Week One: The Fourth Industrial Revolution – Klaus Schwab

Schwab’s chapter on megatrends and things driving the fourth industrial revolution (drivers) begins by organising the list into the categories: physical, digital and biological, as ideas like an ‘on demand’ economy and ethics are explored. The discussion has a strong focus on how new materials coming to the market are so vital to the innovations of the fourth industrial revolution.

It is the digital side to the revolution that was most interesting to me, I think largely due to how relevant it seemed to my life. Obviously there is a social relevance, as I own a smart phone and witness day to day developments, but it’s more the professional side that stood out. Schwab describes how technology is revolutionising the way we collaborate, in both scary and highly useful ways. Collaboration is clearly a huge part of a career in media and filmmaking, and while I very much enjoy doing so in person (or physically), the idea of also being able to do so digitally is very exciting, as it sort of generally increases the potential of any given project.

One instance of digital collaboration from my own work that comes to mind is a recent short film in which we had someone create titles and graphics and send them to us via Google Drive, never meeting in person. From this one experience, I would say that the idea of digital collaboration is a very exciting prospect, particularly in relation to media making.

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