nd boundaries: the future of digital content
The Jacobs Institute for Design Innovation, in partnership Storyblok and the headless CMS Storyblok hosted a two-day sprint that produced some bold, potentially game-changing ideas about “the future of the web”.
The judges awarded the prizes to a group of UC Berkeley students (and one or two alumnae) from different disciplines. Kuan-Ju Wu is a professor from the Jacobs Institute. He says that the team was encouraged to examine current technology – “signals from space” – and imagine what the future could be like.
Why we care. This is not something that you should include in your 2024 marketing budget. It’s important to remember that this contest was launched before everyone started talking about ChatGPT and generative AI. This shows that there are other concepts that could change the Internet and our relationship to it. Imagine how these concepts might be incorporated into marketing strategies someday. In this society, he said it was difficult to predict how quickly those ideas might become a reality.
The winner is…
The winners of each category are listed below.
Web Decentralization
According to the winning group, the future is “creating systems that bring end users closer to the process of design.” Websites are not just a way to present information, but also an opportunity for us personalize and enhance our digital experience.
Wu said: “Everyone can create their own digital version of the world they want.” It’s all connected in this future. They can share and transform data. It’s a mix of Minecraft and the new web. They often use Minecraft as an example.”
Dig deep: Metaverse and Web 3.0: What marketers should know
Best inclusive focus: Thought to thought
Two teams were awarded for their work on brain computer interfaces (see the fifth prize below). This was probably because there had just been a conference about the subject. This is a real-world technology that’s in development. It uses brain signals to communicate with computers and other external devices.
Wu admits that this project is “pretty crazy” and was one of the most imaginative in the competition. This idea touches on ethical issues, which is interesting to me, as you need to establish trust with others before you can share your thoughts. You are allowing people to read your thoughts.”
Find heart in Woven Cities: Best social impact
The small robot (and, frankly, stealable!) that two architecture students and an interested computer science student in public health created is perhaps the cutest part of this project. Wu said that the robot was a simple platform or agent. It is a place to store your ideas and thoughts. You can think of it as a mobile advertisement.
The robot would be free to roam, so that encounters would be spontaneous. The idea was born out of the COVID-era isolation and the fear of speaking to strangers. (Woven city is an imagined community.)
Most Actionable: Interspace
Wu explained that “interspace is the space between inner and outer space.” The team reflected on the state of social media, which encourages people to show an outer face and separate it from their inner thoughts, feelings and relationships with family and friends.
Wu said that “Those spaces can mix.” The final concept was an Tamagotchi wristband that allowed users to easily toggle between their inner brand and outer self when engaging with other people.
Best blue sky: Brain computer interfaces
Wu says that the ability to detect brain activity like alpha wave is an old technology. “I believe the newer technology will allow for a more sophisticated analysis of brain signals and a better understanding.”
This vision includes revolutionizing content creation and supporting people who have difficulty using a mouse or keyboard due to neurodegenerative diseases.
What will digital content be like in the future?
Brandon Watts, senior manager at Storyblok explained how the first collaboration between Storyblok and Jacobs Institute was born. Storyblok is a headless CMS that can deliver content to any existing device or channel. Watts stated that they were interested in what kind of content platforms will exist in the future. “We can speculate all we want, but this was an opportunity to partner up with Berkeley to get students to make educated guesses about where things may go.”
Watts explains that the concepts are ambitious, but they always include a content-management element because content must be stored and delivered in some way. It doesn’t really matter which platform Storyblok is on — all APIs are supported — so it could be a robot or a brain-computer interface.
What is the main point? The future may be more personal and inclusive. These visions are all one-to-one, instead of companies blasting content across a million different channels. What is the content journey?
The post Beyond Boundaries: The Future of Digital Content appeared initially on MarTech.