The Institute For The Future has traditionally worked for corporate and government clients and has offered workshops and consulting focusing on forecasting developments in fields as varied as consumer electronics, health, food supply, and library services. Recently they have opened up some of the processes to outsiders and associates who take part in monthly meetings called Future Commons. The electronic component of this group is a Google group and a wiki.
This week I attended the second iteration of “collaborative computing” led by longtime facilitator and IFTF partner named Bob Johanson. As well as leading the discussion he explained how he employed small (or large) group techniques to engage those participants. Long ago he led encounter groups here in
California, and he attached a lot of importance to nonverbal cues from the audience as well as recognizing and affirming the accomplishment and qualities of the person he called on for comment.
We broke up into small groups to
talk about the six subjects which had been discussed online and in a previous
meeting. My small group discussed “third
world mobile computing” which had been about the $100 computer from MIT and a
similar device from AMD. I will be
making changes to the wiki to reflect our discussion.
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