Social Work Futures

Recent Ideas from Twitter – Social Work Futures – December 26, 2019

Get personal with your future

I’m not really big on “resolutions” but I do love goals and aspirations (and goodness knows I never met a colorful marker I didn’t enjoy…LOL). Ran across this beautiful piece called “How to Do a Growth Inventory” from my friend and futurist Vanessa Mason (follow her on Twitter at @vanessamason for great ongoing futures posts!) and it reminded me about this process. After a year of big endings and transitions, my sabbatical and the start of some big new adventures…this feels particularly personal and important. It’s a more intimate side of futures work right? I’ll be jumping in to this kind of activity during these quiet winter months. Want to join me?

Regulating Big Tech

What is the right amount of latitude to use when regulating big tech? Enough to ensure human rights, privacy and social well-being but not too much so that innovation gets stifled? This article makes a pitch that we can most definitely still make it happen…let’s do that!

Your AI Doctor Will See You Now…

Here’s a thoughtful piece about the future of medicine – the pros, cons, questions and reflections that will chart this course in the coming years. Here’s another recent piece reflecting on another future trend in medicine – “hospital at home.” These ideas are reminiscent of so many ideas I heard at my recent adventure at the 2019 Exponential Medicine conference.

What Exactly is Machine Learning?

I love a good primer and consider them massively underrated. Since these forces are all around us and running through our lives…our literacies need to also expand and deepen. I found this little piece about “machine learning” and found it super helpful and interesting. Check it out! (In case you’re interested in another clarifying piece that dives into the differences between machine learning, artificial intelligence and deep learning…you might like to explore this one!) . Here’s another on the fundamentals of artificial intelligence, and another about its widespread realities now and in the coming years. Note: I have a whole page on this blog (and another page on algorithmic racism/justice) dedicated to this topic – both of which I need to revise soon. They have definitely been among the most widely visited on this blog…so I know folks around the world are curious and learning about AI and social work, mental health, health and other social service/care fields.

AI and Caregiving

Here’s a company (Cherry.AI) that has as its tagline: “The AI that cares for your loved ones.” OK, I’m listening…with a blend of curiosity, humor, concern, and (some) openness. Most agree we have a caregiving capacity crisis and it is going to be getting worse as populations age globally. Is this the solution? I see strengths in some of this, and still I worry (privacy, surveillance, control, loss of human connection, loneliness). We will be seeing more of and talking more about this kind of thing. Check it out.

5G is Coming…What Does This Mean?

Here’s another area for which there is a lot of buzz. 5G is coming, almost here and on the verge of “changing everything?” What does that mean and for whom? This article breaks it down (at least from one author’s viewpoint).

Social Work and Climate Change – New Roles!

Shout out to Teixera, Mathias and Krings (2019) for a fine piece stretching our social work thinking about new roles as we grapple with climate change and how we can focus our social work strengths in this direction. More from the archives on this topic here.

Virtual Reality – Jumping In!!!

I know that I may be late to the party – I’ve *watched* and studied VR for a while (like almost everyone) but broke down and gifted a system to my family for the holiday so we spent some of Christmas day leaning around awkwardly on the couch, saying “ooh” and “ahh” a lot while on a series of virtual adventures in nature, history and roller coasters! I GET IT. Lots of fun, here it comes and what a wild, wild ride (literally). Here’s a piece from the New Yorker that is a good one for newbies like us. Here’s another piece about more ways we’ll see this tech showing up around us in the world. This piece discusses the emerging ethics/privacy issues that VR is introducing and some ideas about how to manage them. I ended up with 200 questions/ideas about how this might work in the future of social work – and yes – that includes a lot of ground to cover in ethics. So much more to learn in this space.

Black Twitter

Here’s a most interesting piece about the history and impact of the last ten years of “Black Twitter” and some imaginings about what comes next.

Let’s Talk About Drugs

As a person who has spent much of her career working in the addictions space…two articles caught my eye about the “future” of mind-altering substances. First is a piece about psychedelics in general (and their long association with Silicon Valley). The second is a piece about a popular startup that is a nose spray device for psilocybin as well. Many are suggesting that increasing legalization and the resultant expansion of markets, practices, testing and related dialogue is on the way.

The Green New Deal

I ran across a lovely little video about the “Green New Deal” and the ways in which it could intersect a number of key issues: climate change, the economy and housing. Very well done – let’s get there in the coming years!!

How ICE Uses Social Media to Surveil and Arrest Immigrants

So many good things are possible with our social media ecosystem. This is not one of them. More to worry and be concerned about.

Water Thieves

Mad Max come to life…sadly, I fear we will see more of this. We are going to need to learn how to take care of each other and share/protect water differently in the years to come.

