 PRESIDENT’S WEB LOG 2007 Tim Mack, President |
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Virtual Reality 5/07
© 2007 |
July 2007,
No. 7 I believe that one of the most important roles WFS can play is to share information on the future with those interested. Not just ‘nice to know’ information of the ‘that’s interesting’ nature, but events, tools and approaches which can be practically applied at work, at home and on behalf of any organization. Of course, we already practice what we preach through our publications and conferences, but I am wondering about other more innovative tools which might provide additional value to WFS members and enrich the international foresight community. For example, we do discuss a wide range of trends in our various publications and at conferences, but don’t make it easy to provide feedback about them in a systematic way. Would the creation of a ‘tagging’ system be useful, where interested members could comment on or even rank trends by importance, probability, impact etc.? And then the results of this analysis could be published on the web site…. Also, would a WFS directory where those who are listed could edit their own entries be valuable? Finally, we hear from members about wanting more on-line content from the Futurist on the Website. We are working on that, but need to better understand which electronic formats are the most useful. This is a very important effort, as it really involves building new tools for all concerned. The ongoing development of Web 2.0 and its emphasis on user-generated content seems ideally suit to building new bridges within the WFS family. We have all heard about the web site known as Wikkipedia (which has a useful section on WFS), and the idea of building an broader interactive compendium about foresight and futures on the WFS website is an appealing one. While it might require a referee or two (as passions run high on questions like global warming) the chance to have an ongoing and spirited dialog while also providing useful background on critical issues seems to have a lot of value. What are your thoughts? The role playing web site, Second Life, has recently been suggested as an ‘undiscovered country’ which might serve as a place for WFS to expand its activities. Primarily a social network software, Second Life is distinguished by its graphic spatial (quasi-3D) quality and the chance to dress up (sort of like a science fiction conference). While it has yet to distinguish itself as more than an ego playground or low cost commercial setting, it would be useful to hear if anyone has had positive experiences there (instead of the negative ones that the media highlights). While we have long captured the audio portion of our annual WFS conferences, we only have video when an outside film crew shows up from a third party group such as media or a non-profit. But I wonder about exploring having member volunteers taking Video at some of the conferences events? As the cost of such an effort continues to go down, so does its labor intensity, and it seems possible that we could add to the value of the conference experience by making copies of important presentations available to both attendees and those who were not able to travel. What would be needed is a sense of how practical an idea this is and whether there are sufficient interested volunteers to make it a reality. Finally, what about blogs? Regardless of the literary value of mine, does it make sense to have more of them, with different authors? More to the point, would any of you be interested in hosting a blog on a specific subject on the WFS web site? All and all, this week’s of a blog posting has been a bit more dialogic that the usual ones, where I just hold forth. That is because as I go along, I have been learning more from you than I ever expected about a wide range of subjects. Please keep it up, I loving hearing from you. tmack@wfs.org
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