SOCIAL TECHNOLOGIES IN WORLD FUTURE CONFERENCE
Erle Frayne Argonza
Good afternoon from Manila!
The social sciences are surely gearing up for more ambitious engagements in producing and disseminating social technologies. Below is a news about a forthcoming future society conference, with social technologies stakeholders participating.
[28 July 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to the Social Technologies database news.]
Social ) Technologies For Immediate Release
1776 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 815
Washington, DC 20036 CONTACT: Hope Katz Gibbs
Main office: +1 202 223-2801 Leader, Corporate Communications
Website: http://www.socialtechnologies.com Direct: +1 703 502-3405
Blog: http://changewaves.socialtechnologies.com Cell: +1 703 346-6975
Email: hope.gibbs@socialtechnologies.com
Social Technologies Participating in 2008 World Future Society Conference
Several senior futurists will be presenting at the WFS annual conference
Washington DC, July 26–28
Washington, DC, July 23, 2008—Several senior futurists from the Washington, DC-based research and
consulting firm Social Technologies will be speaking at the World Future Society annual conference,
July 26–28, being held this year at the Hilton Washington in Washington, DC.
The topic of this year’s conference is WorldFuture 2008: Seeing the Future through New Eyes.
“I always look forward to attending the World Future Society conferences because hundreds of
interesting futurists, academics, and business leaders gather to talk about fascinating topics—and
this year looks like it will be especially interesting,” says Tom Conger, founder of Social Technologies,
pointing to session topics including Business Futures, The Influence of Mega-Energy Markets, and
Future Hotspot: East Asia.
Conger says he’s especially looking forward to attending the two sessions being led by his
colleagues:
• Leader of Social Technologies’ London office Roumiana Gotseva will be part of a panel about
State-of-the-Art Monitoring Systems on Sunday, July 27, from 2–3:30 a.m.
“Forewarned is forearmed,” she explains, “and in today’s quickly changing environments,
nimble organizations are closely scanning and monitoring the forces that create new
gamechanging opportunities and warn about possible threats or discontinuities.”
• Later that day, futurists Terry Grim and Scott Reif will be presenting a forum on Assessing
Foresight Capabilities: An Organizational Scorecard on Sunday, July 27, from 4–5:30 p.m.
“Social Technologies has developed the first-of-its-kind Foresight Maturity Model, based on
Carnegie Mellon’s successful software-engineering model, which presents a clear and
disciplined approach for assessing where you are in the many different practices of
foresight,” Grim explains.
“It can help practitioners to answer the question: How are we doing? This continuous process
improvement approach moves each practice through the five different levels of maturity or
development: ad hoc, aware, capable, mature, and world-class. Using this framework,
attendees will learn how to assess or baseline their current level of foresight practice and
then develop an informed plan for moving forward.”
• Also on Sunday, July 27 from 4-5:30 p.m., Social Technologies’ Thought Leader Josh Calder
will be participating on the panel Demographics Is Destiny, which will examine the values
and experiences of generations around the world. Josh will discuss India and China. John
Milewski, Senior Manager for Special Programs at the Newseum, will act as moderator.
The panelists will examine the contrasting demographics, how these different generations
and populations are relating to one another, potential dangers, and the reasons for hope.
Learn more
For additional information about the conference, visit: http://www.wfs.org. To learn more about Social
Technologies, send an email to Hope Gibbs (hope.gibbs@socialtechnologies.com).
About ) Social Technologies
Social Technologies is a global research and consulting firm specializing in the integration of
foresight, strategy, and innovation. With offices in Washington DC, London, and Shanghai, Social
Technologies serves the world’s leading companies, government agencies, and nonprofits. For more
information visit http://www.socialtechnologies.com, the blog:
http://changewaves.socialtechnologies.com, and our newsletter:
http://www.socialtechnologies.com/changewaves.
Josh Calder ) Futurist / Leader, Global Lifestyles
Josh Calder, a professional futurist since 1995, is Social Technologies’ Thought Leader. Josh tracks
social, economic, and consumer change for corporate and government clients. Areas of special
interest include emerging markets, cultural change, and international relations. Josh has an MA in
foreign and defense policy from American University and a BA in government from Wesleyan
University.
Rouminana Gotseva ) Leader, Futures Observatory
Roumiana Gotseva is an accomplished futurist and strategy consultant who leads the Futures
Observatory program and manages Social Technologies’ London office. Since joining S)T in 2005 she
has managed consulting projects for major European firms such as BP and Cadbury Schweppes. Her
skills include strategic planning, scenario development, systems thinking, trend interpretation, and
environmental scanning. An accredited expert with the European Commission, Roumiana evaluates
proposals and projects under the Information Society Technologies and e-Content programs. She is
also a founding fellow of the European Academy for Digital Media and has sat on juries for the
EuroPrix digital content award and the Bulgarian Web Awards. Roumiana holds an MBA from the
University of Minnesota and is working toward an MS in studies of the future at the University of
Houston.
Terry Grim ) Futurist
After working at IBM for 30 years on leading-edge technology and strategic projects, Terry Grim joined
Social Technologies in 2007 as a futurist and consultant for strategic practices. She brings an
extensive background in strategy development, customer engagements, and large-scale and missioncritical
development management for top IBM clients including NASA, British Telecom, and the State
of Washington. Terry received a BS with high honors (Phi Beta Kappa) in computer science from the
University of Florida in 1975. She has an MS in studies of the future from the University of Houston
and now teaches in that program.
Scott Reif ) Futurist
Scott Reif is a futurist and contributing writer to Social Technologies’ Technology Foresight and Global
Lifestyles multiclient projects. He also serves as a project manager, administering and writing for
custom client projects. Scott’s domains of expertise include social foresight and epistemological
futures, with a special focus on the emerging fields of complexity studies and integral theory.
Currently a graduate student in the MS program for studies of the future at the University of Houston,
he is in the process of completing his thesis work on the study of behavior under conditions of
uncertainty. Scott has a BA in philosophy from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland.
About ) The World Future Society
The World Future Society is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, scientific and educational association of people
interested in how social and technological developments are shaping the future. The Society was
founded in 1966 and is chartered as a nonprofit educational and scientific organization in
Washington, DC. For more, visit www.wfs.org.
erleargonza
UNLADTAU 
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