Nerd Alert! Data Visualization

I can’t deny I love a good infographic, chart, etc. I had an awesome time achieving a personal milestone – my first infographic – just in the last few weeks. Here’s a sharp article that dives into all the different kinds of data visualization. It’s got me inspired!! More to come in this department!! As the world gets more complicated…I think that these types of tools help us communicate more effectively and be kind to EVERYONE’S overwhelmed cognitive load!

Browse the Archive!

If you’ve enjoyed this hop around Twitter for futures topics – check out some previous posts along these lines. These are literally and intentionally a bit of a “wander” – just a variety of items that I see pop up that interest me and I think might of value to my social work, social change and/or higher education colleagues. Enjoy!

Prediction- and Trend-Palooza – (early) 2020

Futurists are not big on making “predictions.” That said, looking over all the ideas that other people have across the landscape of the economic/social/government landscape is a valuable exercise. Many of these won’t come true, or may not come true in the ways we think they will, and some will happen. Surely other things will happen that we didn’t see coming. More to the point…what is around the corner from these predictions?

I like looking at them…but I take them all with a grain of salt and a degree of skepticism. As stated earlier in this blog…they are more valuable as a collection…and I think they communicate as much or more collectively as they do individually.

These are amusing, interesting, disturbing and complex. I’ve tried to gather up a few I thought were particularly of note…but this list isn’t exhaustive at all. Offered just to begin getting our brains wrapped around the idea that 2020 is here…and new things will keep coming! (I’ll keep adding to this list in the early months of 2020 as I’m sure more will be coming!!)

Let’s learn together and use all this (and more information) that we discover and gather to build the future we want. But first – a couple of bonus pieces that stretch our creativity and reflection skills!

Here’s a fun piece that is about creating your own best future from Psychology Today – How to make the most of the time between the years (2019)

This one is also interesting – it’s an article about what we previously predicted for the year 2020 – and how well futurists did imagining what would be happening! (2019)

Predictions and Forecasts for 2020

Tech predictions for the decade ahead: What will happen by 2030? (2019)

5G is coming – what does it mean? (2019)

How AI and automation will change the way we use technology in 2020 (2019)

4 ways work will change in 2020

Government trends 2020

Trends in digital mental health 2020

2020 Strategic trends glossary for higher education

Top trends in higher education

State of mental health in America 2020

5 consumer trends in 2020

The U.S.’s top jobs in 2020 according to LinkedIn

15 AI predictions for 2020

Tech trends for 2020

Another interesting piece reflecting some history – it’s about how the social science research from 2010 to 2019 foresaw some important contemporary developments. Love a good shout out to the role of history in futures work! The 2010s featured a lot of great social science. Here are my 12 favorite studies. (2019).

This is from last year – geopolitical forecast

Navigating a world of disruption (2019)

New article wrapped up and out for review! Social Work and Foresight!

This is the first in a series of multiple upcoming articles in process regarding social work and foresight/futures practice. Wish me luck in the review process!!

Social Work, the Future and Technology: A Foresight Lens and a Call to Action for the Profession

Laura Burney Nissen

Abstract

As we head into the year 2020, a set of questions looms large over the social work profession. Are there social problems of the future that are “around the corner” from what we can see right now that may change the way we think about power, social problems, possible solutions and opportunities? What new opportunities might appear, and would we as a profession, be able to spot and leverage them to advance the well-being of vulnerable people with whom we work and ally? This is a paper that explores what being more future facing might look like as social workers and educators, using technology as a sample focus area and introducing foresight practice frameworks and methods that are available to assist us. Foresight practice is a collection of ideas and methods that support individuals and groups to be more effective (and foresightful) in navigating increasingly turbulent economic, political, natural and social ecosystems. It’s goals are to a) to develop collective intelligence, agility and imagination b) do so in the service of increasing intentional evolution of thought and action, c) refine the ability to anticipate with greater proficiency and finally d) increase the probability of co-creating desired futures in keeping with social work values including but limited to antiracism, human rights and social justice. The paper ends with a call to action for social work to amplify and evolve its strengths to join the interdisciplinary community of those using forecasting methods to build a better future.

New Infographic for Social Work Futures!

Another sabbatical goal checked off!! Finally learned how to make an infographic!! Simple overview of a complex set of concepts! Love your feedback!!

Recent Ideas from Twitter – Social Work Futures – December 6, 2019

The Future of Work

This particular article is about the future of “not working” – vis a vis the “compelling case for working a lot less.” It is hard to imagine this future, but this piece is part of a continuing (and seemingly growing international conversation) about how working a little less would be a lot better for our health, relationship and community.

