Mapping qualitative indirect impacts on a technology foresight community

New challenges in decision-making increase the demand for collective strategic approaches. Foresight is a conceptual framework as well as process of prospective analysis and informed decision-making for treating long to mid-term considerations. It joins experts, stakeholder groups, and decision-makers to create channels for communication and to develop a common basis strong enough for shaping desired or avoiding undesirable futures. In contrast to direct outcomes, e.g. technology roadmaps, or action plans, indirect outcomes can give rise to the building of longer lasting structures and behaviors of the participants of the foresight process, e.g. new insights and knowledge, formation of new networks, new relationships for cooperation. In this paper we report on our accompanying research about qualitative indirect impacts on a large foresight community. To this end, we used longitudinal empirical data acquisition and social network analysis for mapping personal information exchange and mutual influence in order to analyze indirect outcomes of foresight. Questions concerning the changes between personal ties over time, the velocity of change, the potential influence the process design has on the engagement of the participants, the presence of key opinion leaders, and the identification of network measures for process monitoring were addressed. It was found that guided interventions are reflected in network structures, and thus can be monitored and used as a tool for process steering.