It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.
— Isaac Asimov
Several years ago, I realized that there were a lot of sites being created by folks who were simply re-posting events, videos and news articles for the sake of reporting on the coolest things out there. Today’s audiences are constantly drawn in by the words “what’s hot, what’s not, what’s next and what’s cutting edge.”
But cool for cool’s sake means little. In our quest as individuals to be the first to know/blog/experience something, we are taking less and less time to look at things outside our personal parameters. Given the overwhelming amount of content and news out there, the web has allowed us to cherry-pick what concerns us and ignore the rest. Consider this great quote:
“I am an information junkie but what and how much I take in is very personal — otherwise, of what use is it? Unless something is personally interesting or personally meaningful to you, don’t pay it any mind. Seek out knowledge on a per-need [or per-obsession!] basis. Latch on only to those which touch you or move you. Don’t be greedy. Filter your intake of information and media. You decide what’s signal and what’s noise in your life.” – Lush, 4/13/05, Ask.Metfilter.com
Consequently many folks get a one-sided view of issues and events.
Borrowing the term “pattern recognition” from William Gibson it occurred to me that the micro-trends occurring in culture, politics, entertainment, art, technology, etc were, in fact, clues that formed larger movements that affected societal change. If we took the time to look across the wide-world [pick up a new magazine, stop by a new store, click on a new link] seemingly unconnected things can quickly become thoroughly connected. All these clues begin to form patterns of ideas and ideals that, when pieced together – are in fact the very things propelling our nation and our society forward.
So thus. This site.
Trend hunters, trend forecasting and futurists are nothing new. In 1993 Cotton Inc. was one of the first companies to tout its employment of a woman by the name of Haysun Hahn to help them determine the next fashion and consumer clothing trends. Then in 1997, two major stories brought the “occupation” into the mainstream. The New Yorker published an article titled The Coolhunt by Malcom Gladwell and Utne Reader featured a series of stories related to its cover “Beyond Hip.” Of particularly interest, Utne’s Let them Eat Lifestyle which examined Corporate America’s growing quest for cool. Over a decade later we’re bombarded with sites like TrendHunter.com, Trendwatching.com, Nowandnext.com, Coolbusinessideas.com, Thecoolhunter.net, Coolhunting.com, etc. Some of these, backed by very successful research consultancies.
ForwardNation is less about forecasting the next big thing. It’s not here to report on what’s hot and what’s not. It’s written with the idea of discovering + observing how it [meaning the universe around us] all fits together. My hope is that ForwardNation becomes less of a blog and more a webzine. A participatory site where others contribute their opinions, insights and own pattern recognitions occurring in today’s fast moving world. Together, we can discover some pretty interesting things that have potential for a big impact down the road.
Happy reading. Happy discovering.
