Multi-Lifespan Timeline
Method Overview
Designed to help technology practitioners imagine the changes that could occur in society in the next 100 years and how their product might contribute to a changing society during that time range. This method can be used in conjunction with the Multi-Lifespan Co-Design method.

Getting Started
Materials: Butcher paper (160” width x 36” height), tapes, and markers
Participants: Team
Steps (from a publicly available academic paper):
- Create a large scale timeline on a butcher paper (160” width x 36” height).
- Create 25-year intervals stretching 100 to the past and 100 years to the future.
- Demarcate the timeline into two rows – one for social events and the other for technology events across the years.
- Paste the timeline to the wall or place on a long table.
- Populate the past 100 years with sample social events and technological innovations that occurred in the given society.
- Next, engage the participants to brainstorm ideas for the future society and technology. Encourage them to specify the time ranges of when each event might occur.
- Evaluate the ideas and use that as the basis for future innovation.