Work in a world when printed Oxford English Dictionaries are artifacts
by Jenny Ambrozek
The piles in my office point to my reading behinded-ness but I wonder if anyone else caught the May 11, 2008 New York Times Magazine article reporting that the Oxford English Dictionary has no future plans to publish print versions. The author, Virginia Heffernan laments:
”But while The New York Times and other newspapers have refrained from rash decisions about their print editions, the Oxford English Dictionary — staid, right? — has already shaken off the shackles of print and said cheerio (“a parting exclamation of encouragement”) to books! The stab I felt was sharper than nostalgia. It was fear. “
From TheAppGap perspective it was the OED editor’s reported comment regarding technology that caught my attention:
“ In any case, we’ve only finished from volume ‘M’ to ‘quit shilling.’ We have about 20 years’ more work to do revising and adding entries. Who knows what will happen with technology in 20 years? We certainly don’t.”
“Technology in 20 years?”
Prompted by hearing about Dave Weinberger’s references to Ray Kurzweil at the Community 2.0 Conference (at which Patti Anklam spoke), I went searching for what occupies Kurzweil these days. In terms of what technology will look like in 20 years this video is interesting.
Bottom line. If carbon based humans are challenged to keep up in an exponentially digital world in 2008 then how will we manage in 2028? What will work and technology look like then? What trends now will help us see the future?
A serious question and I look forward to reading your thoughts.
~ Jenny Ambrozek
