Scan Monthly No. 048February 2007 |
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Signals of Change
Forecasting on Fast-Forward
SoC219
Researchers are finding ways to improve forecasting techniques by collecting and analyzing vast amounts of data, by developing distinctive tools for particular types of forecasting, and by identifying which factors to exclude from analysis because of their inherent uncertainty. While discovering what events are essentially unpredictable, experts are also making discoveries about what factors are predictable.
The Pursuit of Comfort
SoC220
What is comfort and how does the subjective impression of comfort differ from individual to individual? How does psychological comfort relate to physical comfort? An increasing number of companies are pursuing answers to these questions in quest of competitive advantage.
Reducing Control, Increasing Value
SoC221
Some organizations are learning to derive value from systems, processes, products, and services over which they have littleif anycontrol. For managers used to defined goals, sequential processes, and clear reporting structures, this "anarchy" can be disconcerting. But for managers prepared to deal with uncertainty, less-controlling approaches can produce real value.
Authenticity on the Internet
SoC222
One of the original developers of the World Wide Web warned in a recent talk that the Web is in danger of becoming "a place where untruths start to spread more than truths" and spoke of "the risks associated with inaccurate, defamatory and uncheckable information." He believes that "technology must help us express much more complicated feelings about who we'll trust with what."
Have Prefab, Will Customize
SoC223
Advances in prefabricated-housing technologies, at both the high and the low end of the housing market, are creating some interesting opportunities for builders and consumers.
Legalities and Virtual Worlds
SoC224
One of the many ways in which virtual worlds have successfully modeled the real world is in a proliferation of legal issues. Emerging legal issues concern intellectual property, privacy, disruptive protests, harassment, fraud, and money. They can reside entirely in the virtual world or apply to the increasingly blurred boundary between real and virtual.
Insights
| The Future of Families | View full summary |
| D07-2544 | Download this Insight |
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Two demographic trends are transforming families in many parts of the world: the falling birthrate worldwide and the rising longevity of elders in many if not most countries. Birthrates are dropping throughout the advanced economies, with Japan reaching negative territory in 2005, and Italy and Russia not far behind. Russia, France, Poland, Singapore, and Australia are already offering financial incentives for couples to have children. But falling birthrates are by no means limited to the developed world. India, China, Mexico, Iran, and the countries of the Middle East are all seeing significant declines in fertility. At the same time, longevity is on the increase throughout much of the world. In developed and underdeveloped regions alike, people are living longer and healthier lives, primarily because human bodies are not breaking down the way they did in the past. This study examines some of the implications of these two trends as they've appeared in the Scan abstract database. Author: Thomas M. McKenna. 9 pages. |
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| Scan Meeting Digest: 24 January 2007 Meeting | View full summary |
| D07-2545 | Download this Insight |
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This document is a digest of the Scan abstract clusters that participants in the 24 January 2007 Scan meeting identified. The digest includes a description of the Scan process for people who have never attended a Scan meeting, a list of the clusters that meeting participants identified, and a one-page description of each cluster's premise and supporting abstracts. The document has active links that allow the reader to access the supporting abstracts for each cluster in Scan's online abstract database. The document also has links to previously published Scan documents relating to the particular cluster. Clusters of abstracts for this January meeting include new dynamics of societal polarization, creeping elitism, virtual worlds as innovation centers, death of the Internet, YouTube revolution, the nose knows, carbon in daily life, the personal value chain, predicting serendipity, new health-care research platforms, new horizons in pain, and the science of individual comfort. Compiler: Martin Schwirn. 36 pages. |
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Calendar
Scan Abstract Meetings
Scan abstract meetings (in which SRIC-BI [now SBI] staff participate in a free-form discussion of current Scan abstracts) are open for client observation/participation on:
- 21 March 2007 at 9:00 am
- 23 May 2007 at 9:00 am
- 18 July 2007 at 9:00 am
- 19 September 2007 at 9:00 am
- 17 October 2007 at 9:00 am
- 23 January 2008 at 9:00 am.