Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Delphi Study Assessing Disruptively Transformative Futures in Journalism

The future of media and journalism is in turmoil. We are currently conducting a Delphi study comparing the views media experts and futurists hold about the future of journalism. In Phase I, the media experts participated in a two round Argumentative Policy Delphi about the future of journalism. The results were written into four images of the future. The experts were asked to review the four images of the future in terms of probability and desirability.

We are now looking for panelists to Phase II of our Delphi study. The four images of the future as created in Phase I, along with a selection of critical statistical data about technology and media will be sent to a panel of futurists. The futurists are then invited to review the four images of the future in terms of probability and desirability, and to imagine innovative breakthrough technologies and suggest a fifth image of the future that differs from the four previous ones.

The results from Phase II of this Delphi will be written into scenarios which will be sent back to all the panelists. This experimental approach combining the argumentation of both media experts and futurists is expected to bring forward new, versatile and even surprising arguments to the current debate about the developments regarding the future of journalism, press and media.

All the panelists will be invited to participate in a special session on Future of Media and Communications during the Conference "Trends and Future of Sustainable Development" organised by Finland Futures Research Centre in Tampere, Finland, in June 9-10, 2011. http://conference2011.wordpress.com/ (Unfortunately we cannot cover travel and conference cost, but we can guarantee a seat for you in the future of media session).

Call for participation

If you are interested in participating in the expert panel for this Delphi, please contact researcher Sofi Kurki (fmcsofi@gmail.com) by February 7th, 2011.

Looking forward to your possible interest and thanking you in advance,

Professor Sirkka Heinonen and Researcher Sofi Kurki

Future of Media and Communications (FMC) https://sites.google.com/site/futuremediac/

Finland Futures Research Centre (FFRC), University of Turku