‘Of one thing you can be sure. The quality of our life in the future will be determined by the quality of our thinking.’
This quote by Edward de Bono shows how important it is to professionally be involved in future oriented thinking, foresight, future studies and all related activities. It addresses the gap between the necessity of these activities in our ever accelerating and global world, where the future is not only unsure but shaped by human kind, and the emergence of this field as a scientific discipline, an ongoing process of contesting views.
Taking stock of foresight practices
These contesting views are the reason why a comprehensive approach to map the field of foresight and forward looking activities was undertaken and the For Learn created. As a practitioner you can use this guide to review specific aspects of the foresight process and an extensive collection of foresight methods, which will help you with the design and the execution of foresight projects in theory and practice.
In the section on why foresight is done you can review in depth the rationale, objectives, functions, outcomes and benefits as well as limitations of foresight.
In the section on how to do foresight you can take a look at the different steps of the process and the specific methods around this process. The section on the process reviews each stage of a foresight project from the feasibility assessment to the follow up and evaluation activities, while the section on methods is structured in regards to the most common and prestigious instruments of foresight used in the process.
Contributing
We also want to encourage you to help further built this guide by contributing your specific knowledge of foresight and future studies, especially in the area of the methods (Gaming, Simulation and creative Methods) and critique in all forms. If you want to help extend the Forlearn or have any questions regarding this guide, please feel free to contact us.