WTF! Just Happened?

This is Luke, checking in on Saturday with a cosmic perspective! Into week 003 and we were treated to a masterclass in Futures Thinking from Andres.

So here’s what happened:

Luke’s intro presentation
Andres’ IAM Masterclass. (Bumper deck (199 slides) this week, so it’s a PDF, so the videos won’t play, but we have a #studioreferences channel where we’ll post vids, links etc. Or Google it!

Next Week

Keep an eye out for details of next wCritical Xmas Bizarre Bazaar 2030

More collective creations. We got speculative and prototyped Christmas gifts in 2030. Then shared our utopian and dystopian visions. It was a bit bizarre. But, then who wouldn’t want a Funbrella?!

Futures Masterclass

We landed in our 2030 bazaar after a mind-blowing masterclass in Futures Thinking from Andres. He introduced the principles, thinking, research frameworks and processes guiding IAM. We learned how to think about Futures through Drivers, Themes, Trends, Signals, and how everything is connected. On this pale blue dot.

Studio in a Day

We put the tools to the test quickly. Using the internet for some rapid research, we created trend reports on each of our drivers and post-tech themes. And then used our research to ideate and then paper prototype our 2030 christmas gifts.

Getting into Research Channels

We began exploring the post-tech themes and drivers. Moving to the DISCOVER stage of the Futures Studio journey our focus is playful research. On Weds we created Slack channels for each driver and each post-tech theme. These are open to everyone. Get into them. On Monday we will organise people into channels for Wednesday’s session.

#alternative-internets #conscious-automation #embodied-data #inclusive-decentralisation #mindful-devices #post-human-realities

#mental-health #meaningful-work #value-of-education #sense-of-belonging #the-planet #equality-diversity

Futures Buddies

A few of you couldn’t make it on Wednesday. We’ve assigned you buddy. They’ll be in touch on Slack and can keep you in the loop.

WTF is coming up?

Critical Xmas Bizarre Bazaar 2030 (for real!)

Wednesday 13 December, 6-9pm, at LCC.

Futures Studio + IAM present:

Critical Xmas Bizarre Bazaar.

Our mini-summit has a name. Our challenge is to present our research on post-technological themes, collective creations and 2030 futures scenarios at the event. We will invite friends, loved ones, and a bunch of industry learning partners we want to join us on our journey.

The Next Four Weeks

Basically, on Wednesday we went to the future and prototyped our mini-summit. With this milestone in mind, in the next 3 weeks we will work on three stages of research: one around interrogating technologies, another focused on human behaviour and the last one on futures narratives.

Week #004 | Interrogating Technology | Exploring Post-Technology themes

Week #005 | Human Behaviour | Exploring Drivers

Week #006 | Futures Narratives

Week #007 | Critical Xmas Bizarre Bazaar 2030

Next Week

UPDATE: We will meet in real life at LCC!

Next week’s research focus is our post-technology themes. Next week we will not all meet IRL. The Internet is Our Studio. Though we will have a studio space if people want to work there. And we will have a mega-check-in URL in a massive Google Hangout.

We’ll work in smaller groups around post-tech research channels. On Monday we’ll let you know ideas for how we’ll organise people into channels. For now, get into the channels that particularly interest you.

Finding Charlie Brooker (& Co)

We could fill a season of Black Mirror with ideas we have and will come up with over the coming months. And we are on a mission to get Charlie Brooker involved as a learning partner. We’re also speaking to the likes of the BBC, Deepmind, Space10, The Future Laboratory and more. So, use this slack channel to tell us about your dream collaborators.

WTF Else?

Please complete a short survey (it’ll take 10 mins MAX) to help us evaluate how well the Futures Studio is helping you develop skills and confidence in the digital realm: https://ualfutures.typeform.com/to/tMNUAD

Have a great weekend team Futures Studio! See you on Slack. Follow the links below… and thank-you Andres…see you on the internet and in December.

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