July 27-29, 2012 • Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel

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

Sessions

Cyberbullying and Privacy Issues in Social Media

Social media have exploded in influence in the past decade, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, along with weblogs and wikimedia. They reflect the dream of close and immediate contact with individuals worldwide, a form of personal broadcasting.

Jo Ann Oravec is an author and an associate professor at the College of Business and Economics, University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

Designing Business for the Sustainable Future

This session will explore the effect that sustainability is having on consumers and how industry and designers must adapt in order to profit. Consumers in North America are increasingly knowledgeable on sustainable products and services, from their food to the facilities where they live and work.

Peter Busby is managing director, Perkins+Will Canada Architects, and founder and recent chair of the Canada Green Building Council, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

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

Escaping the Matrix: Designed Scenario Strategies

When facing a foresight tsunami (ecological, demographic, economic, technological, and political change), how should institutions respond with due care? New methods offer true diligence in foresight, so no matter what inevitable outcomes occur, stakeholders can know they acted on best available knowledge.

Peter Jones is an associate professor, OCAD University, Toronto; senior fellow of the Strategic Innovation Lab; and founder and managing partner of Dialogic Design International, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

John Cassel is a graduate student at OCAD University, Champaign, Illinois, USA

Suzanne Stein is a foresight analyst, mentor, and professor, Ontario College of Art and Design, Canada Toronto, Canada

Karl Schroeder, is a foresight consultant and award-winning science fiction writer. He is the author of nine novels, Toronto, Canada.

Jonathan Resnick is a recent graduate of the Strategic Foresight & Innovation program at OCAD University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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

Foresight Methods for Strategic Intelligence

United States military and intelligence organizations have recently issued several Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant solicitations that signal the need for futurist methodology and systems that accomplish the following objectives:

Howard Rasheed is the managing director of Institute for Innovation, which specializes in strategic foresight and innovation consulting. He is the inventor of the Idea Accelerator Software. He is an associate professor of management at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and author of Innovation Renaissance: 7 Strategies for Winning the Future, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

Richard Pfohl is president, Navigos--The Global Institute for Leadership Development, Hartford, Connecticut, USA

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