What Rough Beast: Unearthing Latent Knowledge for Creative Action in a Time between Two Normals

Data visualization tools and structured forecasting methods such as Delphi were created to address specific pressing questions in need of urgent decisions and actions. However, in recent years uses of both have frequently strayed from this goal, providing mostly support for the way things have been rather than how they might or should be. At a time when the challenge of the pandemic has disrupted traditional academe, and with new challenges driven by climate change and geopolitical shifts on the horizon, it is neither reasonable nor wise to neglect the toolkit’s greater potential. In this session we will revitalize this toolset, not by talking at participants but rather by engaging them actively from the first minute of the session in the use of a new set of interactive software tools and techniques to elicit latent information and to make its import clear and actionable. We will extend the use of this toolset by demonstrating how to use the outcomes to identify attitudinal patterns and relevant social networks and to tell stories of change and action, both within the community and to the world at large.