Campaign: Purpose, messaging, action point

Workspaces Using the Future
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WORK IN PROGRESS

What we want to achieve:

  1. Convincing constituents of the need to listen and look beyond one's current reading/construction of reality. It has always been thus, but it is such a counter-intuitive proposition that one would not trust one's own brain or reading of reality as given.
  2. To make case that the dimension of the future is a contestable ground / projection / way of looking at the present .
  3. Make participant/viewer aware that there are different approaches towards engaging in anticipation and knowledge creation and how they differ/ are appropriate depending on context and purpose. Nadia's notes: this is Riel's request but I believe it is much too deep for a 5 minute video-  we run the risk of repelling viewer and losing whatever interest is raised initially.  Its better to entice with less information than overwhelm with too much.

Communication Strategy:

Entice with practical, light information in the form of stories that give a sense of the broad range of ways in which you can and do use the future.

  1. sharing usable (short, jargon-lite) cases/stories where the future was used with interesting outcomes, and then tie back to practical and theoretical foundations of anticipatory practices: what was achieved, how was it achieved, why did it work?
  2. broadening the circle of futures/foresight by finding networks investigating/using futures outside of the defined professional community of practice to listen and share methods and process with them at a session during LOTE4.

Engagement Strategy:

What action points are there for an audience once they come into contact with different parts of the campaign?

  1. Participate in a weekly google hangout for people interested in using the future? (who resources this, RF?)
  2. Contribute a story to a collaboratively produced handbook on using the future?
  3. Participate in a session on using the future at LOTE4
  4. Pre-purchase a collaboratively produced handbook on using the future?

Activities:

1. Futures Knowlab Headlines:

Futures Knowlab participants/organisations who have opted in to the countonme list are sent one daily email which contains a 1 sentence summary of a high quality blogpost or relevant content which they are requested to share with their wider network via twitter, email, fb or linkedin.

2. Futures Knowlab Hangouts:

t.b.c

Preparations:

1. Secure number of high quality blogposts

Produce series of blogposts: each features story of how future, what came or did not come out of it,  what they learned and what participants learned…and tie to theory/ heuristic knowledge of foresight/anticipation.

  • work with kids in Sierra Leone (Kewulay Kamara)
  • the community trying to ask better questions of politicians in Tanzania (Aidan Eyakuze)
  • The story of the displacement of a community in Peru (Mario Bazan)
  • The most highly anticipated events that were never addressed in time: Yugoslavia (Ivana Milojecvic), Rwanda (Aidan Eyakuze), Ebola (Dalia Haj Omar)
  • Ask Participants to produce one blogpost around using the future in the contexts within which they operate : design, evaluation, philanthropy, policy, politics, business, and international developnent

2. Get the \#countonme list going

Invitation text:

We’re prototyping a new way to stay up to date on the futures related work and insights that are happening amongst participants in the Futures Knowlab and beyond. Here’s how it will work, and how you can share updates about your work with other members of the community.

Every day, we’ll send you an email with 1 piece of futures related content sourced from the community. You can read a quick update from projects, click through if you want to know more, and share with your colleagues and networks if you want to help the piece get more exposure.

To get your updates out to everyone just reply to the daily email with a sentence or two about what’s going on in your practice and a URL if you have one, and it will go out the following day. Your update can be anything you want the community to know or share with their networks. Maybe you just finished some great work and you want to share it, you want to publicise your project, or you’re stuck on something and need some help.

Perpetual beta means this is a test and we’ll tweak it as we go, but you’ll be able to opt out any time if you don’t want the extra updates.

3. Invite participants to build the Futures weekly google hangout concept

prepare invitations out to weekly hangout: futures hangout e.g

Content: 

Editorial posts/Articles

  1. Who can use the future? (Nathaniel)
  2. The tension between using the future for sensemaking and using the future for action (Nadia)
  3. Skin in the game: The ethics of engagement and the illusion of control
  4. futurefail: 3 cases where anticipation failed us and what we can learn from them
  5. T.b.c

Audiovisual

    • 1 Edited 5 minute video using footage from participants during knowlab
    • 1 edited 5 minute video not using footage from partcipants during knowlab
    • 2 articles by Nathaniel James: a) "how to use the future" and b) "foresight for noobs."
    • LOTE4 activities:
      • Develop a futures literacy toolkit hackathon project
      • A 3-hour session at \#lote4

Channels

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Feedback on objectives of campaign

What we want to achieve according to @rielm (sent via email on september 16):

Objectives:

  1. Transform the futures literacy/discipline of anticipation/knowlab messages into a journalistic form for use in specific communication channels

  2. Explain why all of this lingo presented during Futures Knowlab actually meant something and was about things that could be really useful to a lot of people

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Here are a few thoughts,

Goals/what we want to achieve: Points 1 and 2  -not clear, need more elaboration, point 3 seems to be relevant to what we want to communicate,

Communication Strategy: Point 1 what do you mean by usable jargon, any examples? where do you find the cases/stories? Point 2 who is your “outside” audience/target? how can you broaden the circle?

Engagement Strategy: Point 1 who will write up and set up the content for the google hangout? 2+4 are the same activity? who will produce the book/do the layout?

Activities: Point 1 who will create the content “1 sentence summary of a high quality blogspot” and ensure the daily email, perhaps daily is too much, i.e. spam?

Content: 2,3,4,5 does the content come from the Ispra event?

“Develop a futures literacy toolkit heckathlon project” what does this entail/contain?

Channels: Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook all through Edgeryders community?

A few questions, to start with who is your target audience? and importantly how can we (UNESCO) keep track of the buzz/impact made by the campaign? what are your criteria of success?

talk tomorrow,

have a nice evening

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Document as requested by Riel

The document can be downloaded here. I have also sent it as an email attachment. Please add comments to it on this page so we have everything in one place.