How We Run Our Future Lab in Pictures. Problems without borders.

We watch the scene in Interstellar. Great film. You know the one. This above. Welcome to the Future Story Lab.

We see this is as a rare interdisciplinary programme, bridging storytellers, tech-data people, creatives and entrepreneurs in the same space, in a university working environment with industry.

In Interstellar, the question why the world doesn’t need more engineers is pivotal to the film’s plot. Food is in short supply. That’s what is needed.

Here’s the rhetorical question. What’s needed in the world of media today is not traditional journalists, producers and storyteller, but those with interdisciplinary skills. Why?

These skills call on systems thinking in which students drive the research, and we harness the idea of failing to succed. Fast forward to the future

1. AI is the rear mirror that will automate some journalism jobs ahead.
2. Journalism rarely addresses the psychologies of how our minds are engineered so populists and propagandists game us.
3. We tend to accept what we know rather than we see.

The future creative worker will be a Media Hyphenate, which is the title of our new international journal

Media Hyphenates is an extension of my persona and skills over the years captured in this one minute video.

Hence there’s room for either a new form of 2030 journalist/ communicator — an interdisciplinary storyteller. Management consultancy PCW and linkedin tell us what the in-demand skills are in the 2020s.

1. Creativity
2. Leadership
3. Solving problems…that’s what’s needed.
4. Then tell that compelling story.

So we invite a group that are interested in creativity and building things; they are interdisciplinary. They may not even know yet. But if you have that streak it’s a blast. By the time you’ve finished the 10 week ( 4 hour a week) programme you might not have built a new VR environment, but you’ll be a cognitive gymnast. Just like Fermi’s problem solving approach, you’ll be able to use analogous thinking to solve complex problems. This is our approach.

That’s Tramshed’s Innovation Manager in Cardiff, the brill Jess Phillips, who we’ve partnered with. Thanks Tramshed.

That’s JT and I on the right below. We’re the lecturers, though we don’t like using that term, because this a collaborative ideas space. The drawing on the right was an unexpected gift from one of the students. More on that in a min.

We’re looking to help foster T or Pi -people. T/ Pi-people have a skillset that runs deep in one area with broad wider interests atop.

This is what students said about the programme.

They debunk the understanding that intellect alone and being a specialist is key to solving varied real world problems. You can find more of this in Range by David Epstein.

Steve Jobs was your archetypal T/Pi -person visiting art galleries for inspiration that prompted thinking across domains.

Our hack approach has deep roots in experimenting and that’s what we like to share. Several design-driven journalism innovations embrace design, and some systems thinking, but few engage in explicit cultural and systems thinking.

In 2005 it led to me receiving the coveted innovation in journalism award — The Knight Batten Award. I was the first Brit to do so. The Guardian newspaper won it several years later. They claim they were the first!

There are similarities in what we do with any number of institutions like the BBC which runs regular hacks which we’ve participated on over the years, like the one below (see here).

But there are differences. We ask you to engage in the pathways in problem solving, (design/ systems/ cultural and philosophical thinking)

Design thinking is a feedback loop problem-solving approach in which the user-base plays a more integral part in the outcome.

Systems thinking offers something else equally important. A mind map helps see the bigger picture, before pulling them apart. If each of the colours below represents a mapped solution to a problem within a module , systems thinking is searching for interactions, perhaps unknown, from outside the module (individual colours) system.

Systems thinking considers panoramically how each unit impacts the other. Culture and race kick in from assessing any impact often bereft of a diverse team. Take Climate change. It’s often designated a problem that can be solved as a module i.e. science — emission reduction is the answer. But as Jan Wilkens and Alvine R C Datchoua-Tirvaudeys write in Researching climate justice: a decolonial approach to global climate governance, for Chatham House’s International Affairs, a new decolonial philosophy is required to understand and tackle the issue.

The approach, I take with my students looks messy, but gradually works itself into shape considering broader contextual answers. Refinements of their thinking process happens incremently.

Students design and systems thinking

In the Emerging Lab we have mentors who will guide you. Mentors are the unsung heroes of learning and storytelling. Thanks to Robin and Thom and BBC Lab judges for letting our students participate in the BBC Hack in December 2020. One of the BBC’s senior designers texted me and said this:

‘Your team did well in the hack. Well done. If I were in your team, that could be the real thing. Are they all your students? Very talented’

Competing against revered companies like the FT and veteran international news innovators the students received an honourable mention for “Best User Experience!” for the concept of hyperlinking radio called Mojomec.

Imagine listening to the radio and controlling the output with your voice. “Er Mojomec, could you go back 10 seconds?”

We aim for broad collaborations in human centred design thinking and problem solving, breaking down epic ideas into smaller ones quite quickly!

We encourage the idea of the “we” principle. Another word might be diversity in kind and thought and we share skill sets like resilience.

That’s Robin Moore (below right) one of our mentors. Until recently he was the head of tech at BBC Wales. Toby, bottom right, is a 24 year-old genius in AI and devised a new tech solution that writes automated copy for tweeter and advertisers. Then there’s Derek building a new global platform.

We’ve developed an approach to problem-solving — a guide called STACKED that underpins the program. It merges multiples disciplines from both lecturers across maths, dotcoms, art, tech, economics, news, docs, storytelling, cinema journalism etc..

It’s helped students take ideas and develop them swiftly. On the right below are some of those ideas. From a mood app, educational training app to a new saving system for those who don’t traditional save with banks. Our student pitched this to a VC after it caught his attention.

We set up a similar system at a previous university and Nick Pollard was so excited to see what the students were doing he agreed to be one of our mentors. The Guild of Entrepreneurs — one of London’s most dynamic gatherings of successful businessmen and businesswomen mentored students.

Here’s some of the feedback from students…

Here’s what other students said in the art of storytelling

When we first launched the programme couple of years back, students presented their work in a show we devised called the ‘Angels Table’. Nasma (middle) built a mobile prototype game, the Journey, with help from her mentor Stephen Wheatley and a creative agency.

You can find more of the Journey here, but here’s her promo too. Nasma is now part of Clwstwr’s programme in Wales developing her idea.

We’re really proud of our mentor partnership. Frankly every student should have a mentor. To say thank you to our mentors we do a gift-giving scheme. It comes from 19th century practice in Paris. Students are not allowed to buy their mentor’s a gift. It must be something they’ve thought through for their mentor to thank them for their coaching. It fosters humility, empathy, as well as a critical awareness.

Bowen on the right (below) now works at HSBC as one of their global stars. Her gift to Lee her mentor was a series of professional portraits. Lee is the CEO/founder of Octo 8 and a member/ former Master of the Guild of Entrepreneurs. Stephen Wheatley, not in this photo; thank you too.

And I’ll be posting some more photos and videos of our Mentors, Iain, Oli, and Mo for their invaluable time spent with us. Here they say nice things about the experience… Everyone’s learning.

Some links for you to read

How can start-ups innovate within design-thinking? In universities.

How to produce popular stories in multiple languages -#BBCNewsHack

Thanks for reading. Here’s some more on me in the link here which includes comments from people I’ve produced like Jon Snow. I run the lab with JT, please, leave a message, do get in touch, so we can collaborate.