A reader recently emailed us and posed the following very good question: “The jump from academic and worthy discussion to our daily discourse is so vast a leap. How do we go about infusing our daily conversations with real information and thoughtful opinion.”

This is a crucial question and one we continually struggle to get right. We welcome input from readers to help us in this endeavour, and we are happy to respond to specific queries and comments on posts.

After all, the whole point of Shaping Tomorrows World is to engage in informed and civil debate, and we recognize that this is definitely a two-way street.

In addition, we have introduced a new type of post, called “in the news”, which is identified by this icon:

Those “in the news” posts aim to raise interesting issues that our authors have picked up in the news and that may stimulate a thought or even a conversation in the local coffee shop.

We will be posting those “in the news” items on an irregular basis, and we welcome your input on them as much as we value input on our regular posts—which will of course continue as per usual.

Our first “in the news” post follows right after this one, by my colleague Steven Smith from UWA.