Design fiction as world building
23 Mar 2017-
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the best way to contribute to the establishment of an evidence-based first paradigm, is by adopting a research through design approach, and they describe the creation of two Design Fictions through which they consider the relationship between narrative and Design Fiction and argue that links between the two are often drawn erroneously.
Abstract: Design Fiction has garnered considerable attention during recent years yet still remains pre-paradigmatic. Put differently there are concurrent,but incongruent, perspectives on what Design Fiction is and how to use it. Acknowledging this immaturity, we assert that the best way to contribute to the establishment of an evidence-based first paradigm, is by adopting a research through design approach. Thus, in this paper we describe ‘research into design fiction, done through design fiction’. This paper describes the creation of two Design Fictions through which we consider the relationship between narrative and Design Fiction and argue that links between the two are often drawn erroneously. We posit that Design Fiction is in fact a ‘world building’ activity, with no inherent link to ‘narrative’ or ‘storytelling’. The first Design Fiction explores a near future world containing a system for gamified drone-based civic enforcement and the second is based on a distant future in which hardware and algorithms capable of detecting empathy are used as part of everyday communications. By arguing it is world building, we aim to contribute towards the disambiguation of current Design Fiction discourse and the promotion of genre conventions, and, in doing so to reinforce the foundations upon which a first stable paradigm can be constructed.
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01 Jan 1995
TL;DR: A TURTLE WHICH EXPLORER CAPTAIN COOK GAVE TO THE KING OF TONGA IN 1777 DIED YESTERDAY. It was NEARLY 200 YEARS OLD as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A TURTLE WHICH EXPLORER CAPTAIN COOK GAVE TO THE KING OF TONGA IN 1777 DIED YESTERDAY. IT WAS NEARLY 200 YEARS OLD. THE ANIMAL, CALLED TU'IMALILA, DIED AT THE ROYAL PALACE GROUND IN THE TONGAN CAPITAL OF NUKU, ALOFA. THE PEOPLE OF TONGA REGARDED THE ANIMAL AS A CHIEF AND SPECIAL KEEPERS WERE APPOINTED TO LOOK AFTER IT. IT WAS BLINDED IN A BUSH FIRE A FEW YEARS AGO. TONGA RADIO SAID TU'IMALILA'S CARCASS WOULD BE SENT TO THE AUCKLAND MUSEUM IN NEW ZEALAND.
97 citations
02 May 2017
TL;DR: The motivations for, and practicalities of, incorporating "implications for adoption" into HCI research practice are explored and methods for addressing this need are discussed, specifically design fiction.
Abstract: In this paper we explore the motivations for, and practicalities of, incorporating "implications for adoption" into HCI research practice. Implications for adoption are speculations which may be used in research projects to scrutinize and explore the implications and requirements associated with a technology's potential adoption in the future. There is a rich tradition within the HCI community of implementing, demonstrating, and testing new interactions or technologies by building prototypes. User-centered design methods help us to develop prototypes to and move toward designs that are validated, efficient, and rewarding to use. However, these studies rarely shift their temporal focus to consider, in any significant detail, what it would mean for a technology to exist beyond its prototypical implementation, in other words how these prototypes might ultimately be adopted. Given the CHI community's increasing interest in technology-related human and social effects, the lack of attention paid to adoption represents a significant and relevant gap in current practices. It is this gap that the paper addresses and in doing so offers three contributions: (1) exploring and unpacking different notions of adoption from varying disciplinary perspectives; (2) discussing why considering adoption is relevant and useful, specifically in HCI research; (3) discussing methods for addressing this need, specifically design fiction, and understanding how utilizing these methods may provide researchers with means to better understand the myriad of nuanced, situated, and technologically-mediated relationships that innovative designs facilitate.
74 citations
Cites methods from "Design fiction as world building"
...a method of speculative design which focuses on building fictional worlds [20]....
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TL;DR: The IoT is used to clarify the proposition and to convey the three contributions of the expanding corpus of contemporary Human–Computer Interaction research that seeks to expand the notion of Human Centred Design by moving beyond the dominant anthropocentric perspective.
