I published another article with Prepare with Foresight. This one describes horizon scanning and environmental scanning and how they can be used for disaster preparedness. I compare them to an extended version of situational awareness.
Here’s the intro:
In my previous post, I explained how individuals can benefit from strategic foresight. Now, I’ll dig a little deeper into how to actually do that. Environmental and horizon scanning are like the ditch digging, prospecting, or burger flipping of strategic foresight because they are tediously essential to everything else a futurist does. These two terms are easily confused and often considered the same thing by experts. I distinguish the two because it helps me focus on their different purposes.
Environmental scanning is about looking at past and present events to understand the current state of a nation, industry, organization, etc. This should only need to be done once in a while as needed. Horizon scanning, on the other hand, is about looking for changes that may affect the future and should be done on a regular basis—daily, weekly, or at least monthly.
Finish reading: http://www.preparewithforesight.com/horizon-scanning/
Aiglatson Foresight Research 