The future resides in our minds until it arrives and becomes part of our past. Together, our insight and wisdom can reveal a startling forecast of what tomorrow holds for us.
Submit a prediction, small or large. Become a forecaster of the future.
The future has a way of arriving unannounced.
- George Will
This project is part of a series, called 5 in 5. With each, I aimed to create something interactive and truly made possible by the participation of many other people.
With the prediction questionnaire, I was careful to keep the users thinking in broad strokes. I chose loose timelines for their predictions, and HTML5 slides that allow them to consider the context of their prediction as they see fit. (Note: The HTML5 form elements are supported by Safari and Chrome, but not yet Firefox.)
History of the Future includes a few detail about the inspiration and precedent for this project. The Long Now Foundation and the Wisdom of Crowds are two of the more important. I also list the software and plugins that helped make this project possible.
Currently, the site allows you to browse submissions by other people. In the future, I hope to build a more rich interface for search and visualizing the information collected.
The next step, however, is developing a strategy to build an audience.