Visioning 2026 Blog
Future Focus Integrated into Annual Arts, Technology, and Science Expo/Competition
Members of the local Norfolk, NE Master Capacity Builders held a telephone conference call with Fayatte County Arts, Science and Technology Expo and Competition organizers. Thank you Peggy Thomas and Karen Stephens for sharing your insights on how you have incorporated a futures context into an already successful annual event that is engaging the youth and the community. We hope to continue the dialogue and implement something similar in Norfolk, NE.
The following documents provide some background material.
The award winners received some local media coverage with an interesting story about what the future could hold for the youth.
http://www.thecitizen.com/articles/09-21-2010/students-flush-success-chamber-expo%E2%80%99s-future-fayette-2030-contest
Learn more about this growing ground swell from a Facebook Fan Page.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Future-Fayette/119559381405649
Here's the Fayette Chambers event announcement [http://fayettechamber.org/2010/08/futuristic-art-contest-open/]
This
could be a great opportunity for the Norfolk Area Chamber's Workforce
committee, Chamber's CLiC, connecting with the Chamber's Biz Show, Madison County Visitor's Bureau, a local service club or two, business partners, NECC, etc.....
Role of the Community Colleges From a Historical and Futures Perspective
Rural Nebraska has made profound progress over my life-time. I can remember my father saying that when the 2-cylindar John Deere tractor was introduced it radically changed farming and ranching operation from horse drawn to mechanized operations and the growth in row crop operations. In the same time frame Rural Public Power Districts installed a electrical power grid that drastically changed operations on the farmstead.
Not long after this time entrepreneurs recognized the value of underground water resource and the potential of center pivot irrigation along with the introduction of plant genetics. These changes helped convert corn yields from under 50 bushels per acre to more than 200 bushels per acre. In addition, communications and navigations technologies have improved the management practices of the farming operations. Beside genetics, chemistry and biology research has helped introduce numerous changes, for example in the late 60’s the feed additive Rumenson increased the rate of gain with less feed input for beef animals. Now with the introduction of probiotics in animal husbandry producers are reducing the need for antibiotics while increasing rates of gain.
We are in an era experiencing three economic models changing at the same. We are transitioning from an industrial economy to a knowledge based economy and are now beginning an early introduction to what some see as the “creative molecular economy.” This accelerating rate of change has been impacting our rural communities and culture.
For example putting social media marketing in perspective. It took radio 38 years to reach 50 million listeners. Terrestrial TV took 13 years to reach 50 million users. The internet took four years to reach 50 million people... In less than nine months, Facebook added 100 million users.
We are beginning to better understand the need to become life-long learners, making connections outside our traditional local level, and using foresight to evaluate “weak signals”, and asking appropriate questions as critical rural cultural principles. In parallel the focus on regional community colleges has allowed us to keep pace with many of these changes and opportunities. I believe community colleges are an extremely important educational, economic and community development model for our future successful rural transformation.
In the past we could use history to help us better prepare for the future. However this in many cases is no longer the situation. Could you imagine the impact of the personal computer or even the internet and world wide web on our personal lives let alone the impact on the world-wide economy? Did we understand how the global positioning system would enhance our farm management operations? As we move through uncharted waters our community colleges can and should be a focus for regional economic development, a rural institutional center for our life-long learning opportunities and preparing ourselves for future success in our rural communities.
I believe Northeast Nebraska Community College (NECC) can establish itself as a “center for strategic futures” for life-long learning and rural economic and community development. Dr. Bill Path, NECC President, recognizes the importance of establishing a curriculum for the development of our future rural community leaders and connectors. This initiative can be further expanded on as we learn from other leaders/communities of excellence that are helping develop innovators and entrepreneurs, especially from around the world. Just as NECC's collaboration with Wayne State College and University of Nebraska Medical Center there will be a growing need to establish future relationships that will further our access to learning opportunities. I would suggest a center of strategic futures will be instrumental to improving our leadership capacity building tool kit and preparing for and endorsing the future impact of change.
Mark D. Hall
Transformational Change in Manufacturing -- Supercharging Entrepreneurs
Wired Magazine introduced a new trend impacting the manufacturing infrastructure in USA as well as around the world.
Micro manufacturing and prototyping technologies are now allowing entrepreneurs to convert a product idea in to prototype and finished product in months versus years. Small and inexpensive computer aided design, plastic injected molding and computed numerically controlled (CNC) machine tools are allowing entrepreneurs to produce products in smaller lots while maintaining sufficient profit margins. An entrepreneur can now turn to firms in the local area as well as across the globe to collaborate and accelerate the production of finished goods.
Climate Change Due to CO2 Emmissions?
An excellent climate change video discussion (8 mins.) by John Coleman, Founder of the Weather Channel, on the fallacy of CO2 model indicating global warming. He describes that the solar sunspot cycles have a direct impact on our earth's weather temperatures not CO2 emmissions.
http://www.kusi.com/home/78477082.html
http://www.kusi.com/weather/colemanscorner/81175327.html
Norfolk Historical Preservation Community Action Committee
The first meeting of "Preserve Norfolk", a historical preservation community action committee, visited the Karl Stefan Memorial Airport Terminal and listened and discussed the Historical Preservation 101 presentation by a Nebraska Historical Society officer originally from Norfolk. Please refer the following presentation (PDF formatted).
http://www.visioning2026.com/docs/Introduction to Preservation 101 - PP2003 version.pdf
http://www.norfolkairportservices.com/
http://www.airnav.com/airport/KOFK/NORFOLK_AIRPORT_SVCS
The meeting was originally announced in the Norfolk Daily News Article, Preserving historic properties goal of new group, 1/8/2010, written by Cheryl Schmeckpeper, a board member of the Nebraska Historical Society.
The next meeting is scheduled for February 14, 2010, at the McMill Building, the former Norfolk Post Office, with a tour starting at 1:30 PM and a presentation at 3 PM.
NorthFork Visioning Sessions
NorthFork Riverwalk Development Project hosted the Visioning Sessions on April 16th and facilitated by HDR Engineering Inc.
HDR's Visioning Session slide presentation is available without the SWOT Analysis results.
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threat Analysis is a good method to collect community input in small groups and then build consensus between the different participants. Each group had 4 sheets of butcher paper that they included ideas on the 4 different areas relative to the project. Each group shared with the facilitator those ideas which were consolidated. Then the individuals where given 4 sets of color dots (3 each) to correspond to the 4 areas and then asked to vote on the idea they felt was the most important. An individual could put on three dots on one ideas if they felt strongly about it.
I think the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) Analysis that we went through with HDR as the facilitator for the riverwalk master plan was very beneficial. The only thing I would like to add to the participatory process is one more parallel process, I would call it Future Trends Impact (FTI). This additional process gives the facilitator an opportunity to share with the community the future trends that could have an impact on the effort and then allow the participants to add their own trends and then have the group vote on for consensus. For example, how will our aging demographics impact our park and rec master plan, fuel and transportation costs, growing obesity in our youth, life-long learning opportunities, our continued multi-generational extended family culture, further collaboration with other public entities (e.g., schools), etc.