My postgraduate coursework student Qiongli Wu pointed me to the Trendwatching site the other day - very interesting stuff. This ties right in with much creative industries theory, and especially points to the rise in user-led content production which is also at the heart of the open news and blogging phenomena I write about in my Gatewatching book. Of course in watching for new trends in this field the Trendwatching team are involved in a form of gatewatching - and what's more, they've even set up a world-wide network of what they call 'springspotters' to help them carry out this task.
Looks like Trendspotting will be excellent source material for my lectures in the KKB018 Creative Industries unit at QUT, and I might borrow their 'Generation C' label as I talk about the rise of the produser in the future. Of course much of Trendspotting's work has a strong marketing and advertising bent - the site is slickly designed and engagingly written, and it's important not just to fall for the gloss. Beyond it, though, there's a fair bit of substance here! I'll be coming back a fair bit, I think, especially as I work towards my next research goal - a wider study of the produser (the new hybrid of user and produser which is evident in so much user-led creative and innovative practice today).
