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3 significant trends in technology focused on by Dan Whaley:

Dan got his start creating the first ticketing software for online travel companies. As he his company grew 600 employees strong, Dan began to realize he wanted his talents to have a more meaningful impact. hypothes.is was born soon after. In a world of misinformation and information-overload, “We lack the basis for knowing what is credible,” comments Dan. hypothes.is is a crowd-sourced credibility rating system that gives us real data into what journalists or commentators have the highest integrity, or which doctors are most skilled, according to other experts. hypothes.is is both lean and agile and the product on all levels is as transparent as they come. Support hypothes.is here - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dwhly/1239089754.

Through repetition and experiential learning, education is accelerated – and fun! Etcetera Edutainment makes training games and simulations for workplace safety, product education and advergame marketing. Gaming principals are increasingly being used to educate people both in and outside of educational environments. Jessica Trybus demonstrated this with a electrician job-simulation training game by making a mistake that resulted in a mortal blast. The screams in the room were enough to demonstrate the point. “Can you do it again?” someone asked from the audience.

The best technologies are both fun, and useful. From augmented reality, showing us the ratings and comments on restaurants on the other side of the wall, to 3D printers that allow us to manufacture widgets and jewelry in our own homes, the pace of change is monumental. And the consequences are ill-understood. “What about when technology is not used for good,” asked one of Josh Knauer’s plants in the audience. “What about the personal data that Apple, Facebook and Google are collecting on us – our geo-coordinates, our documents, our pictures?” “Privacy is done.” said Josh, and proceeded to describe the list of data that can be bought with just a street address (mortgages, pets…). “If privacy is dead than the antidote is total transparency in the government as well,” was a perfect response from the audience.

So the question becomes, is science evolving faster than our ethics and ability to apply it responsibly? Or for every new terrifying technological application, is there also an equally positive one? Thanks to places like SVN, we can take comfort and inspiration from the creative and empowering technologies from the likes of Josh, Dan and Jessica.

Written by Charlotte Rademaekers CEO and Founder of Call2Action www.Call2Action.com “Spark a Movement”