The use of scenarios in teaching, through case studies, for example, is common. This activity involves using scenarios from the future, and imagining worlds that may or may never exist. This technique is based on scenario planning, a method used by many businesses and organizations to plan for unexpected events. However, as full scenario planning is a complex and time-consuming process, this activity simply borrows some of the imaginative methods used. See example 68.1.

A day in the life

This activity involves learners imagining a future world where a particular situation that you would like to explore exists. A world 20 years from now is a good margin as it allows enough time for the world to be significantly different from our own. Examples that could be interesting to explore for information skills teaching include: a world where google controls all channels of communication or where there are no copyright restrictions.

Describe the world to your learners, being as creative and engaging as you can. Instead of simply describing the future world, talk as if you already live there. you could use music, images and newspaper headlines to help you make the world real. Try to talk generally about the world, as your learners will be asked to flesh out the details in their activity.

Ask your learners to imagine a day in the life of a particular character, such as a student or an academic. get your learners to draw out details for this character and imagine how they live (for example, what do they wear? How do they travel? Which technologies are used? What are the popular interests?). Ask your learners to be as imaginative as they like and draw pictures. As well as general questions about your character's life, you will need to provide focused questions for the particular issue you wish them to consider – for example, how are libraries used (do libraries even exist?)? How do people access information?

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