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Category Archives: research topics
Higher education reaches an inflection point, continued
Has American higher education reached a decision point in its history, with a major transformation on the way? I raised the possibility earlier this month in response to a study about private college enrollment and financial aid. I return to the … Continue reading
Posted in future of education, research topics, Uncategorized
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Futuring media, one solid project
2020 Media Futures is a fine example of a collaborative futuring project. The topic is specific (Canada’s media landscape), but the practices are quite generally applicable. 2020MF uses a variety of futures methods: Environmental scanning, or signals from the media … Continue reading
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Anticipating the future through vocabulary
A new database project attempts to identify impending genocide by spotting key textual indicators. It’s crowdsourced, called Hatebase, and a co-sponsor describes it like so: Hatebase, an authoritative, multilingual, usage-based repository of structured hate speech which data-driven NGOs can use … Continue reading
The future of technology brought to you by the letter “S”
Maybe the long boom of technological disruption will slow down, ponders sf writer Charlie Stross. We are undeniably living through the era of the Great Acceleration; but it’s probably[*] a sigmoid curve, and we may already be past the steepest … Continue reading
Reversing the future
John Crowley, brilliant writer of splendid speculative fiction, meditates on the future in the most recent Lapham’s. I’d like to draw attention to two main points, beyond the brooding lushness of Crowley’s prose. First, there’s a futuring method on display. Even if … Continue reading
Looking into the rest of the 21st century with Shell scenarios
Shell Oil published a set of future energy scenarios. Two of them are older ones. Scramble describes a global energy panic. Blueprints assumes stronger governmental planning and control. Shell also released two new ones:
A playful model of a decade
A map of the next decade: the IFTF released a fun set of scenarios for the next ten years. Why fun? Because they proclaim these are all unlikely. ”too fast to be believable” is one set. And “Type 2 scenarios … Continue reading
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The stories of an avalanche
“Snow Fall” is a fascinating experiment. It’s the story of an avalanche in the American northwest. That story appears in text format, along the lines of long-form journalism. But “Snow Fall” also includes well done, nicely selected multimedia, including a 3d … Continue reading
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I take on scholarly communication and the future
I’ve started a research project on scholarly communication, which has led to two publications so far. First, a column on the future of scholarly publication, seen as part of higher education. It’s my initial Educause Quarterly column, a series on … Continue reading
Posted in research topics, writing
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