Futures...

...of Individuals and Institutions

Ben Swift

22 July 22

we acknowledge and celebrate Australia's First Peoples on whose traditional lands we meet, and pay our respect to the elders past and present


my journey

institutionalised <em>for sure</em>

but also an individual path

maths UG → computing PhD → computing academic

I’m now the Educational Experiences lead at the School of Cybernetics

me, via midjourney

Individuals and Institutions – to be Empowered or Conformed? promo image, oil on canvas, hyperrealistic

what is cybernetics?


*slide missing*

futures

see the TED talk

the ways we think about the future affect the systems we build in the present (both individual and institutional) and vice versa

futures is a set of practices and frameworks to help us think differently about the future

the thing from the future

a participatory keynote

outline

| 1:30pm | intro | | 1:45pm | activity: speed futures | | 2:10pm | activity: possible? preferable? | | 2:20pm | discussion: where to conform? where to be empowered? |

speed futures

in pairs, come up with a (post-it note sized) description of a thing from the future according to a prompt:

in a ____ future, there is a ____ related to ____… what is it?

Travel Bits are a snack that has a chemical ingredient that triggers certain sensual events and effects. In this example the Italy flavour gives you the smells, tastes and sounds of sitting on the grand canal.


it’s the thing from the future time

speed futures

in pairs, write a post-it sized description of a thing from the future according to the prompt (one per pair)

you’ll have 5 mins, then you leave the completed post-it at your station

possible? preferable?

in your final pair, grab all the post-its left at your station

discuss how possible and preferable each thing is

stick all the post-its on the main whiteboard

where to conform? where to be empowered?

let’s see what y’all came up with

the ways we think about the future affect the systems we build in the present (both individual and institutional) and vice versa

futures is a set of practices and frameworks to help us think differently about the future

stay in touch

[email protected]

https://cybernetics.anu.edu.au/people/ben-swift/

https://benswift.me