<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>When planning for the future, media managers must balance realism with the need to foresee unexpected changes. This article investigates images of the future in the Norwegian media industry in the early years of the 21<sup>st</sup> century and identifies five key trends that media managers envisioned: <italic>personalized content, user-generated content, rich media, cross-platform media</italic>, and <italic>mobility</italic>. We argue that increased reflection on such visions and how they are formed may put managers (and researchers) in a better position to meet the future. We therefore ask to what degree they were influenced by actual developments at the time, or anchored in more classical imagery of the future. The analysis illustrates how new technologies become focal points for articulating old dreams about the future. At the latest turn of the century, the mobile phone served as such a focal technology.</p></abstract>

When planning for the future, media managers must balance realism with the need to foresee unexpected changes. This article investigates images of the future in the Norwegian media industry in the early years of the 21st century and identifies five key trends that media managers envisioned: personalized content, user-generated content, rich media, cross-platform media, and mobility. We argue that increased reflection on such visions and how they are formed may put managers (and researchers) in a better position to meet the future. We therefore ask to what degree they were influenced by actual developments at the time, or anchored in more classical imagery of the future. The analysis illustrates how new technologies become focal points for articulating old dreams about the future. At the latest turn of the century, the mobile phone served as such a focal technology.

High Risk, Strong Belief

Associate Professor; Director of Studies, Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo

Dr.art., Associate Professor; Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo

Dr.polit., Associate Professor; Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo

Ph.D., Professor, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"subtitle":"Images of the Future in the Media Industry","article-title":"High Risk, Strong Belief"}

When planning for the future, media managers must balance realism with the need to foresee unexpected changes. This article investigates images of the future...

High Risk, Strong Belief

Published Online: Jan 30, 2017

Page range: 3 - 16

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2017-0126

Keywords
scenarios, personalization, user-generated content, rich media, cross-platform, mobility, focal technology

© 2010 Anders Fagerjord et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

High Risk, Strong Belief

Published Online: Jan 30, 2017

Page range: 3 - 16

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2017-0126

Keywordsscenarios, personalization, user-generated content, rich media, cross-platform, mobility, focal technology

© 2010 Anders Fagerjord et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
scenarios, personalization, user-generated content, rich media, cross-platform, mobility, focal technology