Youth Voices from the Future

How will driving forces of change affect your life in ten years? How will they shape who you become and how you will live? KnowledgeWorks Foundation is posing these questions to youth across the country.

We want to include the voice of youth in the critical conversations among education practitioners and decision-makers about the impacts of future driving forces on education. In order to create a forum for youth to express their thoughts, concerns, and aspirations about the future, as it is shaped by key driving forces of change, we asked Institute for the Future and the Center for Digital Storytelling to develop a creative process and guide for youth to make their own digital stories about their lives ten years in the future. Together IFTF and CDS conducted three workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Columbus, Ohio to develop a set of activities that youth, teachers, and any youth workers can use to develop personal stories about their concerns, hopes, aspirations, and points of view about the future and what it means for us all today.

Consider this site a story gallery and a workshop. You will find a collection of youth stories in the Story Gallery. These were made by youth 12-21 years olds in the IFTF/CDS facilitated workshops in March – May 2008.

You will also find all the materials you need to create your own story in the Story Workshop. Here you will find short videos that describe and explain driving forces of change that will be shaping the context, the background, of our future. In addition, there is a Workbook and Listening Guide that walks you through activities that will help you listen and watch the driving forces videos, and reflect on what they might mean for you. The workbook contains questions and discussion prompts that will spark your thinking about your future. The workbook also contains a story template, writing prompts, and digital media guidelines that will help you organize and write a narrative story that will be the basis of your own digital story. The Story Workshop page also has a sample workshop agenda that breaks down the process into key activity modules that can be conducted over am intensive weekend, week long session, or even class semester.

We hope you explore the Youth Voices videos and are inspired to create and share your own vision of your future on this site. Simply upload your story to the Story Gallery and add to the important collective vision of the future created by youth across the country.