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Notes

Number 3 (2010)

How the "Download Generation" Will Drive Electronic Charting in a New Direction

Submitted
August 13, 2013
Published
2010-03-12

Abstract

Over the next decade we are about to see an amazing transformation as the generation that grew up with the internet, wireless communication and geo-location starts to take over the work force. They have far different expectations than we have or had. They are showing the energy, creativity and ingenuity to remake their world to their own liking. This will certainly change electronic charting as we know it. Young people understand technology convergence better because they start at a different place. They have an innate sense of how something will work, they learn quickly and are fearless about trying things. This carefree approach gives them a big advantage. Often the mistakes they make are based on a false assumption that the technology is better than it currently is. Older, non-digital na-tives, lack this basic intuition of how things flow together. They may have a better basic understand-ing of how the underlying technology actually works but they lack the social context of how it will be used. We examine their values and from these make several deductions about how the ―Download Generation‖ might think about re-engineering our charting world. It starts with the collaborative knowledge, activism, customization, realism, and the search for ever increasing detail values as they apply to our mapping world.