Operationalising design fiction for ethical computing

Design fiction is a type of speculative design, where story worlds are crafted to then be used as a canvas upon which so-called diegetic prototypes can be sketched [9]. Because these prototypes exist only within story worlds they are not constrained by currently available technology; because of this design fictions are excellent means to open up space for critical conversations about the future [2,6]. This project experiments with using design fiction as a novel way to explore the complexities of technology and ethics. We focus on one specific case to demonstrate the method we adopted, however the contribution is general in nature and may be applicable to other cases too. The work consists of two parts, this paper and a ‘design fiction documentary’ film, ‘Care for a Robot’. The paper and film are intended to be viewed together

Design Fiction Diegetic Prototyping: A Research Framework for Visualizing Service Innovations

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose: This paper presents a design fiction diegetic prototyping methodology and research framework for investigating service innovations that reflect future uses of new and emerging technologies. Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on speculative fiction, we propose a methodology that positions service innovations within a six-stage research development framework. We begin by reviewing and critiquing designerly approaches that have traditionally been associated with service innovations and futures literature. In presenting our framework, we provide an example of its application to the Internet of Things (IoT), illustrating the central tenets proposed and key issues identified. Findings: The research framework advances a methodology for visualizing future experiential service innovations, considering how realism may be integrated into a designerly approach. Research limitations/implications: Design fiction diegetic prototyping enables researchers to express a range of ‘what if’ or ‘what can it be’ research questions within service innovation contexts. However, the process encompasses degrees of subjectivity and relies on knowledge, judgment and projection. Practical implications: The paper presents an approach to devising future service scenarios incorporating new and emergent technologies in service contexts. The proposed framework may be used as part of a range of research designs, including qualitative, quantitative and mixed method investigations. Originality: Operationalizing an approach that generates and visualizes service futures from an experiential perspective contributes to the advancement of techniques that enables the exploration of new possibilities for service innovation research

To ware or Vapourware passing through Solutionism and Paleo-Future

UID/SOC/04647/2013The object of this paper is to discuss the concept(s) of Design Fiction(s), and to elaborate a critical re-definition of the termsfrom Literary Theory and Narratology’s stand-points. By so doing, it aims to propose a clarification of the types of objects frameable by Design Fiction (DF), and shorten the gap between the latter and Interactive Fiction (IF), IoT (Internet of Things) fictions and AR (Augmented Reality) whenever these practices are being used to tell stories. Smart-houses will be used as an example of successful DF narratives.publishersversionpublishe

A thesis about design fiction

This research began as something else. Originally, I sought to research the possible futures of cryptographic currencies, and I encountered Design Fiction for the first time when assembling a methodology for that project. I was enticed by the rhetoric around Design Fiction and the aesthetic of works describing themselves as Design Fiction. However, as I researched the concept more thoroughly it quickly became apparent that grounding an entire doctoral thesis on Design Fiction alone may be problematic due to a lack of consensus around what Design Fiction really is and how it works. Hence, my doctorate pivoted, and rather than using Design Fiction to research another topic, I elected to research Design Fiction itself. Through desk-based research into Design Fiction the thesis establishes that while there are some central notions which seem common to Design Fictions (e.g. a concern with ‘the future’, the use of ‘design’, and a flavour of unreality invoked by the term ‘fiction’) there is little consensus around how these notions should be defined, how they interact with each other, and what—in concrete terms—the nature of the practice that emerges in the space between them really is. Responding to the apparent lack of consensus the thesis explores the following questions: • What is Design Fiction? • What can Design Fiction do? • What are the best ways to achieve that? In order to explore such fundamental conundrums—and guided by Bruce Sterling’s succinct assertion that ‘the best way to understand the many difficulties of design fiction is to attempt to create one’—my responses to these questions were developed using a Research through Design methodology to inform a series of ‘material engagements’ with Design Fiction. These are articulated through a series of ‘case studies’. Each case study uses Design Fiction to explore a different technology or context. These include cryptographic currency, robotic carers, drones, and artificial intelligence. Together the studies create a portfolio of material engagements with Design Fiction that, collectively, underpin contingent responses to the research questions. The thesis concludes that Design Fiction is a type of ‘World Building’ that may be utilised in many different ways, for example as a communication tool, as an ideation aid, or as a research method. Furthermore, the underlying intentionality of any given Design Fiction must be expressed through appropriate media in order to support World Building that is sensitive to both the given domain’s attributes and the factors motivating the use of Design Fiction in the first place. While the Research through Design approach applied in this research aspires only to produce contingent and temporary answers to the research questions, those answers come together as a set of usable and accessible insights useful for unravelling, understanding, utilising Design Fiction, while fostering the practice’s ongoing maturation and adoption into its own near future