Futures Probes

💫 How can we keep the human in the loop? #agesensibleAI In the final session of our three-part stakeholder workshop series, ‘AI Systems, Bias & Ageing‘, we brought together hands-on expertise from two perspectives: AI practitioners shaping the technology and individuals over 60 who may be affected by age bias in AI. Through guided exercises and discussions, we envisioned desirable futures and gathered concrete best practices for AI in health. What did we learn? 💡 AI is a helper, not a healer – AI holds great potential for health, but it must be deployed transparently to avoid misinformation or unrealistic expectations 💡 Ageing is diverse – stereotypical assumptions about older adults often distort AI decision-making 💡 Human in the loop is essential – user needs must be continuously integrated and reassessed to ensure AI remains supportive and empowering 💬 Our discussions covered data privacy and ethics to tangible design ideas for age-sensible AI. A standout moment: reconstructing AI user experiences in real-life future scenarios revealed how small design tweaks can make a big difference. 🔍 The insights gathered are now feeding into a design tool for AI practitioners—so stay tuned! 💕 A huge thank you to all participants for your valuable contributions! Marc Dantas Tiedemann Ajit Naik Andreas Hetey Katja Pein Carola Hurlbeck Madeleine Voigt Gisela Steffen Frank Wilde This workshop series was part of the #AgeAI project, led by Justyna Stypinska, Ph.D, with the project team Karen Khurana and Önder Çelik, PhD, at WZB Berlin Social Science Center and Weizenbaum-Institut, funded by VolkswagenStiftung

👁 Making the work of women* futurists more visible! What a better time to do so than last week for Women*s Day with the network Zukunftsforscherin.de ✨Jantje Meinzer presented the project Crisis Utopias, developed in collaboration with Megan Lumer Kristin Bauer Fabian Arlt ✨Stefanie Ollenburg explored futures in silence, co-creating it with participants ✨Alu Kitzerow introduced an element of serendipity by inviting participants to engage with the future through chance-based interactions ✨ Emma Defty presented the AI-driven Future Booth A truly inspiring evening! Special thanks to Dodo Voegler Katja Pein Franziska Isabelle Schönfeld Melisande Rodenacker Lilith Boettcher for their contributions!

Creating scenario spaces: the likely, the desirable, the random, and the wild! Our dear Lilith Boettcher and Katrina Günther explored these spaces while continuing the #FuturesThinking course with M.A. Strategic Design students at SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences. 📌 After prioritising key trends during the research phase, the students moved into scenario building using ‘spider scenarios‘. Three distinct types of scenarios were crafted: #Likely – what’s the most probable (according to each group) based on current trajectories, #Desirable – what they hope/wish to see, and #Random – unexpected twists that challenge our assumptions. 🦁 The scenarios were then further challenged using a set of #wildcards. 💖 The team discussions were especially engaging when it came to defining desirability. While the desirable may be deeply personal, it's also shaped by societal, cultural and political frameworks and family values. 🎲 Adding a twist: to emphasize the unpredictability of the future in a third #random scenario, he students were handed dice to roll – literally inviting randomness and chance. This exercise challenged them to rethink what they consider inevitable and to test assumptions. For instance, trends that were once seen as interconnected – like a growing young population and a rise in urbanization – didn’t align in their scenario anymore. This sparked deeper conversations about why certain shifts might occur and what new narratives could emerge if they were looked at from different angles. 🌈 We hope the course could provide a valuable zoom-out to the student's project topics. We wish them all the best for their semester projects!

