The Nature of the Future: Dispatches from the Socialstructed World
Gorbis, a futurist and consultant, describes a new era she calls “socialstructing,” in which individuals use technology and the collective intelligence of a large group of people, their social network, to take on jobs previously done by big businesses and organizations. She cites the values in these networks, including open collaboration, independence, and the ability of anyone to rise to an endeavor. The author observes that “empowered by computing and communication technologies that have been steadily building village-like networks on a global scale, we are infusing more and more of our economic transactions with social connections.” She offers chapters describing how social structing will impact education, government, scientific research, and health. Gorbis suggests that young people need to develop new skills and capabilities for this self-driven and self-directed world with resources and content available on personal devices to increasingly acquire more knowledge and consume more rich content, or they will be left behind. This is a thought-provoking, excellent book for a wide range of library patrons. --Mary Whaley