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"In 10 years, the effect will be very pronounced," Wacker says. "The whole scenario of multitasking the media will be on steroids by then."
Steve Masiclat, associate professor of communications at Syracuse University's Newhouse School, agrees. "There will definitely be a proliferation of screens - screens on the telephone, in the dashboard, in the elevator. There will be very thin television screens all over," he says. "And the definition of news will change. Soon news will become the information you need at a particular moment. People will become more attuned to what they need in a particular context, and that will drive their definition of news. Right now, most of us are always within easy earshot of a radio. We have our cell phones, our computers and there are TVs in elevators. But that proximity to news needs to be tailored to what people actually need."
Masiclat, who also serves as director of the graduate program in new media at the Newhouse School, says advances in Internet protocol (IP) technology will facilitate this news-you-can-use-now future. The other critical development, which Masiclat believes should be well under way in 10 years, is the ability for information devices to absorb consumer feedback.
"That's going to take some time, because we haven't been taught to ask for what we want," he says. "If I'm in an elevator with a TV screen and it stops, I need very specific information. I can tell a human being the elevator is stopped and I need to know what happened, but how do I convey that information to a machine?"
Making it Personal
Consumer feedback will facilitate a trend already in play: the growing customization or personalization of news. Personalization of the news-giving individuals what they want when they want it-has been a topic of boardroom and cocktail conversation among media executives for decades. Long before the Internet became a news medium, newspapers and magazines were producing zoned and regional editions. However, analysts say the future holds an ever-growing array of information options, allowing consumers to pick and choose content as well as timing and delivery methods.
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