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1st Quarterly Update January - March 2012 FutureChallenges.org at Social Media Week in Hamburg By Mario Sorgalla, FutureChallenges.org contributor Social Media Week is a global platform that explores the impact of social media and its role in driving economic, political and societal change. At this global event, the presentations and get-togethers take place simultaneously in more than 20 cities worldwide. Futurechallenges.org was invited to give a presentation on our efforts to crowdsource policy ideas in Hamburg on February 17, 2012. Giving consideration to the title of our session “Can a Big Network Help?� we took an innovative approach to our presentation. We asked our blogger network to contribute to the presentation by adding one or two slides with examples of using the Internet and social media tools for engaging the political sphere. We received almost two dozen slides from 19 bloggers from 13 countries. Our goal was to receive feedback on how FutureChallenges.org can improve in its engagement with readers. Is it a viable option to crowdsource policy ideas for global, complex problems? If so, how can we achieve this goal?
The two most important aspects that came out of the discussion for us are: 1. The experience of compiling a crowdsourced presentation with a truly global perspective. 2. Feedback on FutureChallenges.org: All participants agreed that it is an ambitious goal to crowdsource policy ideas on complex topics such as the correlations among global megatrends. It was suggested that the focus should be on specific policy sectors to improve engagement with the public. FutureChallenges is constantly evolving, and we take into account suggestions from readers, bloggers and network partners. The feedback that we have received was discussed at the Social Media Week. 1st Quarterly Update • January - March 2012
Future Challenger Video Competition Want to tell the world about your community and about the challenges you see in your future? We want to take your local perspective and make it global. Future Challenges is an online platform looking for distinctive, authentic statements about how major global trends affect you and your community. Take part in our “Future Challenger” Facebook challenge by uploading a short video statement that tells your own story. Politically correct or politically incorrect - it doesn’t matter. Make a statement, and share your ideas with people all over the globe!
Joh Correia, Brazil
Blaxtar, the Netherlands
Bertram, Switzerland
For more information and to watch the submissions, see the Future Challenges Facebook page @FutureChallenges
Future Day Berlin, Germany July 2, 2012 Location: Kalkscheune
Day of BarCamp-Style Workshops and Discussion Details Forthcoming
1st Quarterly Update • January - March 2012
Demographic Change and Migration
Google AdWords FutureChallenges.org is pleased to announce the receipt of a Google Grant. The grant, which was awarded via the Google for Nonprofits program, has awarded FutureChallenges.org $10,000 per month of in-kind advertising via the Google AdWords application. AdWords offers targeted advertisements that run via the Google.com search engine when users search for selected keywords or phrases. The Future Challenges AdWords account has been in operation only for a short time, but FutureChallenges.org is already seeing an increase in traffic.
Economic Globalization
Publication of the Megatrends Papers
Sample AdWords Advertisement
With great excitement, the team in Washington has been preparing the megatrends papers for publication in print and as an ebook for the web. In conjunction with a team of editors and graphic designers, each megatrends paper is being prepared not only for publication as a stand-alone document but also for segmentation to provide lead articles for new future content packets. Our team of readers is combing through each paper for appropriate thematic chunks, opportunities to expand the value of the piece by linking to open data, and opportunities developing complex visualization. The publication will be available soon. Please contact us if you would like us to mail you a copy. Otherwise, it will be available on the Future Challenges website as an ebook. . Infographics Our graphic designer, Nigel Holmes, is continuing to produce incredible infographics for the megatrends chapters. His latest batch included graphics on the subject of global security. On the left is one of his infographics illustrating concepts from the megatrends chapter on security.
Global Governance
Climate Change and Biodiversity
Security
Natural Resources and Biodiversity
1st Quarterly Update • January - March 2012
Future Challenges: A World of Visitors
North and Central America
Percentage of visitors and top countries visiting our platform
Oceania
Oceania
Australia New Zealand Papua New Guinea
2.4%
North and Central America
Africa 8.87%
17.33%
Latin America Colombia Brazil Argentina Ecuador Peru Venezuela
Latin America
Africa
Egypt South Africa Kenya Ghana Nigeria Tunisia
United States Canada Mexico El Salvador Guatemala Costa Rica
1.95%
Asia
Europe
44.33%
24.72%
Asia
Europe
Philippines Pakistan India Indonesia Thailand Cambodia
United Kingdom Germany Romania France Turkey Russian Federation Lithuania
For futher information on Future Challenges and the Megatrends Project, contact Jonathan Stevens • Director, Global Futures Project • +1 202 384 1994 • jonathan.stevens@bfna.org Anneliese Guess • Project Manager, International Relations • +1 202 384 1995 • anneliese.guess@bfna.org
Visit us online at:
www.futurechallenges.org www.bfna.org