Articles:

Books:

Wendell Bell, Foundations of Futures Studies, Vol. 1, Transaction, 2003. The definitive review of the field for graduate students.

Andy Hines & Peter Bishop, Thinking about the Future: Guidelines for Strategic Foresight, Social Technologies, 2007. A compendium of the best advice on conducting foresight projects contributed by foresight practitioners from around the world.

Peter Senge, The Fifth Discipline (1990) and The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook (1995), Doubleday. A great introduction to many of foresight concepts, such as mental model, systems thinking, visioning and the learning organization.

Knowledge Society Foresight, Ian Miles, University of Manchester, 2003. An excellent compendium of all the steps in designing and managing a foresight project from beginning to end.

An Overview of Foresight Methods, Ian Miles, University of Manchester, 2008. A review of the methods most often used in foresight work, arranged using the twin dimensions of Expertise vs Interaction and Creativity vs Evidence (ppt).

Introduction to Technology Foresight: The Role of Foresight in Strategic Thinking and Policy Formulation, Ian Miles, University of Manchester, 2008. More an history of technology foresight with many interesting stops along the way (ppt).

Superstruct IFTF
Play the Game
Gamers’ scores will reflect personal role in humankind’s survival Palo Alto, CA - (Sept 22, 2008) — The Institute for the Future (IFTF) announced today the launch of Superstruct, the world’s first Massively Multiplayer Forecasting Game (MMFG).

The International Futures (IFs) simulation by Barry Hughes, Denver University, is public access, large-scale, long-term, integrated global modeling system that operates off an XP or Vista operating system. Corresponds to Hughes' textbook, Exploring and Shaping International Futures "IFs is excellent for use in World Futures courses to allow Masters and Doctoral students to create casual models of issue areas and turn these into long-range alternative forecast of a nation/region's future." --Jay Gary

University of Houston

Introduction to Futures Studies (Fall semester) The introduction to the Master's degree in Futures Studies. Terry Grim, Peter Bishop.

Social Change (Fall semester) 8-10 general explanations on how organizations & societies change [Progress, Development, Technology, Cycles, Markets, Conflict, Power, Evolution and complexity, Chaos, Post-modernism]. Cindy Frewen, Peter Bishop.

Systems Thinking (Spring semester) An introduction to cybernetic and complex adaptive systems, showing how a system's behavior is a function of its structure. Peter Bishop.

Futures Research (Fall semester) A review of the techniques used in alternative futures forecasting. Peter Bishop.

University of Manchester, School of Business, Dr. Ozcan Saritas and Mr. Rafael Popper

Foresight Concepts and Methods: Foresight and Future Pathways

Strategic Foresignt for Organizations