October 2010, Vol. 11, No. 10

In This Issue:

Thwarting Wikipedia's Vandals
Revised Model for Ice-Cap Melting
Global Competitiveness Rankings
Campus Secularism
Click of the Month: Challenge.gov
News for the Futurist Community
What's Hot @WFS.ORG

THWARTING WIKIPEDIA'S VANDALS

Pete may very well love pancakes, but posting this fact on the Wikipedia entry for Abraham Lincoln would be considered vandalism by anyone seeking useful information from the site. Other cases of cyber-graffiti at Wikipedia have been more malicious, such as changing Microsoft's name to "Microshaft."

Crowd-editing keeps most Wikipedia entries honest, but the potential for vandalism is high; Lincoln and Microsoft both are popular targets for abuse. Now, a group of researchers at University of Iowa has developed an algorithm to alert officials when a new edit to an entry seems suspicious.

The statistical language model algorithm detects words or patterns that don't exist elsewhere in the entry and assigns a probability of the words appearing; unique terms such as "pancake" in the Lincoln entry are flagged as possible graffiti.

Other types of cyber-vandalism are less easy to detect with this approach, however, such as the photograph of a redwood tree that was inserted to replace Lincoln's portrait—a change that went undetected for two years.

SOURCE: University of Iowa: http://bit.ly/b89CfW

REVISED MODEL FOR ICE-CAP MELTING

The Greenland and West Antarctic ice caps are melting, but at only half the rate previously predicted, according to a team of U.S. and Dutch researchers.

Past estimates of the rate of ice-cap melting in Greenland and western Antarctica may not have properly accounted for movements in the Earth's crust that alter mass distribution and influence the gravitational field.

Using data from satellites and GPS measurements of land and sea-floor pressure, the researchers concluded that the ice caps are melting at approximately half the speed originally predicted and, as a consequence, that the average rise in sea levels will also be less. However, they cautioned that "there are too few data available to verify this independently."

SOURCE: Delft University of Technology: http://bit.ly/99IZ5u

MOVING FROM VISION TO ACTION IN VANCOUVER!

The theme of the World Future Society's next annual meeting is WorldFuture 2011: Moving from Vision to Action. The conference will take place July 8-10, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the beautiful Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre.

Approximately 150 speakers will offer their latest insights and strategies; among the speakers already confirmed are:

Aubrey De Grey, cutting-edge expert on human longevity and co-author of Ending Aging.
Erica Orange, business futurist and vice president of Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc.
Ramez Naam, technologist and author of More Than Human.

The focus will be on developing specific action plans for meeting--and getting ahead of--the challenges we face now, but sessions will cover a wide range of topics, including technology, education, health, business, families, communities, work trends, social change, the environment and resources, globalization, education, governance, futures methodologies, and much more. In addition, keynote speakers and special events will focus on significant global issues and breakthrough ideas.

GLOBAL COMPETITIVENESS RANKINGS

Switzerland is once again ranked number one on the Global Economic Forum's latest international competitiveness rankings. Sweden, rising to number two, is also joined by Finland, the Netherlands, and Denmark in the top 10, making the Nordic countries one of the most economically competitive regions in the world.

The Global Competitiveness Report compares countries on the strength of such measures as infrastructure, institutions, labor market efficiency, education and training, technological readiness, and innovation, in addition to a poll of more than 13,500 business leaders in 139 economies. The goal is to give policy leaders a picture of their competitive strengths and weaknesses.

The United States fell two places from 2009 to 2010 (placing fourth behind Singapore). According to the report, the downward slip in U.S. competitiveness reflects concerns for the strength of U.S. public and private institutions, as well as its financial markets.

SOURCE: Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011: World Economic Forum

CAMPUS SECULARISM

A U.S. organization supporting nonreligious student groups reports a growing number of such groups on campuses at the start of the fall 2010 term.

According to the Secular Student Alliance, a record 219 groups offered atheist and agnostic students an alternative to religious ministries on campus. There were 159 such groups in 2009 and 100 in 2008.

The trend toward increased secularism on campus reflects a broader trend in U.S. society, according to the Alliance. The 2008 American Religious Identification Survey showed that the secular demographic was the only group to have grown in every state since 1990.

SOURCE: Secular Students Alliance: secularstudents.org

CLICK OF THE MONTH: CHALLENGE.GOV

Challenge.gov

In an effort to make governance not only more transparent, but also more inviting and rewarding, this Web site managed by the U.S. General Services Administration promotes creative problem solving from the public by issuing challenges to earn cash prizes.

Recent challenges include the EPA's radon awareness poster contest, the Labor Department's call for "what do you do" career videos to help job seekers, and the Agriculture Department's search for recipes to improve nutrition in school lunch programs.

Federal government employees are encouraged to submit challenges on behalf of their agencies, and all citizens are encouraged to share the challenges through their social networks.

NEWS FOR THE FUTURIST COMMUNITY

* FUTURES BOOK INCLUDED IN E-CATALOG: Sociologist Wendell Bell's seminal work "Foundations of Futures Studies, Volume 2--Values, Objectivity, and the Good Society: Human Science for a New Era," published in 2004, is now available in e-book format. The book may be downloaded either in whole or by chapter, from Transaction Publishers, a leading social-science publisher. Transaction now offers more than 300 of its titles in e-book format. DETAILS: http://bit.ly/b4DzI2

* FUTURE FLOW: Forthcoming from The Futures Lab is FUTURE FLOW by Derek Woodgate, offering a prescription for building a future beyond today's turmoil. Woodgate recommends "positive cognition" including emotional conditioning and changing our assumptions. DETAILS: http://www.futures-lab.com/books/future-flow/

WHAT'S HOT @WFS.ORG

* NEW DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT: WFS is pleased to welcome Jennifer Boykin to our staff in the newly created position of director of development. Jennifer will also manage conference planning and membership relations, and has plans to help boost services for local chapters. Her experience in marketing, sales, and strategic management in both the corporate and nonprofit sectors will be a great asset to the Society, enabling us to deliver an exciting array of new services for members.

* OUR MAN IN JAPAN: World Future Society communications director Patrick Tucker will be temporarily setting up shop in Japan beginning later this month. He will be telecommuting (and expanding the WFS international presence) through May, as his wife, Beth, pursues work for her PhD on Japanese history and culture. Patrick will also continue his work as senior editor of THE FUTURIST and can be reached at ptucker@wfs.org

* WFS.ORG: Have you visited the new World Future Society Web site? The beta site recently went live, and we welcome your comments, suggestions, and critiques. While there is a wealth of ideas and information there for nonmembers (such as the Top 10 Forecasts from Outlook 2011, a preview from the report to be published in November-December, http://bit.ly/c4x8Fw), the new member benefit of free access to the vast FUTURIST archive is a great reason to join the Society now. And remember, Professional Members also have access to the articles published in WORLD FUTURE REVIEW. DETAILS: Benefits

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