🎓 Yippie, we finished the #Zukunftswerkstatt facilitator training at Robert-Jungk-Stiftung / International Bibliothek für Zukunftsfragen in Salzburg! In the second training weekend, we had the opportunity to try and experience different facilitation approaches of the 'Zukunftswerkstatt' (engl. futures workshop after Robert Jungk). Some takeaways to consider: 🏁 Clarifying expectations and outcomes with participants is the base of every good workshop, especially when open-ended like the #Zukunftswerkstatt. Just as important is defining the scope beforehand: What happens with the results? Who will be in charge to bring them forward? What is our area of influence? 🚀 Utopian thinking is crucial — don’t shy away from bold ideas! As a grassroots method thinking big and bold is key for the #Zukunftswerkstatt. People should be passionate about their ideas and want to pursue them with both head and heart. 🎯 What can I start doing tomorrow? The method encourages action with an activist mindset. Rather than an overbearing big change, the #Zukunftswerkstatt initiates small steps that individuals can start the next day in their context. Once again thank you for the great guidance Sarah Untner Hans Holzinger Carmen Bayer ✌️✨🌈 Thank you to our great fellow trainees: Thomas Nárosy Nicole Körkel Konrad Fux Katja Pein Zhao Cheng （程曌）Magdalena Soetebeer Evelyn Hriberšek Beate Stetter Dr. Saskia Frank Maryna Honcharenko Franziska Berge Harald Vauk Ava P. Philip Kühling Karen Schausberger Harald Kienzl Tobias Leisgang Andreas Golser Elena Artiles Leyes Lilith Boettcher Katrina Günther

⚖️ Futuring is deeply political. Who gets to imagine futures and what #narratives are heard shape our society. #FuturesLiteracy invites us to question dominant narratives, examine power structures, and cultivate narratives grounded in care, equity, and hope. 🔧 But where to start? Enter the "What if: Political Imagination Toolkit" — a handmade, lovingly crafted guide for creating better futures, designed by the brilliant Salih Gürkan Çakar and enriched by the minds and hearts of SUPERRR Lab and Futures Probes. Comprised of analytical methods, visual and somatic practices, reflective exercises, and conceptual explorations, it reflects the insights and lessons gathered throughout our program "Futures Literacy for Civil Society". ⏩ Read more about the program here: https://lnkd.in/e9uysgX6 ⏩ Download the toolkit here: https://lnkd.in/ePXyys-V 💜 Thank you to our inspiring participant organisations: BIWOC* Rising, Das NETTZ, Deutsche Aidshilfe, D64 – Zentrum für Digitalen Fortschritt, Hafiza Merkezi Berlin, HateAid, Junge Islam Konferenz, netzforma* e.V.*, Neue deutsche Medienmacher*innen e. V., Radikale Töchter , Romnja Feminist Library, and Wikimedia Deutschland e. V.

🐾 Following in Jungk’s footsteps Yippie, we finally made it to the 'Zukunftswerkstatt' training at Robert-Jungk-Stiftung / International Bibliothek für Zukunftsfragen in Salzburg! The 'Zukunftswerkstatt' isn’t just any #futures workshop—it's a grassroots approach deeply connected to the work of Jungk, an anti-nuclear, democracy activist and futurist.  In several sessions, we’re learning how to effectively guide groups through three transformative phases: 1️⃣ Critique Phase – Analysing challenges with fresh perspectives 👀 2️⃣ Fantasy Phase – Unleashing creativity beyond boundaries 🌈 3️⃣ Realization Phase – Turning bold ideas into actionable plans 📋 💡 What makes this experience truly inspiring is the focus on #democratic #participation, collaborative #innovation, and ensuring that every voice is heard. We’re looking forward to applying these skills in our future projects! Thank you for such great guidance Sarah Untner Hans Holzinger Carmen Bayer ✌️✨🌈 Thank you to our sweet and smart fellow trainees: Thomas Nárosy Nicole Körkel Konrad Fux Katja Pein Zhao Cheng （程曌）Magdalena Soetebeer Evelyn Hriberšek Beate Stetter Dr. Saskia Frank. Maryna Honcharenko Franziska Berge Harald Vauk Ava P. Philip Kühling Karen Schausberger Harald Kienzl Tobias Leisgang Andreas Golser

