Story blocks:Reimagining narrative through the blockchain

Digital technology is changing, and has changed the ways we create and consume narratives, from moving images and immersive storyworlds to digital long-form and multi-branched story experiences. At the same time, blockchain, the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, is revolutionizing the way that transactions and exchanges occur. As a globally stored and collaboratively written list of all transactions that have ever taken place within a given system, the blockchain decentralizes money and offers a platform for its creative use. There are already examples of blockchain technologies extending beyond the realm of currency, including the decentralization of domain name servers that are not subject to government takedown and identity management and governance. By framing key blockchain concepts with past and present storytelling practices, this article raises questions as to how the principles and implementation of such distributed ledger technologies might be used within contemporary writing practices - that is, can we imagine stories as a currency or value system? We present three experiments that draw on some of the fundamental principles of blockchain and Bitcoin, as an instantiation of a blockchain implemented application, namely, (1) the ledger, (2) the blocks and (3) the mining process. Each low-fi experiment was intentionally designed to be very accessible to take part in and understand and all were conducted as discrete workshops with different sets of participants. Participants included a cohort of design students, technology industry and design professionals and writing and interaction design academics. Each experiment raised a different set of reflections and subsequent questions on the nature of digital, the linearity (or not) of narratives and collaborative processes

Pheno-data:Using tomatoes to rethink data and data practice for ecological worlds

Notions of data increasingly revolve around digital representations prioritizing the efficiency and productivity of global economic-systems, often side-lining tangible and local information that is crucial for ‘more-than-human’ worlds. To challenge this, we propose the concept of “Pheno-data,” which aims to embody the livingness of the lifeworld through the evolving characteristics and responses of organisms. We also introduce, “Pheno-fication”, as a means to access Pheno-data, and use tomatoes to exemplify the process. Through a fabulation workshop, we integrate these concepts into design practice in order to tangibly explore their potential for shifting perspectives from an anthropocentric to an ecological viewpoint

Investigating materiality for a renewed focus on data design practice

This paper attempts to question reductionist processes of data science that help sustain digital economies and proposes a new perspective for data practice through design. It follows recent discussions about the materiality of data in design and proposes a new notion of data materiality that unfolds its ethical and ecological aspects from a philosophical point of view. This is presented as an opportunity to envision how data can be enacted as data practice within a system. We provide an example that illustrates different kinds of data and data practices, and how ethical and ecological challenges can emerge in a system. We show how systemic challenges can be alleviated within this new notion of data, demonstrating why recovering data materiality is crucial for an ecological future. We finally argue that designers play a significant role in this context, producing practical examples that extend theoretical discussions on data materiality.general public, scientific community, industry, civil society, policy maker

Designing new socio-economic imaginaries

This short paper recovers the term ‘imaginaries’ which is often used in the social sciences to describe a meaning system that frames individuals lived experience of an inordinately complex world. The paper goes on to reflect on the extent to which design has the capability to disrupt imaginaries through the development of products in order for people to construct new ones, or whether the discipline is perpetuating old models of the world. The paper uses a workshop method to explore socioeconomic models in order to better balance the multiple imaginaries that participants hold with the opportunity to design disruptive and critical propositions. Reflections upon the workshop and the concept of imaginaries allows the authors to identify a challenge for design in which it must accept its role as mediator and exacerbator. <br/

Problematising transparency through LARP And deliberation

Information technology is increasingly designed to increase information transparency as a way to increase trust. However, it can be hard to comprehend and anticipate the social implications of information visibility, people's competing expectations of transparency versus privacy, and the role of enabling technologies. We devised Live Action Role Play (LARP) as a means for people to explore the potential and consequences of transparency, within a social context of daily transactions related to food, fashion, and finance. Through the process of deliberation, we enabled participants to critically assess their co-created LARP experience and articulate their transparency expectations for design considerations. We report on insights into their expectations and perceived limitations of information technology in delivering transparency, including social measures required to realise the full potential of technology, as well as transparency, while minimising unintended consequences