Digital futures: Definition (what), importance (why) and methods (how)

“Digital futures” as a research field that examines diverse, long-term future(s) scenarios influenced by digital technologies has been proposed in information systems. Here, based on the emerging literature on digital futures, we define what this term means, delineate it from related concepts such as digital transformation, articulate why the information systems field should take note and consider the study of digital futures, and provide an overview of approaches.