Call for Policy Insights Papers - Tracing the Future(s)
Nikita Chiu calls for Policy Insights for inclusion in a forthcoming Global Policy special section entitled Tracing the Future(s): Tracing our legacies to shape a more inclusive future.
This special collection explores how tracking historic traces of the past constitutes a way to tracing a potentially regenerative and more inclusive future in regional developments and major scientific projects. It is designed to explore the interplay between technology legacy, commercialization, and visions for regenerative and inclusive futures. (Vargas et al., 2022; Sullivan and Sahasrabudhe, 2016)
Governments, industry, and academia have increasingly turn to the rapid collection of big data to inform policy developments, particularly for technology and innovation projects. (Giest, 2017; Janssen and Kuk, 2016) The commercialization of digital technologies has enabled policy-makers to quickly generate, assess, and/or analyze a wide variety of data, including personal data and preferences (Koponen, 2010), as well as real-time information (Tapio, 1996). The emergence of such a trend could risk neglecting contextualized knowledge (e.g. historic legacy and perception of technological uses, missing demographic data) while advancing technology-driven futures, leading to the possibility of (mis)interpreting data in a vacuum, and missing valuable lessons that could be learned from historic contexts. (Criado-Perez, 2019)
Anchored on debates and discussions explored at the Cornwall Symposium of Traces and Technologies and beyond, this special section will discuss the challenges and potentials of technologically-driven initiatives, including but not limited to regenerative development projects in regions tackling with the legacy and decline of specialised technological developments (e.g. mining, polar and space science). Through studying technological evolution, this special collection seeks to highlight and critically evaluate how diverse scientific practices in capturing, analysing, and interpreting historic traces and data informed conception of technology-driven futures. It seeks to investigate how the use of past traces shapes future-looking societal efforts, such as regional development plans and global scientific projects. The special section will capture significant insights into future uses of technologies (e.g.AI) in arts, as well as the policy dynamics and interplay between local, national, and international norms and policy.
There is currently a literature gap in synthesizing knowledge from disciplines that are traditionally considered to be past-focused (e.g. heritage and museum studies) with those that are often seen as future-focused (e.g. science of emerging technologies). The special section hopes to develop a foundation on which dialogue and engagement between STEM and SHAPE subjects can be sustained to envision a more sustainable and inclusive future. In doing so, it aims to contribute to shaping a new interdisciplinary body of work in understanding futures through looking into the pasts.
Guest Editor
Nikita Chiu
Photo by Min An