🌊🔮 Futures ahoy! #StrategicForesight thought together Last week, at the Advanced Foresight Group's networking evening, we immersed ourselves in exciting discussions with #foresight experts. Here are a few of our highlights: 🤖 Future Booth 2.0 powered by #AI  We finally got to try the enhanced version of Ellery Studio's Future Booth! A few years ago, Katrina Günther and Lilith Boettcher helped test the prototype at climate demos in Berlin with #graphicrecording. Now? Images of the future like from a blockbuster! 🧠 New futures via ‘social engineering’? Carsten Hesse took us into the world of #futuresthinking. His thesis: past experiences strongly influence our ideas about the future. If one wants to re-think futures, one has to reinterpret the past – in every direction. 🌊 Diving into the deep sea of strategic foresight  We went on a metaphorical deep-sea expedition with Christoph Mokwa. It became clear that strategic foresight not only requires looking ahead but also the right roles in the team. Thanks to Florian von Hoyer, Heike Wahrheit, Julia Selm and Bernd Stegmann for the inspiring journey into unknown waters! Thanks to all the organisers and speakers for this special evening!  Lucas Buchauer Christoph Mokwa Dr. Tatjana Samsonowa-Denef André Winzer Stefan Niederhafner Carsten Hesse Dr. Bernhard Albert Dodo Voegler Sebastian Denef, Ph.D.

👀 What might be signs for shifting values in a future EU? That’s this semester's challenge for the M.A. Strategic Design students at SRH Berlin University of Applied Sciences. Following the strategic design process, they’ve just wrapped up their research phase and are about to dive into synthesis and ideation. What better moment to zoom out and explore this topic from a broader perspective through a #futuresthinking approach? It may help them uncover blindspots, challenge assumptions, and develop more informed ideas. 🔭 This week, we kicked off our Futures Thinking course with a #horizonscanning exercise using the #Verge framework. The students explored possible future developments through an ethnographic research lens, looking for signs of change in six different categories or domains of human experience. Their findings were then mapped onto an impact-uncertainty matrix and prioritized – laying the groundwork for next week’s scenario building exercise. 🌈 As always, we love working with the SRH cohort. The students bring diverse backgrounds – from architecture to UX design and beyond – and come from all over the world, making their perspectives especially valuable in futures thinking. We’re excited to see what #scenarios they’ll develop next week!

🌟 What a year 2024! Thank you to everyone with whom we had the pleasure of working with and supported us along the way! Some highlights: ✨ We worked on future-facing topics like #ageism and #AI in the AgeAI research project with Dr. Justyna Stypinska for WZB Berlin Social Science Center and Weizenbaum-Institut funded by VolkswagenStiftung ✨ We setup and facilitated the Futures Literacy for Civil Society program with one of our favourite collectives SUPERRR Lab ✨ We shared our thoughts and experiences on #futuresthinking at conferences and platforms like re:publica, Waterkant Festival BDG Berufsverband Kommunikationsdesign, Summit of the Future United Nations, Festival der Zukunft 1E9, Falling Walls Foundation Next year, we’re eager to take #futuresliteracy even further: 💪 Workshops, workshops, workshops! We want to bring our methods into new and existing formats, from introductory sessions to in-depth workshops, #FuturesLiteracyLabs, and thematic sessions exploring the futures of [everything from A to Z]. 🎤 Talks and #sciencecommunication are calling our name – we’re ready to spread the word about future literacy and critical foresight. 🔧 Process facilitation is another area we’d love to expand – supporting strategic processes that focus on #scenarios and #desirablefutures. 📚 Futures of Ageing will remain close to our hearts in 2025, but we’re also hungry for new topics and questions – and would love to hear your ideas! 🤝 Collaboration? Yes, please! After a great year working as project partners in funded projects in the public sector, we’re ready for even more of that in 2025.

🔮 "What we can’t imagine, we can’t wish for." By combining #strategicdesign and #futuresthinking, we can envision—and build—the futures we truly want. Intrigued? Find out more in Katrina Günther's talk "Futures meets Design. The power of desirable futures" (in German 🇩🇪) for BDG Berufsverband Kommunikationsdesign on design as a future-shaping discipline. 🗨️The talk briefly introduces #futuresstudies and #designfuturing and shows how the approaches can be applied in two projects from Futures Probes. ➡️Enjoy watching!  https://lnkd.in/ezBA5-TC