lead sponsor: the UK's Department of Children Schools and Families DCSF

charrette 1: computer science and engineering
this very successful and enjoyable event is now completed - outputs from here

provocations for charrette 1 this page links to an intentionally randon set of provocations ahead of our charrette on the future of computer science and engineering - with a view to what it means for policy and learning. Just because stuff is here doesn't mean it has any value other than to help us focus a bit before we meet... reflections include that it is perhaps unremarkable how most of these - and the sci fi extracts too - are unambitious extrapolations. CAN we do better - should we? tamer nakisci: future of mobile communication design award winner by nokia apple's knowledge navigator: a vision of future computing from the 80s - AI, voice rec, agents, traditional university classes, data visualisations... and secondly (more interestingly actually) their vision of portable technology: inclusion, hinged screen and all. interesting seeing what hit and what missed in both cases 2008 horizon report: very readable pdf from Educause - covers some similar ground to us, and really a well thought out, up to date document that is a good starting point. If you are keen see also previous year's reports from here jaque fresco: conceptual future designs - mostly exrapolations with more curves PC world: next 25 years in tech - well, their view anyway... dan dare: from late 50s UK "eagle" comic - stiff upper lip in the new world too. channel 4: things to come - a short programme 93 mins) about the impact of new technology on school size - I made it with andrew chitty's illumina who are filming us at the charrette british computer society (BCS): grand challenges brief "...Computer scientists, having invented something truly useful, now saw their invention perceived as a routine piece of domestic furniture rather than something that retained complex technical challenges..." and finally (for now) from the 50s the final page of "the story of man" an "illustrated encyclopedia of man's history" which looked ahead to 2000: What of Tomorrow How shall we live tomorrow? What discoveries shall we witness? What will become of this world of ours? Let us put our heads together, and try to make a guess. The progress of medicine will still further increase the length of life, so that by the year 2000 there will be five billion human beings in the world. Rockets will be rushing about space. They will sail past other worlds, the plants. Sometimes they will land on them to enable to scientists to make detailed observations. But it is not likely we shall ever be able to live on one, for some, like the Moon, have no air to breathe; others are burning hot, yet others icy cold. We shall thus in the end be thrown back on this world, which will have to provide for our needs. Probably we shall be able to control the clouds, and, by making it rain over the desserts, we shall turn them into fertile countries. The sea will provide a greater part of our food. We shall exploit its riches methodically, as we do those of the land. Atomic energy and solar energy will enable us to employ yet more machinery. We shall work less and thus have more time both to amuse and improve ourselves. The poorest areas of the world will be developed. Today there are still places where people go hungry and are insufficiently clothed, but the day will come when there will be enough of the good things in life for everybody. But for that to come about it is essential for peace to be established all over the world. All peoples will have to respect the freedom of their neighbours, and endeavour to know them and understand them.

event date: 19 - 20 february 08 location: Tower Bridge, London rapporteur: bill thompson media: illumina attendees: jamais cascio jerry fishenden alan greenberg colin holgate john naughton chris thomas bill thompson stephen heppell lys johnson observer participants: doug brown becta dominic flitcroft dcsf bill gibbons futurelab

horizonTAL - horizon scanning for learning from heppell.net

last updated: Friday, March 7, 2008 12:31 PM