Our new Back to the F**kture series asks renowned thinkers to put foresight predictions under the hindsight spotlight. This month Devon Powers discusses why forecasters failed to spot Covid-19
In the first episode of Back to the F**kture, The Future Laboratory's co-founder Martin Raymond talks to world-renowned academic Devon Powers.
Recently, Powers wrote a fantastically timely and insightful column on Medium about how and why forecasters globally failed to predict the true impact of Covid-19. More revealingly, she unfolds a story about how forecasting itself, because of its lack of inclusivity, diversity and its failure to include the ‘ordinary voice’, is missing the bigger picture – to make forecasts more accurate, strategic and in a stronger position to re-imagine and instigate a tomorrow that works for everybody.
Devon Powers is the associate professor in the Department of Advertising and Public Relations at Temple University. She is the author of 3 books, the most recent of which is On Trend: The Business of Forecasting the Future. Her research explores branding, promotion, and how culture moves through the world. Powers' work has appeared in Journal of Consumer Culture, New Media & Society, Critical Studies in Media and Communication, and Popular Communication.
Watch the Zoomcast, or listen to the podcast below.
