals Endorsement Technology (hard soft) Infrastructure Interoperability Regulations, Policies Political and Financial support (some times) Content and service developers Quality Content Added value services Interworkability... Crowd Sourcing - prosumers

11. IFAP Special Event: Information and Knowledge for All, Emerging Trends and Challenges It’s a long way Thank you for your attention alfredo.ronchi@polimi.it