Future Societies

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GLO 420: Future Societies Global Futures Research Paper Guidelines

The second major assignment for the Future Societies course is a final research paper in lieu of a final exam. The final research paper is intended to provide students with an opportunity to research and write on an issue of personal interest and to articulate a personal vision of what it means for them to be a member of a global community and a future leader in business and society. Students will select a research topic early in the term and are encouraged to work on the paper throughout the term. Students will have an opportunity to submit and received feedback on a draft paper or outline in the latter part of the term, and will prepare a “presentation poster” on their research paper for class discussion at the end of the term. The final research paper is due during Exam Week. See MyCourses for due dates. The final paper should be a minimum of 2500 words (10 pages, double-spaced, in 12-point font). It should include a title page, an introduction, the body of the paper, and a conclusion identifying the implications of the research for our understanding of the future as well as questions or issues that, from the student’s perspective, merit further consideration. The “presentation poster” should consist of one piece of poster board (22” x 28”). It should use photographs, drawings, diagrams, maps, or other visual images rather than words to convey the student’s analysis of the research topic and its implications for the future – presentation posters should include no more than 50 words of text. Selecting a Research Topic For this paper students must begin by articulating a question about the future that is of personal interest. When looking to the future the focus should be on looking beyond the next 5 to 10 years, to the next 20 or 30 years, i.e. to 2040 or ideally 2050 CE. The parameters for what would make an appropriate “research question” are intentionally broad and open-ended, to allow students maximum scope to frame their research around a topic of personally compelling interest. The following examples are offered as ways of thinking through how to frame a research question for this paper and should not be taken as prescriptive of the questions that can or should be asked or as limiting in any way the range of questions that student’s might wish to consider.

1. One way to frame the research question for this paper is geographically. For example, a research question could be, what will the city of San Francisco or the San Francisco Bay Area look like in 2050? Or, how will the city of Mumbai or communities along the Goa coast in India be impacted by and adapt to rising ocean levels as a result of climate change? Or, how will the European Union develop and evolve socially, politically, and economically over the next 30 years?

2. Another way to frame the research question is in terms of the future of an industry (e.g. financial services, real estate, fashion, information technology, travel and tourism, transportation, etc). When taking this approach, there are a range of questions that could be asked, such as, how will the industry develop over the next 30 years? Or, what role will the industry play over the next 30 years in shaping the future of the global community, in potentially both positive or negative ways? Or, how will the industry be

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transformed by the development of the new technologies of the 4th industrial revolution? Or, what role might the industry play in addressing one or more of the grand challenges that currently confront human societies and the global community?

3. A third way to frame the research question could be in terms of a specific technology and its potential impact on individuals and societies. For example, the research question could focus on how societies might be transformed over the next 30 years by the development of increasingly powerful virtual reality applications. Or, how human experience and/or human societies might be transformed by the development of biogenetic technologies and their impact on human health and life expectancies. Or, how the Internet of Things and an always-on, always-connected world with diminished expectations of privacy might impact how people lead their daily lives.

4. A fourth way would be to take a more philosophical approach by asking questions like, how might the success of efforts to extend life expectancies resulting in societies where there are many more older people and relatively few children change our understanding of the meaning and purpose of human life and experience? Or, how might living in a world of abundance rather than scarcity, or in a world where few people engage in what we today would consider work, reshape a society’s values, goals, or expectations about the future? Or, how might the development of human-like artificial intelligence impact our sense of identity as a species or our understanding of what it means to be human?

As noted, these suggestions on how to approach developing a research question or how you might frame your research topic are not intended to be exclusive or exhaustive. The challenge is to come up with a research question that interests you, and to frame that question in such a way as to support and encourage an exploration and elaboration of the research topic. Since the formulation of a research question that is at once specific, manageable, and open-ended, represents a significant challenge, students are required to submit their proposed research question to the instructor for approval before beginning their research. An assignment box has been set up in MyCourses for submission of these proposed research questions. Developing Your Research Topic Once students have decided on a research question, they will need to consider and address the following questions:

1. What is the current situation with regard to this research topic and how did we get here? To address this question students will need to conduct research on their selected topic to get a better understanding of the current opportunities or challenges in a geographic region, or the current sources of competitive advantage or threat in an industry, or the current level of development of a technology, or the ways in which people have thought about or approach a given philosophical issue, etc. The scope of this research and the best way to approach is likely to vary by topic. However, coming to some understanding of the past history of the topic and its current trajectory will be critical for arriving at an informed understanding and appreciation of its possible futures.

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2. What are the forces driving change with regard to the selected topic, and what forms are those changes likely to take? Again, research will be required to answer this question. As O’Reilly noted in the assigned reading from WTF, our capacity to understand and anticipate the future is dependent on the accuracy of our current maps, and an important component of those maps is our understanding of the forces driving change, and how these forces are being shaped and directed by the interplay of cultural, social, economic, and political institutions. You will also want to consider what type of change (evolutionary, life-cycle, dialectical, or teleological) is likely to be most critical for shaping the future in with respect to your selected research question.

