In this article, the chairs of EPIC2021 reflect on the idea of Anticipation, and what ethnography reveals to us that may not be readily apparent through other means. Looking backward at the year of planning a conference that was to be focused on the future, the authors describe various revelations...
Tag: foresight
How New is the New? Reflecting on How to Design for Tomorrow through the Case of Autonomous Vehicles
An EPIC2021 Sponsored Panel by Waymo How do we anticipate the futures of the things we are bringing into the world, and the experiences they will help shape? The autonomous vehicle is posited as a net-new innovation. Never before have vehicles without human drivers at the helm roamed the same...
The Future of Business in a Post-COVID Landscape
Events of the 18 months have upended questions of the future and, for business, cast a new light on how it might better contemplate and plan for uncertainties. COVID has also opened up a new sense of potential when it comes to re-inventing or designing better or new futures for ourselves,...
Catching up to the Present to Reimagine the Future
In the age of pandemics and climate crises, reality is represented via varied narratives on health, politics, and the environment across different cultural and social contexts. As artists, designers, and ethnographers practicing the art of narration within different specialties and contexts, this...
Tutorial: Designing Ethnofutures Research Projects
Learn how to design ethnofutures research projects and expand the time horizons of your work. Overview This tutorial was conducted at EPIC2021. Exercises and discussions have been omitted to protect the privacy...
Best Laid Plans…An Ethnographic Approach to Foresight
What is Foresight? Foresight is an umbrella term used to describe a wide variety of methodologies and approaches for considering and preparing for possible and probable futures in order to help inform present and future courses of action. Today, it is an important and widely deployed practice that...
Anticipating Credible Futures
Overview Strategic planning is becoming less and less viable in a volatile world prone to black swan events. Prediction is a low-percentage approach to an unknowable future. But we still need to navigate change...
Scaling Futures: Foresight that Delivers Meaning and Value
This panel explores the specific reasons organizations generate ideas about the future, the methods they choose, how they act on foresight, and consequences for both business and society. Panelists address the theme of scale in various dimensions, such as how to appropriately scale our imaginings,...
The Future Is Yours
EPIC2018 Keynote Address We are at a crossroads of change in the world. With the rapid rise of digitized data, what’s the place for human empathy? As a long-time member of the EPIC community, I want to use my time with you today to reflect on what this all means for us. This is a moment unlike any...
Embed: Mapping the Future of Work and Play: A Case for “Embedding” Non-Ethnographers in the Field
This paper reflects on an experiment to combine an “ethnographic walking tour” with futures and foresight methods, as a means of enhancing and validating foresight exercises through the addition of valuable first-hand observation. The project, entitled Embed, was created to familiarize senior...