Month: May 2022

Future Cultures screenings – round 2!

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Welcome back! After finishing the first round of live-tweeting as I explained in my last blog post, it is now time to deep-dive into week 6-11 of BCM325 Futures Cultures screenings! After my self-reflection of my tweets from weeks 1-5 and feedback from my tutor, Chris, I decided to undergo research before the screenings to ensure what I was tweeting during the screening was relevant and not just ticking the box whilst engaging with the subject content.

This round of screenings were a lot more thought-provoking in terms of the implications of technology on society which I reflected in my tweets, asking questions of my peers and coming to sense of the themes present in the screenings in today’s world.

Week 6

Screening: Robot & Frank (2012)

Topic: Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)

Tweets & Interactions –

In week 6 (one of my favourite screenings), I began to implement the subject materials more after the feedback from round one of live-tweeting. For example asking how my peers perceived themselves in relation to a quote I had sourced in terms of pessimists, pragmatists, doubters and optimists‘ attitudes towards AI (Moore, 2020). I also drew parallels between other screenings such as Ghost in the Shell which later I researched was actually in The Blade Runner through a similar projection that the ‘bots’ knew that they weren’t alive but used a similar quote as “I think therefore I am” to describe their existence, questioning what it means to be human.

Week 8

Screening: Arrival (2016)

Topic: Futurists

Tweets & Interactions –

In week 8 I tweeted about and observed that there was an ongoing theme of fear of the unknown of the possible futures that may arise from ‘intruders’ on earth and how that may impact us as a society. According to Wendell Bell, futurists have a common goal which is to seek to know what can or could be (the possible), what is likely to be (the probable) and what ought to be (the preferable) which is what my peers and my owns tweets were seeking to do. The commentary with my peers on this topic fascinated me, especially with conversations around linguistic barriers and how power influences this fear of the unknown. I could have improved my tweets this week by sharing more of the subject materials such as the work of Wendell Bell (1997) stating “In the broadest sense, futurists hope to inform people’s expectations of the future and to help make their efforts shape the future…” which can be seen in the text as the Dr adopts futurist thinking by attempting to inform expectations of the intruder’s to help make their combined efforts in understanding their language and purpose shape the future of the intruders’ impact.

Week 9:

Screening: Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

Topic: Cyborgs

Tweets & Interactions –

In Week 9, I found the topic of cyborgs most interesting especially because it sounds like an absurd concept but considering our use of technology to advance human function, not surprising when you deep-dive. Our relationship with technology and our bodies is argued by McLuhan to be “…extensions of our physical and nervous systems to increase power and speed” and therefore, we are all cyborgs to some degree due to the nature of technology enhancing the human function. This was the focus of my tweets this week, sharing the history of cyborg technology in our every day lives from past, present and future as you can’t have on without the other and how this has evolved over time. “History cannot be imagined without a concept of the past having a future“. I also outlined concerns around data, privacy and security concerns are prevalent in technology that makes us cyborgs today and the advances in the future which was relevant to the subject as a whole.

Week 10:

Screening: Ready Player One (2018)

Topic: Cyberspace

Tweets & Interactions –

This week I retweeted Jess’ tweet as I felt it was relevant that users feel more ‘at home’ in VR simulations than the ‘real’ world even though cyberspace very much exists in the real as it may not have actuality but still can be thought of as real (Deleuze, via Moore). It also links to the projection of persona in the online space and how people can express and project and online ‘self’ without fear of judgement. I also shared tweets around the themes (nostalgia, future, escapism, online privacy) and popular culture references made throughout the text (Back to the Future, Blade Runner and 2001: A Space Odyessy). I also tweeted about the parallel made between the text and The Matrix’s ‘blue-pill of global addiction projecting a dystopian view of cyberspace which has been made throughout history regarding new technologies. I also could have improved this weeks tweets by stating this research in my tweets.

Week 11:

Screening: Don’t Look Up (2021)

Topic: The Futures of Content – Paradigm Shift

Tweets & Interactions:

During the screening of Don’t Look Up, I mainly tweeted about the role of social media and it’s influence within society, especially on social, environmental and political issues we have and will face in the future. I believe that my tweets in this screening were more narrowed to the role of social media which I could have widened my scope to focus more on the subject materials for the week however, I do believe my tweets were observational of the text. I also could have improved this week by including references and subject materials that related to the paradigm shift of the comet destroying Earth and ending civilisation present in the film.

Representation of the future and its reality (podcast)

Business Plans – an investigation (2)

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Update on business plan

Content Plan Research

As I discussed in the above video, I decided to drop LinkedIn as part of my feedback loop and focus on my current Instagram and Facebook content plan to inform this requirement of the DA.

I’ve found in my research that a number of content pillars are important to keep your audience engaged consistently with you and your business, rather than just promoting constantly. This allows the audience to feel a connection to the brand and feel as though they are getting value from each post, see below for some examples.

Pinterest

My Content Plan & Purpose

Below is the current plan I have for my Instagram and Facebook pages, I want to focus on giving value to my audience whilst establishing authority in my industry. Moving forward, I want to focus more on personable content and personal brand building to further this authority in the industry and deepen the connection with my audience.

Future Cultures Research

Trajectories & Planning (Week 2)

The key to Futures Studies as an academic discipline is the systematic approach to examining patterns of the past and present in order to anticipate the possibility and the potential of future events and trends.

(Moore, 2019).

Futurology

Bell argues that modern futures studies is a continuation of the futurological quest to understand the world and to make a good life in it and admits that Futures Studies is often done badly, however, it is about taking part in the conscious decision to act (Moore, 2019). Through my DA of my business plan, Bell’s point relates to my conscious decision of acting through planning. Through planning, I am able to adopt futures thinking in order to recognise that planning does not mean that a single outcome will occur through these actions, but rather multiple possible, probable and preferable futures are to be expected. “Futures studies seeks to make the future better, not just preparing for the worse, but ensuring that we make the things happen are the things that we want to happen, and to stop the things that we don’t, with the full knowledge that things may not turn out as we plan” (Moore, 2019).

Planning

World War 2 brought advancements in planning that were unprecedented which put huge demands on leaders to plan for the short and long-term, and carefully regulate the logistics and distribution. Planning is paramount when thinking of Futures Studies, especially when the focus is on the short-term, medium-term and long-term futures. “The primary purpose of futures research is to give coherence and direction to planning processes. Futures research distils a vast array of information from many academic disciplines about dynamics that have shaped the world and how those forces might change to create new opportunities, threats, and uncertainties” (Cole, 2001). Futures research is giving direction to the planning process of my DA of a business plan by bringing to light the different forces that can shape the multiple futures that the plan will highlight throughout its development and beyond. With the DA focus on short, medium or long-term futures, planning is crucial to my DA of a business plan as “Both are idealistic activities seeking to make people’s futures more secure and more fulfilling” (Cole, 2001). In this regard, it is my own future in which I am aiming to plan for to make more secure and fulfilling by attempting to make plans around my business and its trajectory.