3. What is your own personal vision of the future with respect to your research topic, and how might we get there? The answer to this question will ultimately require an act of imagination. Given what you’ve learned about the current state of play with regard to your research topic and the forces driving change, what might the situation be like 20 or 30 years from now, in 2040 or 2050 CE? Your vision for the future could be consist of one particular outcome of the change processes already underway or could be represented by a range of possible outcomes depending on how events unfold over the coming decades. Once you have developed your vision of the future, you will need to write the story of how we might get there, we being, for example, humanity in general, or those living in a particular region or working in a particular industry. The story you create should articulate where we started, where we’re going, why we might make particular choices or take particular actions, and therefore how we got to your future vision. It could consist of a single, over-arching narrative or have a branching tree, with different possible futures appearing at each decision point.

4. How do you want to contribute to shaping the development of this future vision and who would you want to be in this future society? Answering this question will require you to reflect on your own values, your own priorities, and your own sense of efficacy. For this, you will want to consider your own emotional response to the current situation and the future possibilities. What role do hope and fear, optimism and despair, love and anger play in shaping your responses, and perhaps determining the choices you are likely to make as you look to the future? How are your values and beliefs about, for example, the nature of human experience, the nature of society, or our relationship with the natural world and with each other, likely to shape your future actions? How are these values and beliefs reflected in, or perhaps also contradicted by your vision for the future? To what extent do you feel a sense of efficacy in your capacity to shape a future to your expectations, or a sense of powerlessness in the face of the overwhelming power of the forces driving change. What role, if any, is there in your vision of the future for empathy, compassion, and the wisdom that comes from an understanding of the interconnectedness of all things? Finally, in what sense do you or might you see yourself as a leader, in business and society, in creating your future vision?

Assignment Submissions As noted above, the research paper submission must include a title page, an introduction, the main body of the paper, and a conclusion. It should also include a bibliography listing the sources consulted and cited in the research paper.

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1. Title Page: The title page should include, at a minimum, a descriptive title, your name, and the date of submission.

2. Introduction: The introduction should define and describe the research question, provide an overview of the structure and content of the main body of the paper, and summarize the main points or observations from your conclusion. In most instances you will find it easier to write the introduction after you have completed the rest of the paper.

3. Main Body: The main body of the paper should address the first three questions outlined in the preceding section, i.e. the historical development of the current situation; the main forces driving change; and your vision for the future and how we’ll get there. There is no set structure for the main body of the paper. The paper could certainly be divided into three subsections with separate headings for “Current Situation”, “Forces Driving Change” and “Future Vision”, but there are likely to be other and better ways to organize the main body of the paper depending on your particular research topic or approach to this assignment. However you decide to structure and organize the main body of the paper, you are encouraged to use headings and subheadings to guide the reader as you present the results of your research.

4. Conclusion: The research paper submission should include a conclusion that reflects on the implications for you personally of the research you’ve conducted for this paper, as suggested by the fourth research question outlined above. In this context, the conclusion should consider the implications of your research for our understanding of the future as well as highlight issues that you feel merit some further consideration.

5. Bibliography: The bibliography should consist of a list of works cited in your research paper, listed alphabetically by author, in APA style.

In addition to submitting the research paper, which will be due at the end of the term during Exam Week, students are also required to prepare and bring to class on the last day of the term a poster presentation based on their research. Students are also required to submit a photograph of their presentation poster along with the submission of their research paper. As noted above, the “presentation poster” should consist of one piece of poster board (22” x 28”). The poster should represent in some way the research topic, your sense of the current situation and forces driving change, and your vision for the future. You should use photographs, drawings, diagrams, maps, or other visual images rather than words to convey the results of your research – presentation posters should include no more than 50 words of text. During the last class session students will have a chance to circulate and look at each other’s posters and to share their future visions. Grading Criteria A rubric for assessing the final research papers and presentation posters will be posted to MyCourses. As noted above, students will need to obtain approval for their research question before proceeding, and will have an opportunity to submit a draft or outline of their research paper in the latter part of the term and receive feedback. However, only the final version of the paper will count toward the final course grade.

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Research papers should be a minimum of 2,500 words (10 pages). They should be formatted in 12 pt font, double-spaced, with 1” margins, and should be submitted as Word docs or PDFs. All papers will be reviewed by TurnItIn.com and receive a TurnItIn non-originality score. Papers must include a title page, an introduction, the body of the paper, and a conclusion. Students are encouraged to use headings and subheadings to organize the body of their paper. Students must support their analysis by citing relevant and reliable sources. In-text citations should be in the APA style. The appended bibliography, properly formatted, should include at least fifteen books, journal articles, magazine articles, newspaper reports, or other relevant publications by think tanks, nongovernmental organizations, government agencies, and/or intergovernmental or transnational institutions. In general, good final papers will draw on the material covered in the course, material covered in other courses, academic research, and other relevant sources of information. They will clearly articulate a response to the research question, addressing the four questions highlighted above. Good papers will offer a vivid and compelling vision of the future, or of a range of possible futures, and include a thoughtful consideration of the factors and forces driving change and shaping these future possibilities. Good papers will also show evidence of personal reflection by the author on the implications of these changes for their own lives and their own potential role in shaping these future possibilities. Good research papers will, of course, clearly document their sources of information using the APA style and will be well organized and of appropriate length; written in clear English that is generally free of errors; and demonstrate an understanding of the conventions of academic writing.