‘Next Big Thing Summit’ with Don Tapscott – Keynote notes | #ConnectAU15

The Next Big Thing Summit is one of eight summits within the huge Connect Expo in Melbourne, 21-22 April 2015.

My notes from Don Tapscott’s keynote. He’s launching a 20th edition of The Digital Economy.

The pace of technology is moving almost too fast for us to understand. We’re moving into the second half of the digital chessboard (cf. Ray Kurzweil).

The technology genie is out of the bottle – all the previous revolutions (e.g. the printing press) were ‘one size fits all’ – this is not an information age; it’s an age of networked human intelligence, characterised by:

• Social media is moving into data mining e.g. Data Miner
• Mobility: e.g. Data Wind – with mobility comes geospatiality – we surf physical reality.
• Big Data – we created exobytes of information in a matter of hours. We have a whole generation of realtime analytics, being collected socilally, using our collective intelligence e.g. Stathletes
• Internet of Things – a trllion objects will be smart communication devices. Hotel doors with networked doors with IP address, 3D printed houses  and it’s not just abut home automation. The physical world is becoming ambiently intelligent
• The Cloud -and the way we connect and share every day.
• Robotics: Jobs being eplaced by robots

…so we have a new technological paradigm. We’e moving towards a next generation of internet. Current internet is actually not good for business due to huge third party intermediaries, such as Google, Amazon etc who we have to rely on to create trust for our relationships.

What if we had a world wide ledger?  Is BitCoin on the Blockchain the best way forward here?

Grown Up Digital

Grown Up Digital – they are now all grown up.The louder echo – demographic echo of the baby boomers who have come of age in the digital age. Children are now authorities on something really important. If we look at population pyramids across country, restricted immigration populations and passing baby booms means many countries have fewer young people. Tapscott surveyed thousands of young people in the states. They want:

• Choice
• Customisation
• Scrutiny
• Integrity – strong values, youth volunteering on the rise
• Have fun with a product or service
• Speed
• Innovation
• Collaboration

There are therefore changes in the culture of work, the new marketplace and new view on what it means to be a citizen.

Drivers for Change

New models for citizenship engagement, such as self-gathering groups, like those who gathered to bring Obama to power, groups gathering around the Arab Spring – these are not created by tech but by a new generation of people who want a voice.

Twitter can be used to signal injuries, citizen journalism, the presence of snipers, murder in the suburbs….

The arc of history is a positive one. We can use social media to create organisations that can create govt.

Video: CartoDB of protest around the world, but the dream is gone. We have massive youth unemployment and disullusionment.

Economic revolution

Ronald Coase asked – “Why does the firm exist? Why isn’t everyone a contractor?”. The answer? Transaction cost. The cost of search in an open market used to be prohibitive, so corporations make it easier to coordinate.

Now: Change in corporations – shift from hierarchies, more porous boundaries, transaction costs are falling with the rise of the internet and networking. Peers can come together and create value – think Wikipedia. These forces come together to create a “burning platform” – the cost of not changing is greater than changing.

5 Principles for Change

• Collaboration: Stories: 50 yr old mining company creates Ideagora (open market for uniquely qualified minds) to explore the extent of a rich new find / P&G – where more input comes from outside the company than inside / ‘Threadless‘ – prosumers, where the designs are created by customers / Dorritos Superbowl adverts created by customers.
• Openness: Transparency of information -think, Wikileaks and Snowden / ‘The Naked Corporation’ means that customers need to have visible integrity, values.  Bea ‘buff’ corporation.
• Sharing: You don’t need to own your whole IP. e.g Linux. The sharing economy, like Uber, Buzzcar and Air BnB (aggregation tools that uses up excess capacity)
• Interdependence: There has never been a time when we need a stronger govt. The civil sociaty and individuals all need to work together. e.g. Canadian banks did well in the GEC where govt regulation meant that banks couldn’t fix the mortgages
• Integrity: 3 values – be honest, consider the other party’s interests, do the right thing so you can be accountable. Bake integrity into our DNA.

Old models C20th

The old model of learning transmission needs to be replaced by flipped learning while at school teachers help you build projects {Ed: I would contest this!}

Govt hierarchies need to be replaced by governance webs, change the nature of democracy so it appears more legitimate. Think of non-voters movements. A “crisis of legitimacy”. People asking how else can we bring about change? Why don’t leaders have conversations with the population? Move into a strong era of representation and culture of active citizenship.

New solutions

New paradigms create rises in leadership. Paradigms are boundaries that constrain mental models and change creates confusion and dislocation. Invested interests combat change. Leadership can come from the top but now leadership can come from anywhere.

The future is something to be achieved and we all need to be part of that conversation.

Consider: Murmuration of starlings, that protects the birds, which is collaborative, open, sharing, interdependence, integrity, were every bird can take on a predator together.

Can we create a global consciousness? Can an age of networked intelligence fulfill its promise?