The question of how ICTs will affect the world in the next 10, 20, or 30 years, therefore, has become a sociological question, because it is the state of society that will determine which directions technology will take, and how it will be used.
Indeed, if you visit the many sites that look at the likely state of life decades ahead, they have explicit or implicit underpinning assumptions about the state of society. This is precisely why we get the two extreme predictions: utopia on one hand, and nuclear desert on the other hand – with many variations in between.
A specific example of the state of society driving technology starts with the growing indicators of climate change. These have increased global awareness about the fragility of our environment, and we see the immediate impact of this at a personal, national, and global level. This is in turn driving major investment in green technologies.
Dr. Tusu has written a comprehensive paper on these trends which you can download below
Global Digital Transformation Trends and Implications for African Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)_V2