Multi-Channel Services of the Future

Abstract

We need to understand people’s needs to use technology and what kinds of services, technological infrastructure and legislation are needed to build an open, balanced information society. Future research (i.e., current research aiming at learning about the future) provides the tools for preparing visions and future scenarios and making the future. As an example of making the future, we will present the idea of communication camps, which aim at making multi-channel services more common. In addition, we have written three short stories to illustrate the multi-channel services that arise from people’s needs. The stories are based on the use of disciplined technological and sociological imagination (Mills, 1959), and we use them to illustrate the opportunities that multi-channel services offer to everyday operations.