Tech Matters

Our city of Portland, Oregon made the news for its plans to have one of the most strict facial recognition bans in the country. I’m a fan of this move.

This piece suggests that “biased algorithms are easier to fix than biased people.” Here’s a piece that notes its making it easier for governments to responsibly adopt AI technology. It’s another effort to come up with some shared ethical and practice guidelines for this powerful technology. It is good to see them coming – it would be even greater to see them adopted widely and used. This piece, for example, suggests we aren’t doing a very good job in that department.

Here’s an interesting article posing the question: Do children think your smart speaker is just another family member? Thoughtful exploration about how the prevalence of technologies in our childrens’ lives is truly changing their experience of childhood in some unexpected ways and with impacts we can’t quite know yet. Without awfulizing, it probably is important to consider.

Should we give our robots citizenship? This piece from 2017 suggest that even as a gag, it probably isn’t a good idea, and is another category of human-tech activity we don’t have legal ground to be ready for what is coming.

Here’s another article that proclaims a crisis in the development of autonomous weapons – and a call to ban them. A slow down doesn’t seem to be coming.

Here’s a new and helpful “Digital Justice Manifesto” developed by a coalition of European data justice activists and organizations. It’s a 2019 document.

Biotech and Genomic Surveillance

We talk a lot about technological surveillance (and it is a concern) but how about “genomic surveillance.” This article suggests it is a growing threat and a human rights evolving story. Without international guidelines, the pace of potential abuses and the prevalence of genetic data is a bad combination.

The 2020 Trends Keep Coming

Tis the season! Here’s a fun overview of “12 themes experts predict will shape the world in 50 years.” (Algae, implantable tech, and lab grown meat anyone??)

What If We Get the Future Right?

Here’s a pretty creative and useful (from a futures practice) article asking the question “what if we get things right? Visions for the year 2030.” I’m excited to use this piece in practice as I think it stretches our creative thinking muscles towards some positive futures. The dystopian futures are a more common feature of our media/entertainment world. I think good positive future ideas are rarer to find and harder to come by. But they lay the groundwork to educate, to stimulate aspiration, to rekindle hope and determination. This is a valuable piece to read for something a little different – and dare I say it – upbeat? Along those lines, here’s a review of a new book by author Joe Tankersley (“Not all futurists are dystopian”) which also lays out a challenge to use our imaginations to build a better future on purpose. I got the book based on this article, but haven’t read it yet!

Also, you may recall that I’m on sabbatical this year. I thought I’d put my sabbatical reading list together to show you the books I’ve accumulated (like a squirrel with a stash of nuts…? Well maybe…) to settle into a cozy winter of some deep review and study. Check it out here.

Interested in looking back to see some of my past posts gathering up interesting items from Twitter? Click here to check them out.

A Futures Lens on Homelessness

As a social work scholar who is also a futurist, I’m interested in understanding how current trends will intersect to set the stage for current social problems and challenges.

Among the most alarming social problems of our time, is that of homelessness (or a preferred term “houselessness”).

Here’s a quick round up of some resources I found illuminating what thinkers, activists and concerned community members see ahead. This list is always under development.

International lens on the issue of homelessness – developed in Finland, this is a collection of essays (policies and practice) on the topic. Entitled Homelessness 2030: The Future of Homelessness. (2019)

The critical number that shows when housing breaks down (2019). Powerful mention in this piece that the UN predicts that by the year 2050, 68% of the world’s population will live in cities. This is an overview of how to get ahead of this issue with an eye toward the future.

New report predicting surge in elderly homeless by the year 2030 (2019)

Why Americans are retiring into homelessness (2019)

Helsinki’s radical approach to end homelessness (2019)

Variety of reports on “resources” tab (and great website overall) discussing the UN’s stance on housing as a human right. (2019)

Four homelessness trends in 2018 and what they mean for the future (2019)

Other links:

National Alliance to End Homelessness

Here’s a link (from the site above) to statistical and graphic overviews including some trend info.

National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty

National Coalition for the Homeless

US Interagency Council on Homelessness

Laura’s Sabbatical Reading List – Some Books!

I’m reading (a lot!) on my sabbatical. A few folks have asked me to put a list together so I did! It’s mostly general futures books (you can find other more extensive academic articles readings elsewhere on this blog). Here you go. Have fun and don’t forget to share ideas of books I may have missed. Note: I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get all of these read on my sabbatical. I have other things I’m doing…but it was a good exercise to get them all together and reprioritize which feel most important for me to read next. Isn’t a GREAT problem to have too many good books to read? I feel lucky.