Skip to main content
LibApps staff login

FIS 111 - Welcome to the Future

Course Description

This class will explore the ways in which the future inspires, shapes, and motivates the present.  It will illustrate how "possible futures" are used by people and institutions to advance agendas, shape conversations, and sell products.  It will examine how science, technology, and other forces are mobilized to create change.  And it will empower you to play a role in shaping our collective future.

Futures: Influence, Origins, and Histories

CQ Researcher - CQ Researcher provides award winning in-depth coverage of the most important issues of the day. Our reports are written by experienced journalists, footnoted and professionally fact-checked. Full-length articles include an overview, historical background, chronology, pro/con feature, plus resources for additional research. Graphics, photos and short "sidebar" features round out the reports. Shorter "Hot Topics" articles provide a solid introduction to subjects most in demand by students.

Science Nation - In the National Science Foundation's Science Nation online magazine, we examine the breakthroughs, and the possibilities for new discoveries about our planet, our universe and ourselves: An artificial retina that can help the blind to see; new materials to build things bigger, better, lighter, and stronger; new ways to make our lives better without making the environment worse; and what we can learn from organisms that can live and thrive in frozen deserts or steaming-hot volcanic vents. Each week, Science Nation takes a dynamic, entertaining look at the research--and the researchers--that will change our lives.

Arizona Town Hall Reports - Founded in 1962, Arizona Town Hall creates constructive forums for resolving contentious and complicated issues.  Arizona Town Hall educates, engages, connects and empowers people to resolve important issues through consensus, not division, using a process based on respectful dialogue that values diverse perspectives, builds relationships and fosters leadership development.  Also available in print.

Trendwatching Trend Briefing - Established in 2002, we help forward-thinking business professionals in 180+ countries understand the new consumer and subsequently uncover compelling, profitable innovation opportunities.

THE US 20: Twenty Big Trends That Will Dominate America's Future - In 2012, Business Insider "identified the biggest trends that will dominate headlines over the next decade".  How did they do?

Pew Research Center - Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. 

TED Radio Hour - Based on Talks given by riveting speakers on the world-renowned TED stage, each show is centered on a common theme – such as the source of happiness, crowd-sourcing innovation, power shifts, or inexplicable connections – and injects soundscapes and conversations that bring these ideas to life.

Assignment Resources

To assist with your assignments, please take a look at the following resources selected by the ASU Library:

Access to advertising resources in Duke University Libraries Digital Repository collections:

  • Ad*Access - Over 7,000 U.S. and Canadian advertisements covering five product categories - Beauty and Hygiene, Radio, Television, Transportation, and World War II propaganda - dated between 1911 and 1955. 
  • AdViews - Thousands of television commercials created or collected by the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) advertising agency, dated 1950s - 1980s. 
  • Emergence of Advertising in America - Over 3,300 advertising items and publications dating from 1850 to 1920, illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States. 
  • Medicine and Madison Avenue - About 600 advertising items and publications dating from 1850 to 1920, illustrating the rise of consumer culture and the birth of a professionalized advertising industry in the United States. 
  • Resource of Outdoor Advertising Descriptions - ROAD - A portal to more than 30,000 images of outdoor advertisements from five different source collections. 

CLIO Award Winners - Founded in 1959 to celebrate high achievement in advertising, the Clios annually and throughout the year recognize the work, the agencies and the talent -- across advertising, sports, fashion, music, entertainment, and health care -- that, in a variety of categories and as judged by industry peers, push boundaries and establish new precedent.

Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) - A multidisciplinary article database which covers thousands of mostly English-language popular magazines and scholarly (including peer-reviewed) journals. Includes topics in the social sciences, humanities, general science, education and most areas of academic study.

​Nexis UniProvides full text of selected newspapers worldwide, trade publications, legal periodicals, and legal scholarly journals. Includes company directories, financial reports, quotations, biographies, almanac, federal/state laws, regulations, court opinions, accounting statements/guidelines, and news transcripts.

PAIS Index -  The PAIS International database contains records for over half a million journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference papers, web content, and more.

CQ Magazine - A weekly news magazine featuring in-depth reporting on public policy, politics, congressional legislation, and elections extending back to 1983, including: a complete wrap-up of news on Congress, the status of bills in play, behind-the-scenes maneuvering, committee and floor activity, debates, and all roll-call votes.

 

The ASU Library acknowledges the twenty-three Native Nations that have inhabited this land for centuries. Arizona State University's four campuses are located in the Salt River Valley on ancestral territories of Indigenous peoples, including the Akimel O’odham (Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa) Indian Communities, whose care and keeping of these lands allows us to be here today. ASU Library acknowledges the sovereignty of these nations and seeks to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native American students and patrons. We are advocates for the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems and research methodologies within contemporary library practice. ASU Library welcomes members of the Akimel O’odham and Pee Posh, and all Native nations to the Library.