Funding Journalism in the Digital Age Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Funding Journalism in the Digital Age: Business Models, Strategies, Issues and Trends takes a comprehensive view of the issue - how the news business got into this mess as well as ways to get out of it. It is a must read for journalism professionals, journalism students and anyone else who is concerned about the future of quality journalism.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Funding Journalism in the Digital Age

The news media play a vital role in keeping the public informed and maintaining democratic processes. But that essential function has come under threat as emerging technologies and changing social trends, sped up by global economic turmoil, have disrupted traditional business models and practices, creating a financial crisis. Quality journalism is expensive to produceso how will it survive as current sources of revenue shrink? Funding Journalism in the Digital Age not only explores the current challenges, but also provides a comprehensive look at business models and strategies that could sustain the news industry as it makes the transition from print and broadcast distribution to primarily digital platforms. The authors bring widespread international journalism experience to provide a global perspective on how news organizations are evolving, investigating innovative commercial projects in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, South Korea, Singapore and elsewhere.

Click here for more information about Funding Journalism in the Digital Age

Read More...

Beyond 2020: Envisioning the Future of Universities in America (American Council on Education Series on Higher Education) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)What a great idea for a book! Poll the leading scholars and presidents to try and predict the future of the university in a global economy and global information market. Whither go shared governance in the age of the corporatization of college life?! If you care about the future of the university, you will read this book.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Beyond 2020: Envisioning the Future of Universities in America (American Council on Education Series on Higher Education)

In a world progressing with dizzying acceleration into the Information Age, the slow, measured approach of the traditional university can place administrator, faculty member, and student alike at a disadvantage. To move into this brave new world, the academic animal needs tools. Beyond 2020: Envisioning the Future of Universities in America is that tool. Higher education experts in a host of fields project into the future and paint a clear picture of the future university. Nearly two dozen scholars, including James Duderstadt and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg, provide the most detailed road map yet to the perils and promise of the Information Age-as it directly applies to academia.This is a collection of refreshingly frank opinions and observations from forward-thinking experts on the front lines with the best views on how to prepare the healthiest possible institution of tomorrow. It is something akin to an academic prophesy, but grounded in the expertise of a combined several centuries' worth of higher education experience.

Click here for more information about Beyond 2020: Envisioning the Future of Universities in America (American Council on Education Series on Higher Education)

Read More...

Minitrends: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This book serves as a great guide to identifying and even handicapping new technologies and technology trends within larger social and economic contexts. I apply these principles to competitive assessment, but they would apply equally well for entrepreneurs or venture capitalists. This book works well because these days discerning new trends, especially small ones, is not as straightforward as it might seem. In fact, the sheer number of emerging technologies has made discerning smaller but nevertheless significant technology trends something of a lost art. I recommend this book to anyone who wishes to learn the principles that futurists apply to assess emerging technologies. The payoff will be the competitive advantage that will result from understanding how specific technologies and trends are likely to play out.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Minitrends: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends

Find, Evaluate, Profit! MINITRENDS provides a practical formula for extracting business opportunities from major trends that have a realistic chance of becoming profitable in the next 2-5 years. Minitrends are of a scope and importance to offer attractive business opportunities to individuals and organizations that are alert enough to recognize them, perceptive enough to appreciate them, and clever enough to take advantage of them.Readers learn:
How and where to search for Minitrends
How to evaluate the business attractiveness of a Minitrend
How to develop an effective Minitrend Explotation Scheme
How to turn the scheme into a profitable business opportunity
Based on author Dr. John H. Vanston's more than 30 years of experience in identifying and applying technical, social, and business trends, the book shows:
Individual entrepreneurs how to identify, assess, and exploit new business opportunities
Decision makers in small and mid-size businesses how to gain advantage by recognizing and utilizing emerging trends
Innovative thinkers in large businesses how to distinguish themselves by their special perceptiveness
Investors how to uncover attractive new investment opportunities
In addition to how-to advice, MINITRENDS provides background, current trends, and business opportunities for several attractive Minitrends.Combining advice, instructions, and examples, MINITRENDS assists the reader in launching their own exciting, profitable "Minitrend Adventure" using their imagination, logic, innovative nature, and basic good sense. This book is an amazing resource for ambitious individuals who seek to start new ventures or keep existing businesses innovative and competitive."MINITRENDS presents a set of practical-but-powerful tools and mindsets...HEROIC!"--David Pearce Snyder, Strategic Forecaster, Contributing Editor, The Futurist

Click here for more information about Minitrends: How Innovators & Entrepreneurs Discover & Profit From Business & Technology Trends

Read More...

AN Optimist's Tour of the Future: One Curious Man Sets Out to Answer "What's Next?" Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I really enjoyed this book! It is very readable and offers a very informative look at some of the most important future technologies. It's based on the author's travels and interviews with the top people in the various fields. I find it interesting and surprising that a professional comedian would write such an insightful book on these subjects.
The book looks at genetics/biotech engineering, robotics and artificial intelligence, transhumanism (merging people and machines), nanotechnology, the commercial space program and technology to battle climate change. The last part of the book focuses on how all this might affect people, society and culture. As the title suggests the book has a generally optimistic take on these technologies, but it does offer some balance, and the author keeps up his sense of humor (British humor) even when writing about existential treats from things like engineered viruses or nanotechnology grey goo.
Highly recommended for anyone who wants to get an idea of what might be coming in the next few decades. The book didn't talk alot about the economics of all this, and one thing I wonder about is unemployment from advanced robots and artificial intelligence. For more on that also check out The Lights in the Tunnel: Automation, Accelerating Technology and the Economy of the Future, which is also an easy and informative read and talks about many of the same technologies more from an economic point of view.
If you really want to delve into the technology and especially transhumanism there is also Ray Kurzweil's (who was interviewed in this book) classic, The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology (but that is a much more challenging and technical read that this book).

Click Here to see more reviews about: AN Optimist's Tour of the Future: One Curious Man Sets Out to Answer "What's Next"

In the tradition of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, a smart and entertaining guide to the future of civilization When unexpectedly confronted with his own mortality, Mark Stevenson-a writer, deep-thinker, and stand-up comedian-began to ponder what the future holds for our species. "The past is a foreign country," writes Stevenson. "By my analysis it's a bit like France-in that I've been to parts of it and eaten some nice food there. But the future? The future is an unknown territory-and there isn't a guidebook." Thus, his ambition was born. Stevenson set out simply, asking, "What's next?" and then traveled the globe in pursuit of the answers. Along the way, he visited the Australian outback to visit the farmers who can save us from climate change, met a robot with mood swings, and talked to the Spaniard who's putting a hotel in space. While some might be overwhelmed, or even dismayed by the looming realities of genome sequencing, synthetic biology, a nuclear renaissance, and carbon scrubbing, Stevenson remains, well, optimistic. Drawing on his singular humor and storytelling to break down these sometimes complicated discoveries, An Optimist's Tour of the Future paints a wonderfully readable, and completely enthralling portrait of where we'll be when we grow up- and why it's not so scary.

Click here for more information about AN Optimist's Tour of the Future: One Curious Man Sets Out to Answer "What's Next"

Read More...