The Internet has always been about experimentation, collaboration and
communication. It was designed to erase the physical and intellectual
boundaries that separate us by making communication effortless and
nearly instantaneous.At its core, that vision of collaboration remains very much a part of the connected experience.
Here at TechCrunch, we share that notion of collaboration and open communication, which is why, a few months ago, we began expanding the role contributors play on the site.
What started as an experiment back in November has been more successful than we could have first hoped. From thoughts on the coming battle for the customer interface to a history of the first trillion-dollar startup to an explanation of the importance of cards in the mobile web, we’ve run some great pieces.
Now, we’ve got an updated editorial calendar for 2015 (below) that you can peruse.
It’s important to emphasize that the topics we map out for the year shouldn’t limit the pieces that you, our super-smart gang of readers and writers, submit.
We’ll always look to publish the best thoughts from the startup, entrepreneurial and investment communities: articles like Bill Maris’ excellent rumination on the arguments for and against a looming tech bubble; Kevin Rose opining on the douchebaggery of the gold Apple Watch; Ben Horowitz’s musings on pressure; or Vinod Khosla writing about the future of health. Their voices will always have a home here.
The calendar is for those reluctant recluses among you to take a shot at writing about your technological predilections and provocations.
Technology truly is shaping every human endeavor, so any human endeavor is fair game for you to observe and analyze through tech’s lens.
Think on this: When the pope has an accelerator; politicians stump for office via hologram; virtual reality has become a reality; and there’s a computer in nearly everyone’s pocket before everyone has access to enough food and clean water, then there’s no limit to the ways in which technology transforms our lives.
We’re asking you to help us reflect on what’s behind these black mirrors, and we can’t wait to read about what you see there. So take a peak at the 2015 calendar below and send us your words.
January
Consumer Technology
Timed around the mega (shit)show that is CES, there’s no better month to discuss the latest and greatest in gadgets and gizmos. Send us your thoughts on those poor and tired ideas — and the works of staggering genius — designed to part the tech-obsessed from their hard-earned loot.February
Arts and Media
Media and the arts have been shaped and reshaped by technology since humans invented paint. As the pace of change increases, industries have been born, died, and been resurrected. Meanwhile, our appetite for bread and circuses persists unabated. So… Calling all digital artists, musicians, actors, investors, entrepreneurs, agents, plastic surgeons, tell us what you’re seeing happening around how technology is changing “the biz”.March
Politics
The advent of the first “Internet President” has ushered in a new age of technology’s influence on politics.With India’s future prime minister stumping around the country through a hologram, and the nation’s tech elite pushing political agendas on everything from immigration reform to education and Internet access, the two strange bedfellows seem to have evolved into a co-dependent relationship. The tech industry has its roots in academic research and government largesse, but these days it seems like politicians are rising and falling in part due to the support of an active tech industry.
As the coalition of technology executives standing up for LGBT rights reveals; the tech community has a growing awareness of its clout and an increased willingness to take public stands on hot-button issues.
April
Environment
For most folks in the venture business, there’s no more debate around the validity of climate change. The pace of environmental degradation due to climate change seems to be increasing, and at this point, it’s a matter of what can be done to mitigate its worst effects.As President Obama has said:
“We need scientists to design new fuels. We need farmers to help grow them. We need engineers to invent new technologies. We need entrepreneurs to sell those technologies. We need workers to operate assembly lines that hum with high-tech, zero-carbon components. We need builders to hammer into place the foundations for a clean energy age. We need diplomats and businessmen and women, and Peace Corps volunteers to help developing nations skip past the dirty phase of development and transition to sustainable sources of energy. In other words, we need you.”And we need you, those same engineers, entrepreneurs, workers, builders and diplomats to write about the ways in which you are answering this challenge.
May
Finance
The coming wave in financial services technology innovation is going to be huge, and it’s going to change more industries than the general public realizes. The nearly $1 billion that investors had spent on financial services technology companies as of the first quarter of 2014 has been dwarfed by investment in subsequent quarters. Not only is venture capital changing finance, but finance is changing venture capital.
In the wake of tax season, and as the
frenetic pace of investment in the first half of the year begins to wind
down, we’re looking for thoughts on the investment landscape and the
business of money. Money changes everything and
technology is changing money, so we’ll look at ways the wealthiest
invest and examine tools designed to eliminate the problems of the
poorest.
June
Work
Summer is starting and students are getting ready for vacation, but for the majority of the population a true vacation is non-existent. How is technology transforming the work world? From wearable technologies that make work easier to software technologies that improve the hiring process, we want your thoughts on the new workplace and the role of mobile devices and computing within it.July
Exploration
Space isn’t the final frontier anymore. From startups planning missions to Mars and mining asteroids for minerals, to the tiniest particles man has manufactured, we’re still pushing boundaries. We want input from those of you who are putting the tools of tomorrow into the hands of the entrepreneurs and visionaries of today. If you’re pushing the boundary in any field, let us know about it.August
Travel
In the doldrums and depths of summer we all think about getting away for a while. How is technology changing the travel business? We’re not only talking about booking a trip or staying in a hotel, but also how cars, trucks and aviation are changing. What innovations are being applied to the way we move ourselves, and how do we think about that movement?September
Health
Arguably there’s no industry that has been more transformed by technology than the field of medicine. Advancements in genetics have transformed medicine and the treatment of illnesses, while the increased processing power and mobility of computing is helping to create a new architecture for building the healthcare companies of tomorrow.Tell us how things like wearables, mobile devices, the ability to process massive amounts of data, and the modern miracles of new medical treatments and devices are developing and changing how we think about health.
October
Religion, AI and Robotics
Even as religion begins to embrace the power of technology to reshape human society, technology may make religion obsolete through the demise of humanity. If technology is as radically transformative as we say, it’ll touch even our sense of our spiritual selves. So let’s discuss it. And (hopefully) building off of our heady submissions on technology’s transformation of religion, we’ll get into technology’s transformation of intelligence and sentience.How are artificial intelligence and robotics evolving? How can they impact our sense of what evolution means? What is intelligence? We’re becoming ever more comfortable with robots in the home and on the factory floor for discrete tasks, but what’s next for us…. and when, if ever, will we need to think about invoking Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics”?
November
Education
From artificial intelligence to foundational learning, everything about education is changing through the application of technology. Each step in the evolution of sentience can be husbanded by a computer now. In fact, technology is changing the concept of a “proper” education as startups and entrepreneurs develop new ways to train our brains and the business of education itself is disrupted. Tell us how things are changing. Tell us what’s next. Tell us whether it’s good or bad. But above all teach us about these radical changes to what, how and where we learn.December
Commerce
December means Christmastime, and consumers are going to be participating in one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year. So how has technology impacted the oldest business and what’s changing about the art, architecture and avenue of the sale?Submission Guidelines
(It is in your best interest to read the following very carefully before you submit.)- Send your post in the body of an email, and as an attachment, with high-resolution images (if any) to Jonathan Shieber (shieber@techcrunch.com).
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Congratulations! We Want Your Post!
(It is in your best interest to read the following very carefully if your submission has been approved.)- You got an email telling you that we will run it within the next two to three weeks! Huzzah! Pat yourself on the back! Take the crew out for coffee or drinks! And don’t ask us when it will run.
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