Looking forward to the next decade

by Gordon McGowan

The naughties: considered largely the decade of terrorism, war and the iPod apparently.

So, what next? A Torie Government, inflated top-up fees and the death of the Compact Disc?

Arts London News takes a sweeping overview of a few things that students can actually look forward to over the next ten years.

The 3D Revolution

The ‘90s introduced us to DVD, the ‘00s brought us the short-lived HD-DVD and its ultimately successful rival Blu-Ray, and now 3D is the latest bandwagon for technology developers to leap upon in their droves.

Late 2009 saw the release of James Cameron’s Avatar, which utilised the technology in ways previously-unseen, helping propel the film to the levels of commercial success rivalled only by Cameron’s previous mega-budget epic Titanic.

Now, the majority of the major television manufacturers have announced plans to produce "3D Ready" sets over the coming months, and Sky is planning to launch its Sky 3D TV service later this year.

Three-dimensional TV works by producing two images onscreen simultaneously, decoded by special headwear, which comes packaged with the television.

Gone are the silly multi-coloured lenses of yesteryear, now replaced with “high-precision active shutter glasses” according to Panasonic.

They look just as ridiculous, but at least they’re black this time.

The internet breaks free

Attitudes toward the use of the internet and computing in general have shifted over the course of the last decade, and this has been due in no small part to their increasing accessibility and usability.

No longer a "specialist subject", ten years ago the internet was accessed almost exclusively via computer.

The next decade will see a huge increase in non-dedicated products offering internet connectivity as standard.

Mobile telephones, mp3 players, radios, televisions and games consoles all currently utilise direct connections to the internet for various purposes, and things will continue to go in this direction: from digital cameras that upload photos directly to websites to ebook readers that automatically download the content of daily newspapers.

The internet is becoming increasingly mobile by the day, and will likely be incorporated into just about everything.

Social networking gets social

If the internet is to break free from the shackles of the computer, doesn’t this mean that the young people who utilise it primarily for social networking would follow suit?

There has long been speculation as to what will eventually be the next fad website to inherit the crown once interests move on from the almighty Facebook, and sites like Foursquare may just be the direction in which we’re heading.

Funded in part by Twitter co-founder and Chairman Jack Dorsey, the service’s premise is "location-based social networking."

After enjoying success in the US since its launch last March, Foursquare’s developers launched it in London last October and worldwide more recently.

Users of the service can log into the application on their mobile phones and "check-in" from their current location – be it a bar, restaurant or so on.

Using satellite tracking, the programme then registers the "check-in" on its mapping system and notifies the user’s friends of their whereabouts.

Users can see which of their friends have previously visited that venue, any comments they or anyone else may have left about it (a sort of electronic graffiti on its virtual walls), or even which of their friends are close-by.

Then, anyone left out of the action can log in to see, for instance, that seven friends checked in within the last hour from Joe’s Bar on Regent Street and join in.

It awards points for each check-in, especially from random and obscure places.

Furthermore, "badges" are awarded for specific check-ins, such as "Explorer", for checking in from many different venues, "Gym Rat" for frequently checking in from a gym, "Warhol" for checking in from ten different art galleries and so on.

Harmless fun? Naysayers will of course complain that the service is yet another tool for Big Brother to monitor the whereabouts of the public and invade its privacy, but the terms "social networking" and "privacy" have arguably long-enjoyed lives at opposite ends of a spectrum.

The 2012 Olympics

July 27, 2012 sees London host the Summer Olympic Games for the first time since 1948, and the third time overall.

Despite a budget plan generally considered to be shambolic and an infamous and widely-ridiculed logo, preparations for the games are apparently now going smoothly and on-schedule.

The Games is creating jobs, opportunities and accommodation for many, and despite the huge cost, should make a significant impact on the local economy.

The football World Cups

Arguably the biggest event on the sporting calendar, the next decade will contain three FIFA World Cups, starting with this summer’s tournament in South Africa, followed by the event hosted by Brazil in 2014 and then finally 2018’s tournament, whose host has yet to be decided.

England has thrown its hat into the ring to host the 2018 competition, which means London may play host to two sporting events of such a high calibre in the next decade.

Expectations and ambitions are high going into this year’s contest, with England currently on top form, producing a string of excellent results in qualifying.

The side have further been boosted by being handed a relatively easy group, and thus, yet again the inevitable premature murmurs of this being England’s year to win it has begun.

Expect to see a country awash with flag-bearing and pride, which hopefully won’t shortly be replaced with bitterness, scapegoating and anti-German sentiment.

Elephant and Castle’s redevelopment

Much to the delight of current and future London College of Communication students, Arts London News reported in December that the stalled plans to regenerate the Elephant and Castle area have finally been given the green light to continue.

Demolition of the first block of the Heygate Estate is due to begin this month, with £1.5bn invested in the redevelopment, taking place in one of the most deprived areas of Southwark borough.

The Elephant and Castle Opportunity Area want to establish a thriving and vibrant cultural centre, with improved recreational facilities, shops, businesses and housing in the area.

LCC students, who often bemoan the lack of facilities in the area surrounding the college, have welcomed the news.

Crossrail

Much to the dismay of many displaced London College of Fashion students, this year sees work finally begin on London’s ambitious £15.9bn Crossrail project.

Due to be up and running in 2017, the line will run from Maidenhead in Berkshire and Heathrow airport in the west, through central London via the West End, the City and Canary Wharf, towards Abbey Wood in southeast London and Shenfield in Essex.

It promises to make travelling in the region faster and easier, with 100mph trains capable of carrying more than 1,500 passengers each.

Before that, this summer will see the reopening of the tube’s East London Line, now extended further north and south and becoming part of the London Overground rail network.

The cures for blindness and HIV?

Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are currently developing a microchip which could help blind people gain at least partial eyesight.

The chip, which is still a few years away from human testing, is implanted onto the patient’s eyeball, and a special pair of glasses with a tiny video camera would be worn which would transmit images to the chip, which in turn sends them to the brain.

Another apparent breakthrough was made last year, when positive trials of an apparent HIV vaccine were published.

Unfortunately, the full set of results was eventually revealed, which showed to be, nowhere near as significant as initially thought.

Nonetheless, it was a step in the right direction, and we may yet see a more effective vaccine by the end of the decade.