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michaelhopkins

FM Editor

Member Since:
06 Dec 2005
Posts:82

09 Mar 2006 8:00 PM

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A GUIDE TO FUTUREMONITOR’S PARTS
What exactly is going on here?

The foundation, heart, and center-city piazza of FutureMonitor is its discussion forums. Nearly every bit of content on the site is run through them, as you’ll see. (Only “The Experiment So Far”—FutureMonitor’s blog—and the FuturePolls are excepted. They each have their own locations, with easy access through the home page and elsewhere.) Here’s a roster of what you’ll find on FutureMonitor, with explanations of what the pieces are for:

"Featured posts" on the FutureMonitor home page
On the home page you’ll posts from many different FutureMonitor forums, each chosen by FutureMonitor editors for the home page because they're particularly worth your attention--usually because of timeliness, insight, provocativeness, or relevance. but are topics we’ve decided to draw your attention to because they’re unusually timely or interesting.

The Emerging Topics discussion forum
This will normally be the largest forum area (with the most topics posted); it includes subjects of every kind except for those particularly related to one of the other "dedicated" forums (such as the forums for the "Asimov Moment" or "START HERE"). This is where you'll find the results from the Inaugural FutureMonitor Global Trends Survey, for instance. And it's the best and easiest place to create a new topic of your own if you're not sure your idea fits in one of the dedicated forums.

Seen – snapshots of change
"Seen" is a forum for posting and discussing visual evidence of change--simple snapshots, usually, probably most often taken with cellphone cameras. Post-beta, the photos all will come from FM sensor network members (ideally they'll come from network members during beta, as well--but the charter group is so small that that may not work). Think of these pictures as just another way for you to share something you've observed that raises a question about where we're headed, or that tells us something about it. A “Seen” photo will always be posted on the home page, and FM network members can submit their own candidates for “Seen” through a link below the photo.

Next Subject – the network sets its agenda
The pair-wise sort is simply a way to enable the entire FutureMonitor sensing network to rank a set of subjects (or questions) collectively. The top-ranking subject when a sort is finished--the one the network has collectively judged most important to discuss--will be highlighted and developed as a focused discussion topic. The pair-wise sort is a simple way to aggregate the evaluations of all network members. With the March launch, each subject sort will run for two weeks. The results will be reported in this forum. This forum is also the place to propose questions or subjects that you want to see entered into a sorting session.

Asimov Moment – hints of the new, observed
An Asimov Moment is a moment when something makes you curious. It could be something you see, or something you experience, or something someone told you, or something that came to you in your head while taking the proverbial shower. It's not an epiphany, exactly (since epiphanies are all about answers), but it is a moment when you're struck by something that you feel is a piece of evidence--even you're not sure what it's evidence of. Not "Eureka!," but "That's funny...." (The source of inspiration for the “Asimov Moment” is Isaac Asimov’s observation that, “The most exciting phrase to hear, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not "Eureka!" (I found it) but "That's funny...."). You can submit your Asimov Moment ideas—observations, anecdotes, etc.—by going to the Asimov Moment space on most FutureMonitor pages and clicking the "submit an Asimov" link. Your submissions will be considered by us at FutureMonitor and chosen for posting and discussion.

Findings – what the network thinks
"Findings" is the place where the network's conclusions will be posted--"conclusions" meaning those trends, insights, or observations that have achieved collective consensus (or at least strong collective support). These are ideas that have been debated, discussed, argued, and sometimes even voted on. You can come here to see the most definitive wisdom of the crowd. IMPORTANT BETA-PERIOD CAVEAT: Because it will take some collective attention from sensing network members before trends can be tested and winnowed to the point of rising to a "finding," there will be none posted during the March launch. The first group will likely be posted in June '06.

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