Abstract: This paper responds to contemporary design contexts that frequently contain complex interdependencies of human and non-human actants. To adequately represent these perspectives requires a shift tow...
71 citations
Cites methods from "Design fiction as world building"
...The work described below explores using the constellation metaphor in the creation of a Design Fiction project, which in particular aligns with the ‘Design Fiction as World Building’ approach (Coulton et al. 2017)....
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21 Apr 2020
TL;DR: Five modes of reflection concern formgiving, temporality, researcher positionality, real-world engagement, and knowledge production, and each offers productive resources for design practitioners and researchers to articulate their work, generate new directions for theirWork, and analyze their own and others' work.
Abstract: Design futuring approaches, such as speculative design, design fiction and others, seek to (re)envision futures and explore alternatives. As design futuring becomes established in HCI design research, there is an opportunity to expand and develop these approaches. To that end, by reflecting on our own research and examining related work, we contribute five modes of reflection. These modes concern formgiving, temporality, researcher positionality, real-world engagement, and knowledge production. We illustrate the value of each mode through careful analysis of selected design exemplars and provide questions to interrogate the practice of design futuring. Each reflective mode offers productive resources for design practitioners and researchers to articulate their work, generate new directions for their work, and analyze their own and others' work.
52 citations
Cites background from "Design fiction as world building"
...By depicting or creating ‘entry points’ [25] into a particular story world, creating a specific artifact, or structuring participation in an experiential scenario, designs help imagine a particular future....
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...Design fiction helps imagine (future) story worlds through world-building [25, 57] or “making things that tell stories” [12]....
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TL;DR: Applying Object Orientated Ontology, IoT designers may reimagine data, devices, and users, as equally significant actants in a flat ontology, by creating a Design Fiction around a reimagined ‘smart kettle’.
Abstract: The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of connected devices with inputs and outputs operating in, and on, the physical world. The network is simultaneously fed by, and feeds into, data streams flowing across digital-physical boundaries, connecting sensors, servers, actuators, devices, and people. ‘Things’ of all types, lightbulbs, doorbells, kettles and cars, discretely-but-visibly do their jobs. Meanwhile in the unseen digital domain, where data swirls imperceptible to humans, the atmosphere is thick with the rapidly-moving data packets and content that constitute inter-machine chatter. Contrasting the visible calm in the physical world with obscured bedlam in the digital otherworld sets the scene for the argument we present in this paper. Applying Object Orientated Ontology, IoT designers may reimagine data, devices, and users, as equally significant actants in a flat ontology. In this paper, we exemplify our arguments by creating a Design Fiction around a reimagined ‘smart kettle’.
46 citations
Cites background from "Design fiction as world building"
...As with video games, Design Fiction practitioners are world builders (Coulton et al. 2017)....
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References
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22 Apr 2006
TL;DR: It is suggested that "implications for design" may not be the best metric for evaluation and may, indeed, fail to capture the value of ethnographic investigations.
Abstract: Although ethnography has become a common approach in HCI research and design, considerable confusion still attends both ethnographic practice and the criteria by which it should be evaluated in HCI. Often, ethnography is seen as an approach to field investigation that can generate requirements for systems development; by that token, the major evaluative criterion for an ethnographic study is the implications it can provide for design. Exploring the nature of ethnographic inquiry, this paper suggests that "implications for design" may not be the best metric for evaluation and may, indeed, fail to capture the value of ethnographic investigations.
758 citations
"Design fiction as world building" refers background in this paper
...Whilst this argument may seem subtle to some we believe the consideration of world building mitigates the promotion of what Dourish (2006) refers to as “genre conventions” imposed by storytelling and narrative that can stifle the flexibility of Design Fiction as an approach....
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26 Apr 2014
TL;DR: An analysis of Research through Design abstracts in the ACM digital library identifies an emerging language and structure of papers in this emerging field and considers "Design Fiction" as a technique for exploring the potential value of new design work.
