I’m trying to compile a list of major technological and societal trends that influence computing research.  Here’s my list.  Please post your own suggestions!

Recent technological and societal trends

• Ubiquitous connectivity, and thus true mobility
• Massive computational capability available to everyone, through the cloud
• Exponentially increasing data volumes – from ubiquitous sensors, from higher-volume sensors (digital imagers everywhere!), and from the creation of all information in digital form – has led to a torrent of data which must be transferred, stored, and mined:  “data to knowledge to action”
• Social computing – the way people interact has been transformed; the data we have from and about people is transforming
• All transactions (from purchasing to banking to voting to health) are online, creating the need for dramatic improvements in privacy and security
• Cybercrime
• The end of single-processor performance increases, and thus the need for parallelism to increase performance in operating systems and productivity applications, not just high-end applications; also power issues
• Asymmetric threats, need for surveillance, reconnaissance
• Globalization – of innovation, of consumption, of workforce
• Pressing national and global challenges:  climate change, education, energy / sustainability, health care (these replace the cold war)

What’s on your list?  Please post below!