About the Blog
Welcome to The ICT Optimist Blog!
Over the past almost two decades, I have seen the information and communications industry grow slowly, grow at breakneck speed, stall, accelerate, stumble, redefine itself, shake out legacy companies and obsolete technologies, create breakthrough solutions, be cautious, be aggressive, act irrationally, act responsibly, lead the macro-economy, be led by the macro-economy, and almost every other descriptor you can think of except for one… this industry has never gone backwards for more than a moment. It is for this reason that I am an ICT optimist.
I truly believe that the most exciting era of the ICT industry is in front of us. I believe this for one simple reason: we have not created a technical solution to communication, collaboration and information that is so effective, transparent and useful that it replicates the experience we take for granted in the real world – face to face interaction.
Consider the effectiveness of personal interaction and the “technology” involved… When two people interact in person, do you consider the fact that sound waves are propagating to create understandable spatial audio? That visual clues allow us to detect emotion? That the environment around the people influences the way we talk and act? That our brains are processing the current data to put it in context and link it to the past? That even smell and touch are making the experience richer?
The work involved to recreate the richness of this interaction through technology defines our opportunity as an industry. We still have much more to do in order to rise to levels that we have not yet reached but are imaginable. That is exciting, and that is why I have stayed in this industry for so long (3 recessions, multiple turn around companies, many successes, many failures and endless opportunity).
This Blog is my forum for sharing my optimism about the ICT industry. As has always been my nature, I will be looking for the events, trends, technologies, people and companies that reflect that optimism and that highlight the opportunity the future represents.
For those of you who are looking for and believe in the optimistic aspects of our industry, we have a lot in common and I look forward to interacting with you and hearing your views. For those of you who prefer to dwell on failure, seek to slow progress and/or hope for the worst, maybe I can convince you of a better future? In either case, I am looking forward to the dialog.
Welcome!
John “the ICT optimist” Roese
- Dawn of Dusk? It’s all a matter of perspective.