Charles Darwin once said:

In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.

In an era of unprecedented change in the communications, entertainment, and information technology sectors, it is about Digital Darwinism and our ability to thrive. Our future rests on how well we anticipate, adapt, and capitalize on the exciting changes that lie ahead.

According to the  FutureMedia Outlook 2012, a downloadable annual report by Georgia Institute of Technology (see link below) on the future of media and its impact on people, business and society, in the next five to seven years the media landscape will be full of increased personalization, innovation, and flexibility.

Six megatrends will have a pervasive impact:

Smart Data
In an increasingly noisy world, we’ll have to sift, filter and be smarter about what matters.

People Platforms
Beyond “true personalization,” they will be socially driven platforms made of algorithms from personal and associated data that people design and tailor themselves.

Content Integrity
Pervasive mobile devices, sprawling networks, clouds ,and multi-layered platforms have made it more difficult to detect and address our digital vulnerabilities, drawing us to trusted content sources.

Nimble Media
Media is evolving from a set of fixed commodities into an energetic, pervasive medium that allows people to navigate across platforms and through different content narratives.

6th Sense
Extraordinary innovations in mixed reality will change the way we see, hear, taste, touch, smell and make sense of the world — giving us a new and powerful 6th sense.

Collaboration
We will harness the power of many in an increasingly conversational and participatory world.

The report includes demonstration clips and video interviews with leading Georgia Tech researchers offering real-world examples of how the Institute is innovating in these areas. You can find it here.