Abstract: This paper reflects on the uses of prototypes in "Research through Design" and considers "Design Fiction" as a technique for exploring the potential value of new design work. It begins with an analysis of Research through Design abstracts in the ACM digital library and identifies an emerging language and structure of papers in this emerging field. The abstracts: frame a problem space, introduce a study, often involving the deployment of a prototype, and conclude with considerations, reflections and discussion. This format is then pastiched in a series of design fictions written for a project investigating new and emerging forms of reproduction in Art. The fictions take the form of "imaginary abstracts" which summarize findings of papers that have not been written about prototypes that do not exist. It is argued that framing concept designs as fictional studies can provide a space for research focused critique and development.
266 citations
TL;DR: The authors describe their experiences teaching a course on Transmedia Entertainment and Storytelling at the University of Southern California, a course which sought to bridge across multiple media and methodologies, to integrate the perspectives of industry insiders, and to encourage students to apply what they learn to the challenge of "pitching" a media franchise to a panel of creative practioners.
Abstract: This article describes my experiences teaching a course on Transmedia Entertainment and Storytelling at the University of Southern California, a course which sought to bridge across multiple media and methodologies, to integrate the perspectives of industry insiders, and to encourage students to apply what they learn to the challenge of “pitching” a media franchise to a panel of creative practioners. The essay both shares the syllabus as a resource for other teachers and reflects on the challenges of teaching such cutting edge content. [Electronic Arts game designer] Neil Young talks about ‘additive comprehension.’ He cites the example of the director's cut of Blade Runner, where adding a small segment showing Deckard discovering an origami unicorn invited viewers to question whether Deckard might be a replicant: ‘That changes your whole perception of the film, your perception of the ending … The challenge for us, especially with the Lord of the Rings is how do we deliver that one piece of information tha...
175 citations
"Design fiction as world building" refers background in this paper
...We can also liken worlds that emerge from multiple artefacts to ‘Transmedia Storytelling’, where “integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels” (Jenkins, 2010)....
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13 Jul 2015
TL;DR: It is argued that design fiction is a compelling and powerful concept but is inherently ambiguous and therefore strategies to disambiguate communications 'about design fiction' in order to strengthen applications 'of design fiction'.
Abstract: The term design fiction was originally coined in 2005 by the Science Fiction author Bruce Sterling. In the 10 years since, design fiction has received considerable interest from a range disciplines most notably HCI which increasingly draws upon generative methods and creative practices. In this paper we consider examples of recent HCI research that refers to design fiction in order to highlight commonalities and ambiguities in how the term is interpreted and used. We argue that design fiction is a compelling and powerful concept but is inherently ambiguous. We therefore suggest strategies to disambiguate communications 'about design fiction' in order to strengthen applications 'of design fiction'.
131 citations
"Design fiction as world building" refers background in this paper
...This ‘deception’ happened despite the following sentence in the paper’s conclusion: “The research in this paper and the associated artefacts are part of a design fiction” (Lindley and Coulton, 2015a)....
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...A notable curiosity related to this project is that although the research paper is a fictitious account of a research project that never happened, it was submitted, reviewed, and accepted for presentation at an international conference on Human Computer Interaction (Lindley and Coulton, 2015a)....
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05 May 2012
TL;DR: It is contended that the practices of DIY and appropriation that are evident in Steampunk design provide a useful set of design strategies and implications for HCI.
Abstract: In this paper we look at the Steampunk movement and consider is relevance as a design strategy for HCI and interaction design. Based on a study of online practices of Steampunk, we consider how, as a design fiction, Steampunk provides an explicit model for how to physically realize an ideological and imagined world through design practice. We contend that the practices of DIY and appropriation that are evident in Steampunk design provide a useful set of design strategies and implications for HCI.
111 citations
"Design fiction as world building" refers background in this paper
...However, if we trace the etymology of diegesis, we see that its roots are in the concept of ‘narrative’ which arguably has led to an over emphasis on the importance of story and narrative (Tanenbaum, Tanenbaum, and Wakkary, 2012) as the foundation upon which to create Design Fictions....
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