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July 27-29, 2012 • Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel

Preconference Courses: July 26-27, 2012 • Professional Members’ Forum: July 30, 2012

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WorldFuture 2012 Humanity Sessions

Clouds, Crowds, and Complexipacity: How We Are Reinventing Science and Education for an Increasingly Complex World

Over the past decade, scholarly journals and the popular press have voiced growing concern that the explosion of new knowledge made possible by computers is making everything more complex, while the flood of data produced by computers threatens to overwhelm our decision-making processes.

David Pearce Snyder is a consulting futurist and principal partner of the Snyder Family Enterprise. He has been a professional forecaster for more than 40 years, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

2020 Media Futures: Practicing What We Preach

Attendees will be challenged to consider and compare creative media strategies in this hybrid session, part case study, part creative workshop.

Greg Van Alstyne is an associate professor of design and co-founder of Strategic Innovation Lab at OCAD University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Dream-Do Nexus

A university’s academic mission is traditionally dedicated to student success through academic excellence within individual courses taken in specific student degree plans.

Rodney Hill is a professor in the Department of Architecture and a member of the board of directors of the Institute for Applied Creativity, College of Architecture at Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA

Jorge A. Vanegas is dean of the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University and an international artist and sculptor, College Station, Texas, USA

Cultural Shifts Among Global Youths: Part III

For the past two years, Erica Orange and Jared Weiner have covered a wide-ranging list of trends pertaining to the future of global youth. Based on the popularity of these sessions, they are returning to do a Part III.

Erica Orange, vice president of Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc., identifies trends and opportunities in the areas of marketing, product development, strategic planning, investments, human resources, and public affairs, New York, New York, USA

Jared Weiner, vice president of Weiner, Edrich, Brown, has been integrally involved in the identification and understanding of emerging trends in the global marketplace and their implications, New York, New York, USA

Transcultural Roundtable 2012

How will people in your part of the world live, work, and think in 2025? Which values, lifestyles, and structuring institutions will prevail? Will lifestyles be more complex or simpler? Which professions will be the most highly valued, and which personality types will best adapt? What culture-based hidden assumptions define the boxes in which you think and your notion of personal identity?

Dave Stein is president, Center for Transcultural Foresight, specializes in identifying hidden assumptions in diverse disciplines, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Tiffany Pressler Tiffany Pressler is a member of the World Future Society who currently resides in Conway, Arkansas. Mrs. Pressler is an inventor and entrepreneur who teaches and models the values of leadership, accountability, ingenuity, and altruism. Her work spans the multi-faceted areas of engineering, biophysics, government, healthcare, financial markets, and education, Conway, Arkansas, USA

Jack Smith is an adjunct professor, Telfer School of Management, University of Ottawa, and director, Proteus Canada Institute, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Juanita Hardy, managing principal, Tiger Management Consulting Group, delivers intercultural training and management consulting services to public and private sector clients and serves on the boards of several art organizations, based in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA.

Our Role in Shaping the Future

Futures work depends on identifying patterns of change, understanding data and systems, determining forces, and drivers shaping an organization or a society. These are important. Less often explored is the idea of human agency. Human agency is our own ability to be actors and shapers of our own future and that of others. Our decisions and actions make a difference beyond ourselves.

Jennifer Jarratt, a principal of Leading Futurists, LLC, has been working since 1984 on wide-ranging futures activities. She is a founder member of the Association of Professional Futurists, Washington, D.C., USA

John B. Mahaffie, a principal of Leading Futurists, LLC, is a speaker and consultant on the future. Since 1987 he has authored more than three dozen futures studies for corporations, government agencies, and nonprofit groups. He is a founder member of the Association of Professional Futurists. Washington, D.C., USA

Exploring the Future Arts: Graphic, Sonic, Kinetic

Art began as magic. In Western cultures, so-called “fine art” has for centuries been systematically dis-enchanted, and its practitioners classed as licensed professionals. But elsewhere the link between life and art, between everyday existence and extraordinary sensation, has remained much stronger.

Lane Jennings is the editor of World Future Review, published by the World Future Society, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

William Crossman is an author and the founder/director of the CompSpeak Institute, Oakland, California, USA

Poverty of the Imagination: Using the Future to Avoid a World War

This panel session will look at how futurists might be able to contribute to overcoming “poverty of the imagination” by detecting “changes in the conditions of change” that could offer an image of a better, even if radically different, future.

Riel Miller, head of Foresight Bureau of Strategic Planning for UNESCO, former senior manager, Ontario public service (Ministries of Finance, Universities, and Industry); founder xperidox (which means knowledge through experience), Paris, France, and Canada

Jay Ogilvy is a visiting lecturer and former dean of Presidio Graduate School and the co-founder of Global Business Network, Castle Valley, Utah, USA See also

Cheonsik Woo is a senior fellow at Korea Development Institute (KDI) and a vice president and director for the Department of Industry and Competition Policy. He has also served for more than two years as a senior analyst at the Office of the Secretary-General of OECD, Seoul, South Korea

Kais Hammami is an experienced international foresight professional specializing in foresight, strategy, and organizational behavior with a focus on the North Africa and Middle East region, Paris, France

Martin Rhisiart is director of the Centre for Research in Futures and Innovation and at Glamorgan Business School. Martin has significant experience of designing and delivering research projects in the areas of innovation and futures. He is the UK Node Chair for the Millennium project, Pontypridd, Wales, United Kingdom

Digital Bootstrapping: Future Technologies for Today's Digital Outcasts

Despite our growing potential to augment human capability through technology, the innovation curve sometimes leaves behind people who could most benefit. These “digital outcasts” then take it upon themselves to improve, empower, and sustain their success in life, mostly through personally customized solutions that otherwise would not exist.

Kel Smith is a speaker, author, and practitioner on digital accessibility and technological innovation, Glenside, Pennsylvania, USA

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