WVS Database

Tools for Systems Thinkers: 7 Steps to Move from Insights to Interventions In the previous four chapters of this series, I discussed the different concepts, approaches, and tools for activating systems thinking. Now it’s time to start pulling those parts together. In this chapter, I outline seven steps you can take to move from systems exploration to a practice of systems interventions*. CIA - The World Factbook People from nearly every country share information with CIA, and new individuals contact us daily. If you have information you think might interest CIA due to our foreign intelligence collection mission, there are many ways to reach us. If you know of an imminent threat to a location inside the U.S., immediately contact your local law enforcement or FBI Field Office. For threats outside the U.S., contact CIA or go to a U.S. Embassy or Consulate and ask for the information to be passed to a U.S. official. Please know, CIA does not engage in law enforcement.

Scanning the Periphery Between 2001 and 2004, Mattel lost 20% of its share of the worldwide fashion-doll segment to smaller rivals such as MGA Entertainment, creator of a hip new line of dolls called Bratz. MGA recognized what Mattel had failed to—that preteen girls were becoming more sophisticated and maturing more quickly. At younger ages, they were outgrowing Barbie and increasingly preferring dolls that looked like their teenage siblings and the pop stars they idolized. As the target market for Barbie narrowed from girls ages three to 11 to girls about three to five, the Bratz line cut rapidly into the seemingly unassailable Mattel franchise. Mattel finally moved to rescue Barbie’s declining fortunes, launching a brand extension called My Scene that targeted older girls, and a line of hip dolls called Flavas to compete head-on with Bratz.

Great Britain Historical Documentation System/Home Page Available Parts: Information about Economic Distress and Labour Markets: The database includes a wide range of indicators of economic distress, most obviously unemployment and Poor Law statistics but also 'Small Debt Plaints' and the marriage rate. The Three Horizons of innovation and culture change In the autumn of 2009, I was invited to join the International Futures Forum (IFF) as one of a small group of ‘next generation’ members. The IFF is an international collaborative network of people committed to pooling their experience and insights to explore “the complex and confounding challenges that our world faces”, to “support a transformative response to those challenges” and to “enhance our capacity for effective action”. One common perspective shared between the members of the IFF is that we need a more systemic approach to the complexity of the interconnected problems and opportunities that we face. Another shared belief is that, in order to appropriately respond to the changes around us, organizations, communities, businesses and governments must not only pay attention to possible short-term responses to symptoms of these crises, but must also address the underlying structural and systemic causes that drive these symptoms.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) Output in the Construction Industry, November 2015 In November 2015, output in the construction industry was estimated to have decreased by 0.5% compared with October 2015. All new work was the largest contributor to the fall, decreasing by 0.7%, with repair and maintenance (R&M) falling 0.2%. Index of Production, November 2015 Production output increased by 0.9% in November 2015 compared with November 2014.

Are You Solving the Right Problems? How good is your company at problem solving? Probably quite good, if your managers are like those at the companies I’ve studied. What they struggle with, it turns out, is not solving problems but figuring out what the problems are. In surveys of 106 C-suite executives who represented 91 private and public-sector companies in 17 countries, I found that a full 85% strongly agreed or agreed that their organizations were bad at problem diagnosis, and 87% strongly agreed or agreed that this flaw carried significant costs. The World Bank - Statistik World Development Indicators 2016 World Development Indicators (WDI) publication is a collection of time-series data for 214 economies, with many indicators going back more than 50 years. WDI provides cross-country comparable statistics about development and people’s lives around the globe. It is divided into six sections – World View, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global Links. New online tables, previously published in the book, are now available from wdi.worldbank.org/tables and they provide data from the most up-to-date database. Learn more

Agitators, innovators, and orchestrators: leaders for change – Tools for hope: resources and inspiration Image: Agitators at work at Heathrow Airport. Andrew Curry writes: I was struck by an article in Stanford Social Innovation Review that argued that it takes three types of leaders to make social innovation happen: the agitator, the innovator, and the orchestrator: An agitator brings the grievances of specific individuals or groups to the forefront of public awareness. An innovator creates an actionable solution to address these grievances. Five This EFL lesson is designed around a short film by The Mercadantes titled Five and the theme of religion. Students research five major religions and compare them, watch a short film of five children praying and then discuss religions. I would ask all teachers who use Film English to consider buying my book Film in Action as the royalties which I receive from sales help to keep the website completely free. Language level: Intermediate (B1) – Upper Intermediate (B2) Learner type: Teens and adults

The Futures Cone, use and history – The Voroscope From time to time people ask me about the Futures Cone, and how it came about. Let me give a brief history of how I came across it before adapting it to suit my use of the concept. I first began using the Futures Cone diagram in 2000 when working as a foresight analyst for Swinburne University (before becoming an academic in the Master of Strategic Foresight). The text in this post is excerpted from a chapter I recently submitted to the upcoming Handbook of Anticipation, ed. Assembling a Futures / Foresight Toolkit – Wendy L Schultz – Medium Extreme uncertainty making you uneasy? Want to pivot from challenge to opportunity on the fulcrum of emerging change? It’s probably time for a skills update. First you may want to find out the full range of what’s on offer to supercharge your futures thinking. People new to futures research and foresight often think that scenario planning is the be all and end all of foresight. But there are at least six key activities in well-designed futures research, and dozens of tools available for each activity — and they all can be interconnected, intermixed, and layered.

European Social Survey (ESS) The ESS covers a wide range of topics, organised in core and rotating modules. You can access data and documentation for each topic from the table below. If you are interested in a specific country, the table below gives you access to data and documentation for any of the 36 countries that have taken part so far. Our Online Analysis tool allows you to analyse data from a specific ESS round without leaving your browser