My postgraduate coursework student Qiongli Wu [4] pointed me to the Trendwatching [5] 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 [6] 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' [7] to help them carry out this task.

Looks like Trendspotting will be excellent source material for my lectures in the KKB018 Creative Industries [8] unit at QUT [9], and I might borrow their 'Generation C' [10] 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).