Websites About
the Future
|
One
use of social change research is to use the data, research and
theory to understand the future. These are a few sites
relating to understanding the future.
Organizations
The Institute for the Future (IF) at Anne Arundel Community
College seeks to be the local information and training source for
information on the future.
http://www.aacc.edu/future/default.cfm
They have a list of other
futures organizations http://www.aacc.edu/future/organizations.cfm
some
of
which are listed below.
The Institute for the Future (IFTF) http://www.iftf.org/ is an independent
nonprofit research group. We work with organizations of all
kinds to help them make better, more informed decisions about
the future. (My link checker says this link doesn't
work, but it does.)
The Centre for Future Studies http://www.futurestudies.co.uk/home.htm
Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies. http://www.cifs.dk/
The Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer Range
Future. http://www.bu.edu/pardee/
for
the
study of longer range future. They have some interesting lectures
(as videos).
The RAND Frederick S. Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy
and the Future Human Condition http://www.rand.org/international_programs/pardee/futures.html
"The RAND Pardee Center pursues ambitious objectives: to
improve our ability to think about the longer-range future--from 35
to as far as 200 years ahead--and to develop new methods of
analyzing potential long-range, global effects of today's policy
options in order to design sound policies that are sensitive to
those effects."
Both of the above were made possible by funding from, well,
Frederick S. Pardee. Strange coincidence, isn't it?
Future of Humanity Institute http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/
"The
Future
of Humanity Institute aims to become humanity's best effort at
understanding and evaluating its own long-term prospects."
Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies
(HRCFS) http://www.futures.hawaii.edu/
"It serves as a futures research arm for public agencies,
private groups, and individuals who require assistance in
locating future-oriented information or experts."
World Future Society http://www.wfs.org/
The
World Future Society is an association of people interested in how
social and technological developments are shaping the future. The
Society strives to serve as a neutral clearinghouse for ideas about
the future.
People
Roger Caldwell's class page for Anticipating the future
http://ag.arizona.edu/futures/
"This course is
only available on-line for individual interaction and not as a
formal course (I retired but continue to maintain the pages). This
page includes links to class materials and activities for your own
exploring."
Has some essays, descriptions of future studies, tutorials and
also lists links.
Some Forecasts
United Nations Expert Meeting on World Population in
2300 http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/longrange2/longrange2.htm
report
and
data from a 2003 meeting. Also includes a report World Population Totals for 1980-2050
The UN also has a population prospects database http://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/index.htm
where you can select forecasts for world, regions, etc.
The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
(IIASA) http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/POP/proj01/
Probabilistic Projections by 13 world regions, forecast
period 2000-2100, 2001 Revision
Ten Trends Reshaping the Global Landscape http://www.worldtrendsresearch.com/major-trends.php
by Van Wishard, World Trends Research
From the Director of National
Intelligence http://www.dni.gov/
Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_2025_project.html
"projects
the
potential impacts of climate change, population growth, political
re-shuffling and a host of other dynamic trends on the world of the
near-future. The report aims to help leaders identify and understand
the coming challenges and to steer toward positive solutions."
Mapping the Global Future http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_2020_project.html
also from the National Intelligence Council, a continuation
of previous studies, including these:
Global Trends 2010 http://www.dni.gov/nic/special_globaltrends2010.html
Global Trends 2015: A Dialogue About the Future With Nongovernment
Experts http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_globaltrend2015.html
discussing trends in conflict, democratization, economics,
technology, other topics.
This council also prepared these reports, available here
http://www.dni.gov/nic/NIC_confreports.html
Mapping the Future of the Middle East
Mapping Sub-Saharan Africa's Future
Research
or
essays on Forecasting
Shaping the Next One Hundred Years: New Methods for Quantitative,
Long-Term Policy Analysis. Robert J. Lempert, Steven Popper, and
Steven C. Bankes.
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1626.html
From Rand, "New analytic methods, enabled by modern
computers, transform our ability to reason about the future. The
authors here demonstrate a quantitative approach to long-term policy
analysis (LTPA)."
Nico Keilman http://folk.uio.no/keilman/
has
some
publications about population forecasting.
Barry Hughes' International Futures http://www.ifs.du.edu/
has papers, reports, a forum, bunch of other stuff.
Revisiting Useful Approaches to Data-Rich Macroeconomic
Forecasting http://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr327.html
May
2008
Number 327, Revised October 2008, Jan J. J. Groen and George
Kapetanios
Principals
of
forecasting (more shorter term)
Forecasting Principles http://www.forecastingprinciples.com/
"The Forecasting Principles site seeks to
summarize all useful knowledge about forecasting so that it can be
used by researchers, practitioners, and educators."
Links
future studies & future conflict studies http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/awc-futr.htm
from
the
Air War College
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last updated and checked 11/23/11