Humanification book jacket

Humanification: Go Digital, Stay Human.

“Humanification is more than just an idea; it’s a new wave of understanding that helps to make sense of what’s driving technology, what’s in store for a new more collaborative society, and how we do business in the future”. Christian Kroome.

Christian Kromme is a well-known figure in the world of disruptive innovation and digital transformation with a background in the sciences. Kromme was able to use this expertise in an incredible way when his daughter was given months to live. I would hate to give the impression that this is a book of despair though; it is far from that. Rather than accepting the diagnosis, this book shows how Kromme’s investigations into patterns, trends and the evolutionary nature of technology saved his daughters life. Challenging and disrupting the ‘norms’ or accepted beliefs is shown throughout this book. Humanification explores the ideas and frameworks that underpin the introduction of new technology and shows how the emotional side of technology and the need for it to feel natural to the user, plays such a key part in the adoption of new tools.

The book has three parts:

• The principles of Humanification
• The 7 waves of innovation
• How to adapt, innovate and thrive

The ideas throughout the book are supported by case studies of well-known technologies and platforms. Kromme explains the Super Curve and the needs within it: Culture, Energy, Information, Automation, Social, Learning and Creative. It looks in-depth at the patterns within patterns and how we can use this knowledge to identify and solve problems with the implementation of technology in our own context. It explores the idea that everything moves in waves and identifying which wave you are in helps you to identify future technological developments.

The final section focuses on how we can take advantage of our knowledge so far by adapting our thought processes. Although some chapters could be condensed, this is an exciting book which is relevant to the work of learning technologists. There are predictions for how our society will work in the future and how nature, technology and the empowerment of the individual will all work together.

“Biology provides us with a blueprint of how we can use technology to build a social, coherent and sustainable humanity. The more human and natural technology feels to the user, the faster this building process can take place. This is the concept of humanification”. Kroome.

You can read a chapter of the book here

Rachel Challen, Head of the Learning and Teaching Support Unit, School of Arts and Humanities, Nottingham Trent University. rachel.challen@ntu.ac.uk, @RKChallen.

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