You may be familiar with the current campaign from Barclaycard, promoting it’s combined Oyster/credit/debit card, which has a decidely futuristic feel about it. Barclaycard are exploring the theme of ‘future’ in more depth via a new blog called WTF Collective - What’s The Future?
The site focuses on London, and is a place for people to see and discuss the future of London, broadly split into categories including ‘Spare Time’, ‘Creativity’ and ‘Minds and Bodies’. It also features posts from recognised names alongside those yet to be discovered - the future perhaps?
I like the approach taken - it looks like a genuine blog, and thankfully doesn’t have any advertising, it’s very grassroots and easy to look at.
But I like even more the connection between the broad categories chosen and the idea behind the actual product. Essentially, as we move more toward a futuristic society, where technology like OnePulse is created and used, how is that going to impact on our everyday enjoyment of life? Who is going to emerge as future talent, and are they actually going to use technology etc. etc.
So it’s a good place to check out for insight and opinions, after all, what is technology without a general desire to use it?
I’m glad that they’ve included categories that aren’t just ‘entertainment’, which would be too obvious. ‘Relationships’ and ‘Mind and Bodies’ are really interesting subjects to look at.
I read an interesting interview with techno legend Richie Hawtin in which he points out that relationships are no longer defined by physical interaction; that’s almost a lucky bonus to physically meet your friend in todays world. So these areas are probably even more important than music and film, and I’ll be checking back to see what insights are revealed by everyday normal people.
Right, I’m off to think of something interesting to post on What’s The Future?