The internet is far too full of gobbledygook, quite literally and often figuratively. Futurist that I am, I predict that the ability to synthesize massive amounts of information into bite-sized chunks will become ever-more important as reading materials and communication pieces continue to migrate online. Publishing companies, take note.
Those working in the field of information design have a decent heads-up when it comes to understanding how to sink or swim in an information-saturated culture. When information is now available by the Google-load, all at the click of a few buttons, what will set some resources apart from the others is their ability to dissect, synthesize, and represent information in a useful and accessible way. Increasingly, multidisciplinary tools (infographics, easy-to-understand videos, and the like) are being used to communicate information to the average consumer. And those consuming this information are frequently coming back for more.
Imagine, if you can wrap your head around this concept, an infographicy augmented reality-like search engine. That is my slightly ambitious dream of where the internet (atleast the "smart" version) might be headed. Telling a good story is just not good enough anymore, but the design trade can help storytellers of fact and fiction alike get their bits and bytes into the public's noggins. Eventually, if the rate of information feeeeeding it's way into the airwaves continues people will either unplug, go crazy, or start a revolution. If the work of information designers is any hint, I think that a revolution might be in the making.
Don't get what i'm talking about? Take, as one small example, this brilliant project recently launched by IBM that uses incredibly smart visualization techniques to summarize what blah blah bland bills in Congress hold within their pages.
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