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The paper examines the birth of trend forecasting in the USA and position trend forecasters and professional futurists within the wider history of marketing, market research and advertising.

The study is based upon archival research, interviews and close readings of primary and secondary literature.

Trend forecasters split from traditional market and opinion research in the early 1970s, as concerns about the future became paramount for businesses. At this time, entrepreneurial trend forecasters such as Faith Popcorn started firms, adopting futurological methods to make predictions about the future of culture. The field continued to grow into the 1990s as it developed or modified a host of mostly qualitative research methods, including environmental scanning, consumer ethnography and scenarios. Trend forecasting reveals the complexity of the relationship between business and “the future” and how trends aimed to predict as well as direct that future.

The article is among the first academic treatments of trend forecasting, drawn from original interviews and exclusively accessed archival research. It contributes to a theory and a history of the concept of a trend, which is understood here as a way to package the movement of culture as sellable. It likewise offers a unique exploration of the relationship between futurology and business.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the potential impact of the Internet of Things (IoT) on education. IoT is more than just novel educational arrangements with new technology and networked computing devices. Taking a systems design perspective, the author argues that IoT represents a paradigm shift in the key drivers of education systems.

The paper uses a conceptual analysis based on the systems thinking framework. The paper relies on a literature review as informed by prior studies in the field, social media analysis and research database articles of IoT in education.

The paper finds that systems thinking is a useful framework for examining IoT in education. It finds that writers on IoT in education use a number of lenses at looking at how IoT will affect education. All of these can be refined. Findings suggest that IoT technology has the potential to impact how education systems are reimagined and redesigned; that logistics of educational management and the design of learning facilities can become more responsive to student learning needs because of IoT technology; and instructional delivery systems will be reconstituted by IoT technology. This study is of most value to educators, administrators and information systems professionals. Industries of focus include K-12 education, higher education and specialized training fields.

The research is a conceptual analysis based on social media content and research studies. This is a new line of inquiry; therefore, the sources and data rapidly change.

The study is practical for educational policymakers and educators to plan for the shift in modes of instructional design, curriculum development and school leadership and organization.

The research will inform the basis for new educational and schooling arrangements; IoT will change the way all of us learn and engage with learning activities.

The paper is highly original and very valuable for education policymakers as well as educators at all levels.

Dennis Gabor published a book in 1967 entitled, “Inventing The Future”. In his book, he gives us an inspired vision of man's future, in the tradition of Wells, Haldane, Huxley and Orwell, although unlike some, he is optimistic. He sees for the first time how, through science, man can shape his natural environment. How he will actually shape it is largely a matter of free human choice, not the business of machines, nor of scientists, not even of psychologists; but the prerogative of inspired humanists, of poets and writers. It was man's ability to invent which has made human society what it is. This was a message ahead of its time and although the book received some recognition, I believe that in today's practice of planning, we are coming closer and closer to his concept.

In this interview, Alvin Toffler, Tom Johnson, and Larry Bennigson talk about the forces driving change and how business leaders can stay abreast of the threats and opportunities arising out of these changes. The biggest strategic threat to many successful businesses will come from the external environment that tends to be outside the peripheral vision of corporate leadership. Culture, religion, politics, environment, and ethics are all going to interpenetrate one another to an extent never before seen. They will, in turn, penetrate business in all sorts of strange new ways.

Based on an address given to the second international conference on sociocybernetics the author gives a personal view of globalization and sustainability. He discusses economy‐driven, science‐driven and tourism‐driven globalization and gives a meaning to the term “sustainer”, He gives examples of the “nastier aspects of globalization” and considers whether there is a realistic approach to globalization and sustainability problems. Deals from a sociocybernetic viewpoint with some of the challenges to be faced in the modern world.

We are going to witness a transformation of work according to Future Shock author, Alvin Toffler, in his new book The Third Wave. According to Toffler, the First Wave was the invention of agriculture some 10,000 years ago or thereabouts. Three centuries ago, the industrial revolution heralded the Second Wave, while the Third Wave will bring an equally drastic change in society and individuals. Current industrial society will collapse before a tide of changes in values, technology and organisations on every scale. According to Toffler:

Of all the changes in work over the last century, arguably the greatest impact upon the way work is done can be attributed to the exponential growth of flexible working patterns. The basis of flexible working is captured by a BT plc strap‐line: work is not a place where you go but rather something you do! As the renowned futurist, Alvin Toffler, has indicated – “work is not necessarily going to take place in offices or factories. It is going to take place everywhere, anytime” (Toffler, A., The Third Wave, Morrow, New York, NY, 1980). There is a wealth of guidance available on how to improve the flexibility available within organizations from the enormous range of “flexible working solutions” books through to the consultancies that now include flexible working as prominent packages in their service portfolio. In this paper, the teleworking means of flexible working is explored and an assessment is made of its growth, advantages and disadvantages, implementation programs for successful teleworking and a case assessing the advances that BT plc have made in becoming a teleworking organization.

The 1980s is a decade of transition into the information age in which technological developments will speed up the process of communication. Alvin Toffler in The Third Wave discusses the impact of “an electronic revolution that will change our entire economy, our city structure, our values and even our politics”. Rapid transmission of messages via telecommunication reduces distances and increases “information power”. For example, videotext is used to create direct access to data. Electronic mail speeds up the process of sending and receiving information.

The coming of the “Information Society” would, many believed, spell wholesale changes for the way we work. With the power of new information technology (IT) the means by which jobs and organisations may change has arrived: but will, as those such as Alvin Toffler prophesised, particular forms as telework multiply as a result? One crucial, and frequently underdeveloped area of the subject, is that of theory. If a more insightful approach is to be achieved, frameworks are needed which reflect the dynamics of new technologies and the use of space in structuring the organisation and designing jobs.