by Jody Turner (design and culture trend spotter)

How do we leverage people’s need to connect in order to stay vital in the changing information landscape? We must recognize the very human desire to belong to a community.

“Beauty is a great thing, but we want to be at the beginning of the line.”

Librarians are at the beginning of the line–how do we leverage this position?

We have an information glut. Librarians give value to the information because people need context and “smart” information. “Need information that will feed the soul.”

We are feeders of information to many groups/generations. Focus on humanity and balance.

New model, “Be who you are and figure out what happiness/having is for you.” People redefining who they are and what they want/what is important. “Data is the new social capital.”

New framework: Social Capital
Empathy=Innovation= 360 Degree Design
It is about culture in order to reconstruct community. People want to belong.
“I like to think outside the quadrilateral parallelogram.” (love this)

As content curators, it is about bringing people together in meaningful interactions. Everything is about connecting and community.

Trends

• Collective Craft Intelligence: we want to come back to touch and creation (it’s a maker’s world)
• DNA of Community: people need human community connection in order to excel
• Knowledge Evolution: self-responsibility for learning, lifelong learning

Success for planning to get attention: from DreamCompany.dk

• Engage the SenseMakers: they make everything make sense; use words to capture what is happening and make sense of trends for others, Trend Watching (Right/Intuitive brain)
• Need the Factuals: down to earth, statistic-driven researchers (Left/Creative brain)
• Innoventors: outlaw creative, innovative, stand outside and willing to take action to create a shift (Left-Right)
• Connected Community: willing to support and amplify your vision/passion

Need a mission statement. Important because it is your center/rudder to stand tall even with all changes in the world. “Design for betterment.” There should be a transparency in your own personal message in order to have people believe and follow you. (Check out the books: Unstuck, The Art of Innovation, A Whole New Mind, Baked In, The Power of Pull)

Online Attention: 4 Basics: Story of You, Story of Us, Story of Me, and Story of We.
Trend of reductionism: Cult of Less. Minimize the amount of tech gear you have by combining functions in one gadget (i.e. smartphones).

Trend toward online education. (This is more about changing the philosophy of teaching and pedagogy, from “sage on the stage” to “guide on the side.” You don’t have to be online in order to foster lifelong learning and collaborative learning.)

Curation happens with experience and information–it’s about how you put things together in new and unique ways.

Trend: Infographics
Visualizing and displaying information in graphics–very cool.

Summary
We need to focus on humanity and balance in order to give information that is meaningful for individuals who are part of many social groups. People want to belong. Don’t market to create a need, market to create community.