Using Artifacts from Social Work's Future to Deepen Understanding of Today's Challenges: An Experiential Foresight Application from the National Social Work Health Futures Lab Initiative

During the last few years, the Social Work Health Futures Lab, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has been engaged in an active and dynamic national fellowship to learn about and experiment with foresight practice. This practice involves explicit attention to the future as an organizing framework for making better decisions in the present. This emerging social science-based approach includes theory as well as practice possibilities for social work. Throughout a 2-year period, the lab studied with global foresight scholars and engaged in multiple types of engaged experimentation on social work themes and foci.

One of our hands-on activities was to engage in a project related to "artifacts from the future" which is method utilized in experiential foresight practice. In this activity, members of the lab divided into pairs. This was a 3-part activity designed by the Lab Founder and inspired by the work of experiential futurist, Stuart Candy, and an activity he had designed for leadership at the United Nations.

Part One: Each person interviewed the other regarding the "future of their practice", including the goals, aspirations and impacts of their lifetime investment in social work. Examples of the types of focus members expressed were "have an impact on the future of social work and technology," or "create new pathways for social work to engage in equity-centered climate change work."

Part Two: Each person used the interview as "data" for their partner and developed a physical "artifact" of the future specifically designed for them - literally building or finding something that could serve as a symbol of the work they intended to do. One aspect of the development of the artifact was to prepare a narrative description/explanation that explained the piece as if it was 20-30 (or more) years in the future. The design, development and construction of the artifact was done without further input of the interviewee and was intended to be presented to them in the third step.

Part Three: Parts One and Two were completed virtually. Part Three occurred at a physical gathering of the lab. This step involved each person presenting the final artifact to the person he/she/they had interviewed in a group setting, giving the recipient an opportunity to respond to both the artifact and the narrative. Those engaged in the activity (which involved a several hour session), found it to be a deeply meaningful experience of connecting with one another, enhancing commitment to their work, and gaining new insights to the power and utility of experiential foresight for social work. As a prototype, all agreed that this was a fertile and generative "space" to engage in deeper consideration and study for the field.

This session will provide an opportunity for numerous members of the lab to share their physical artifacts, share insights and recommendations about the activity and use of foresight in social work practice, and offer guidance to others who wish to explore experiential foresight in their work and/or research.