Published: February 19, 2014 by Sue Alman

Futurism, futurist, forecasting, and backcasting are some of the main methods involved in planning for the emerging future of technology, and 3D printing, big data, privacy, and ethics are some of the relevant topics. Along the way to researching and teaching a course and preparing to offer a MOOC in technology trends I have followed some exciting new paths where I’ve discovered fascinating organizations, publications, techniques, and researchers involved in this area. Futurism is not about predicting the future, but making informed decisions today that will impact future developments.

As noted in an earlier blog post about futurism I stated that it is critical for educators to keep up with trends and to prepare our students for the current and future environments in which they will live and work. In order to influence personal or organizational decisions one must learn to think like a futurist. This can be achieved through formal study of futuring techniques and scanning the environment for technological trends. Below is an abbreviated list of sources to provide an overview on the emerging future: technology issues and trends.

• Jack Uldrich provides an annual review of the best books about the future.
• IFA Consumer Electronics Unlimited: The global innovation show: Berlin http://b2b.ifa-berlin.com/en/
  • 2013 Highlights: Techradar.com US News World of Tech 2013

  Sommers, S. (2012). Think Like a Futurist: Know What Changes, What Doesn’t, and What’s Next. Somerset, NJ : Wiley.
  Schmidt, E. & Kohen, J. (2013) The New Digital Age: Reshaping the Future of Peoples, Nations and Business. New York: Simon & Schuster.
  FutureFest Conference Presentation Video: http://www.futurefest.org/video/

The World Future Society conference will be held in July 2014 where I will present a session in keeping with the conference theme, What If? I welcome ideas for my session titled: What if Libraries Were Ubiquitous?

I will continue to provide updates about the MOOC that will be offered in the fall term, and I hope you will provide suggestions.