7,483 research outputs found

    Creative Science Injecting Innovation into the IT Industry

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    Product innovation can be both an opportunity and a concern for IT companies. Those driving innovation can gain unprecedented market openings, while those trailing can risk disaster. Companies such as Kodak and Nokia clearly show how disruptive innovations can threaten even the largest technological giants. Hence, companies both small and large have a keen interest in methods with the potential of improving their product innovation capability. In this article, I will describe a new product innovation tool called Science-Fiction Prototyping (SFP) which, perhaps surprisingly, seeks to encourage scientists and engineers to write fictional stories about their work. The story of SFP began with Brian Johnson, Intel's Futurist. Intel is the dominant company in the manufacture of integrated circuits (chips) for computers. Companies producing integrated circuits face a particularly difficult challenge as it can take 7+ years from the conception of a new chip to its delivery to customers which, in terms of current product and market dynamics, is a very long time. For example, new versions of mobile phones, pads and desktops appear as frequently as every 18 months meaning that chip designers need to think up to 4 generations ahead, a daunting challenge. Compounding the difficulties, traditional engineering education doesn't always prepare engineers well for tasks that need creative skills. Step in Brian David Johnson, Intel's futurist who had the idea that, if engineers were asked to write fiction rather than fact about extrapolating their technologies forward, it might help them escape the shackles of worrying about whether the technology would work, and allow them to make imaginative leaps that, in turn, could serve as motivational visions for their R&D programmes. The fictions he advocated were based on science, but extrapolated into the future and acting as prototypes to evaluate new ideas 
.. Science-Fiction Prototyping (SFP) was born! The deliberately detailed analogy to real-life was an important feature which allowed SFP to function as a prototype (a narrative based simulation of a future reality) whereby different stakeholders could assess the idea's feasibility and usefulness, which differentiated it from earlier scenario or design-fiction based approaches. In parallel, Essex University were faced with the need to make a presentation to a non-technical audience at the 2004 United Nations Habitat Forum, explaining the risks that pervasive computing technologies presented to individual privacy. For that event we adopted a series of fictional vignettes to provide a conversation bridge between the researchers and the largely non-technical audience. The final piece of the jigsaw was a chance meeting with Brian Johnson at IE'07 in Ulm which brought together these two facets of science-fiction, prototyping and communications, giving birth to the Creative Science Foundation CSf (www.creative-science.org) with a mission to facilitate conversations between professionals and society at large, connecting companies/researchers to their customers and thereby enabling conversations about the kind of futures and innovations we all want. In the remainder of this article some current SFP activities will be described

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

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    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

    Exploring the Referral and Usage of Science Fiction in HCI Literature

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    Research on science fiction (sci-fi) in scientific publications has indicated the usage of sci-fi stories, movies or shows to inspire novel Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) research. Yet no studies have analysed sci-fi in a top-ranked computer science conference at present. For that reason, we examine the CHI main track for the presence and nature of sci-fi referrals in relationship to HCI research. We search for six sci-fi terms in a dataset of 5812 CHI main proceedings and code the context of 175 sci-fi referrals in 83 papers indexed in the CHI main track. In our results, we categorize these papers into five contemporary HCI research themes wherein sci-fi and HCI interconnect: 1) Theoretical Design Research; 2) New Interactions; 3) Human-Body Modification or Extension; 4) Human-Robot Interaction and Artificial Intelligence; and 5) Visions of Computing and HCI. In conclusion, we discuss results and implications located in the promising arena of sci-fi and HCI research.Comment: v1: 20 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, HCI International 2018 accepted submission v2: 20 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, added link/doi for Springer proceedin

    Building an Argument for the Use of Science Fiction in HCI Education

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    Science fiction literature, comics, cartoons and, in particular, audio-visual materials, such as science fiction movies and shows, can be a valuable addition in Human-computer interaction (HCI) Education. In this paper, we present an overview of research relative to future directions in HCI Education, distinct crossings of science fiction in HCI and Computer Science teaching and the Framework for 21st Century Learning. Next, we provide examples where science fiction can add to the future of HCI Education. In particular, we argue herein first that science fiction, as tangible and intangible cultural artifact, can serve as a trigger for creativity and innovation and thus, support us in exploring the design space. Second, science fiction, as a means to analyze yet-to-come HCI technologies, can assist us in developing an open-minded and reflective dialogue about technological futures, thus creating a singular base for critical thinking and problem solving. Provided that one is cognizant of its potential and limitations, we reason that science fiction can be a meaningful extension of selected aspects of HCI curricula and research.Comment: 6 pages, 1 table, IHSI 2019 accepted submissio

    Designing in the Street: Innovation In-Situ

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    This paper suggests that taking the design process into the field and constantly engaging with the site to observe, intervene, brainstorm, prototype and create fosters unique forms of inspiration and innovation. How does a consideration of participation of both the designer and the user in the space change the design process? With participation comes understanding of the situation and by elaborating on possible futures with users, designers can find lucid innovations. We describe a project conducted by students from the Interaction Design course at the Royal College of Art in London which used a variety of approaches to speculate on the social and technological future of a London street. We discuss and compare the role of different techniques which enable designers to find inspiration for innovative technology in the field, or in this case the street. Keywords: Design, Prototyping, Ethno-Fiction</p

    Problematising upstream technology through speculative design: the case of quantified cats and dogs

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    There is growing interest in technology that quantifies aspects of our lives. This paper draws on critical practice and speculative design to explore, question and problematise the ultimate consequences of such technology using the quantification of companion animals (pets) as a case study. We apply the concept of ‘moving upstream’ to study such technology and use a qualitative research approach in which both pet owners, and animal behavioural experts, were presented with, and asked to discuss, speculative designs for pet quantification applications, the design of which were extrapolated from contemporary trends. Our findings indicate a strong desire among pet owners for technology that has little scientific justification, whilst our experts caution that the use of technology to augment human-animal communication has the potential to disimprove animal welfare, undermine human-animal bonds, and create human-human conflicts. Our discussion informs wider debates regarding quantification technology

    Digital manufacturing: what are we able to print?

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    In a rational exercise, in the present paper it is extrapolated how the development of ICTs (information and communication technologies) and the incipient technological development of additive manufacturing has the potential to change our society. In the following, it is analyzing the evolution of man over physical matter and how this has shaped our society. The main milestones or key stages in history that have marked a transcendental change in the human-machine-environment relationship have been identified and consequently have led us to ask ourselves: What is next, how far are we, and what are we capable of printing? In an attempt to identify the current state of the art, highlighting the possibilities those additive technologies can offerPostprint (published version
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