Misunderstood but not ignored, futurist Ross Dawson is out on the speaking circuit again ahead of a new publication.

And this time the Sydney-based creator of the 'Newspaper extinction timeline' - who takes credit for predicting the social media revolution - is more optimistic, perhaps in a pragmatic acknowledgement that many of his predictions are unlikely to be fulfilled.

At the INMA World Congress in New York last month, he said his purpose was to provoke, "to be able to wake people". And he said the rare prediction timeline - published almost five years ago and "one of the only predictions I've made" - is "significantly misunderstood."

"As a futurist, I believe predictions are often not worthwhile because nobody knows the future. The future is unpredictable," he said. "Yet the reason why I did make these predictions was to provoke, to be able to wake people."

In his INMA presentation, he says his purpose would have been achieved if he provoked people to consider why they disagreed with the timeline; the intention "was never to necessarily be right.

"This is about news on paper. I think the dynamics of that are not bright. But the point is about the news overall, the future is extraordinarily bright."

The predictions will be revised later this year, five year after the original publication.