To be Young! : Youth and the Future. Proceedings of the Conference “To be Young! Youth and the Future”, 6–8 June 2012, Turku, Finland

What does it mean to be young today and what will it mean in the coming years in this rapidly changing world? What the future of youth could be and look like? The aim of the “To be Young” conference in July 2012 was to perceive and create futures through the eyes of today’s youth, adults and decision makers for the young people of the future. The course of a youth’s life, both today and toward the future covers an entire spectrum of reality. Focusing on faith in young people, their ability and determination to build an inevitably different and in many ways and hopefully improved world for us all to live in was the focal point of this conference. This book collects some of the presentations and papers presented in the conference. Articles selected in this book cover several approaches of youth research. Topics include politics, education, gender questions, futures methodologies, young immigrants just to mention a few. We thank the authors and referees for their work. The conference was organized in association with the Finland Futures Academy and the Finnish Youth Research Network. The “To Be Young” conference marked Finland Futures Research Centre’s 14th Annual International Conference and its 20th Anniversary celebrating twenty years of academic research, education and development work

Risk Management for the Future

A large part of academic literature, business literature as well as practices in real life are resting on the assumption that uncertainty and risk does not exist. We all know that this is not true, yet, a whole variety of methods, tools and practices are not attuned to the fact that the future is uncertain and that risks are all around us. However, despite risk management entering the agenda some decades ago, it has introduced risks on its own as illustrated by the financial crisis. Here is a book that goes beyond risk management as it is today and tries to discuss what needs to be improved further. The book also offers some cases

Posthumanist Education

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08-01 "An Overview of Climate Change: What does it mean for our way of life? What is the best future we can hope for?"

This paper starts with the question of whether climate change will require a significant reduction of consumption among the richer people in the world, and ends with the most optimistic picture the author can conjure up, of the world in the year 2075. That hopeful picture is of a world in which inequalities – among and within nations – have been substantially reduced. The challenges and adjustments confronting humanity in the coming decades provide an opportunity that could be used to mitigate climate change in ways that can improve the circumstances of the poor. Ecological reasons to reduce throughput of energy and materials in economic systems urge the abandonment of high-consumption life-styles. The 21st century will be an era of many losses, but it is conceivable that societies will successfully make the transition from goals of economic growth, as understood in the 20th century, to goals of maintaining and increasing sustainable well-being.

Graduate Students and the Academic Library: What does the Future Hold?

"I began my sabbatical research with what seemed a defined but narrow focus: the information literacy needs of graduate students. The Information Literacy Standards of the Association of Colleges and Research Libraries (ACRL) provided a reasonable foundation upon which to build, and a qualitative research design, sampling a number of graduate students at Carleton University, is a productive strategy. My project has since evolved in unexpected but distinctly broader and more challenging directions. I found, through ongoing reviews of existing literature, as well as through my own personal experience and discussions with colleagues, that some work has already been done to identify the concerns and needs of graduate students. Further, I discovered that there is a growing body of research aimed at identifying gaps and suggesting best practices." (from introduction

The Future of Media

How do we combat post-truth in the news? Are social media influencers the journalists of today? What is it like to live in a smart city? Does AI really change "everything"? The Future of Media investigates the future of media industries and technologies (journalism, TV, film, photography, radio, publishing, social media), while exploring how media shape our future—on a political, economic, cultural and individual level. Issues of diversity, media reform, labour, activism and art take the discussion into a wider social context. Through this, the book celebrates the importance and vitality of media in the modern world. The Future of Media is also an experiment in collaborative modes of thinking and working. Co-authored by theorists and practitioners from one of the world's most established media departments, it offers a radical, creative and critical take on media industries—and on world affairs

The Fabulous Future?

Will the future be one of economic expansion, greater tolerance, liberating inventions, and longer, happier lives? Or do we face stagnation, declining quality of life, and a techno­logically enhanced totalitarianism worse than any yet seen? The Fabulous Future? draws its inspi­ration from a more optimistic time, and tome, The Fabulous Fu­ture: America in 1980, in which Fortune magazine celebrated its anniversary by publishing the predictions of thought leaders of its time. In the present volume, the world’s leading specialists project developments in their areas of expertise, from religion and the media to the environment and nanotechnology. Will we be happier, and what does happiness have to do with our economic future? Where is higher education heading and how should it develop? And what is the future of prediction itself? These exciting essays provoke sharper questions, reflect unexpectedly on one another, and testify to our present anxieties about the surprising world to come

Global Risks 2015, 10th Edition.

The 2015 edition of the Global Risks report completes a decade of highlighting the most significant long-term risks worldwide, drawing on the perspectives of experts and global decision-makers. Over that time, analysis has moved from risk identification to thinking through risk interconnections and the potentially cascading effects that result. Taking this effort one step further, this year's report underscores potential causes as well as solutions to global risks. Not only do we set out a view on 28 global risks in the report's traditional categories (economic, environmental, societal, geopolitical and technological) but also we consider the drivers of those risks in the form of 13 trends. In addition, we have selected initiatives for addressing significant challenges, which we hope will inspire collaboration among business, government and civil society communitie