ABSTRACT
Futures research is an emerging discipline with rudimentary communications channels and a wide variety of backgrounds among participants. This leads to disparate theoretical and methodological stances, and sometimes even to considerable variation in the meaning of core concepts. The authors felt that computerized conferencing might coalesce the field, establish paradigms, make futures research more like established sciences. The first year of the conference has shown both enticing success in this direction and frustrating disappointments.
