The outcome of today’s lesson was to think creatively in order to generate speculative scenarios that fit to our speculative practice brief. Elvia's tutorial helped us broadened our thinking about design fiction through the implementation of a series of tasks. We brought alive this fictional narrative through the creation of a timeline, newspaper headline and via artefacts.
Our first task was to pick an 'object'. These ranged from systems - such as the government - to devices - such as a phone. Winona, Nevena, Luke and I picked a random number on this list, so our object was social media, more specifically, Facebook. Now that we had an object, there were 14 questions we needed to answer about Facebook.
This task was completed with knowledge we may already have about Facebook. We were not allowed to use the internet for our answers. The answers didn't have to be correct, they could be speculative. Separating the questions between us, we wrote the answers on post it notes, seen below:
This task was very useful as it was the first step to makeing us think specuatively, making up any results to fit a distant future. Our next task was to create narritives for three futures. One near future in 2028. Another in 2058, and the last in 2088. Our results are seen below:
An example of a future I created was:
"It's 2088. Facebook is now used by everyone in the world. Your parents are forced to create an account for you at birth. The age restriction has been lifted. Facebook is now a universal system used by governments all around the world, to store everything about an individual. Their health data, salary, interests. No other apps exists. Need to book a taxi? Facebook is all you need."
Another example created by Winona for a near future: "It's 2028, social media has become a form of digital currency. The economy is now driven by likes and comments."
Now we needed a generate a paragraph that brings the future we are focusing on to life:
"It’s 2058, social media is no longer what it was before. Everything now exists as a single platform. Our day to day life is now tailored according to the data that exists on our personal data file. Leading to a “Suggested Society” where there is minimal decision making."
Our final task was to show the radical changes that need to take place in society, which embraces this future we have created. We achieved this through the creation of a timeline, which starts in 2018 and ends in 2058.
The timeline:
2018
Data privacy needs to be addressed. (Transparency)
Educate the public on data privacy to gain trust. Start from a young age to embed these ‘values’ into our society.
To tackle scepticism around data privacy, we would introduce ways for people to be more comfortable with giving data. (e.g food preferences)
Subscription boxes are now widespread between industries and are now staples in our lives. (accurate & customised)
Companies start merging, all the data that we’ve given out are now being consolidated into one big personal data file.
Social media no longer ‘exists’ because everything would be combined into a single platform.
Once the platform starts storing more data about people than the government, the government takes over and makes it a requirement for everyone to have their own personal data file.
Suggested Society.
2058
Here are some headlines I generated to aid this speculative future. Each point corresponds to the timeline.
FACEBOOK MAKES IT RIGHT
DATA PRIVACY EDUCATION IN SCHOOLS INTRODUCED
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO EAT?
YOU DO WANT THIS. TRUST US, WE KNOW
TALKS OF IBM & GOOGLE MERGER
BOOK A HOLIDAY? FACEBOOK. HIRE A NANNY? FACEBOOK. BUY A CAR? FACEBOOK! -
GOVERNMENT & FACEBOOK MERGER COMPLETE
HERE YOU GO.
The headline we went with:
Reference list:
Vasconcelos, E. (2018) 'QUANTIFIED SELF - CRITICAL METHODS' [PowerPoint presentation]. User Experience/User Interface Design. Available at: https://artslondon.sharepoint.com/:f:/t/LCC_IID/Elk8_JT8TO1Lg1jIQgkTfYUB8MVJVe3njBDv7hiVh4r-2A?e=aVQL9d (Accessed: 22 October 2018).
Bibliography list:
Softwaretestinghelp.com. (2018). Top 13 Best Big Data Companies of 2018. Available at: https://www.softwaretestinghelp.com/big-data-companies/ (Accessed: 22 October 2018).
Tactical Technology Collective. (2017). Data and Elections. Available at: https://vimeo.com/244022922 (Accessed: 20 October 2018).
Tactical Technology Collective. (2017). Data and the Home. Available at: https://vimeo.com/244022031 (Accessed: 20 October 2018).
Tactical Technology Collective. (2017). Data and Dating. Available at: https://vimeo.com/244021959 (Accessed: 20 October 2018).
Vasconcelos, E. (2018) 'QUANTIFIED SELF - CRITICAL METHODS' Lecture to BA Information & Interface Design Year 2], User Experience/User Interface Design. University of the Arts London. 22 October.
Wired. (2018). Dystopian Fiction’s Popularity Is a Warning Sign for the Future. Available at: https://www.wired.com/2014/12/geeks-guide-naomi-klein/ (Accessed: 22 October 2018).
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