Materialization of the Speculative in Foresight and Design
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Materialization of the speculative in foresight and design by Jonathan Resnick Submitted to OCAD University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Design in Strategic Foresight and Innovation Toronto, Ontario, Canada, December 2011 © Jonathan Resnick 2011 I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this MRP. This is a true copy of the MRP, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I authorize OCAD University to lend this MRP to other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. I understand that my MRP may be made electronically available to the public. I further authorize OCAD University to reproduce this MRP by photocopying or by other means, in total or in part, at the request of other institutions or individuals for the purpose of scholarly research. Signature __________________________________________________ ii Abstract At the intersection of the disciplines of design and futures, a set of practices are currently emerging whose key feature is the creation of material representations of speculative future worlds. These practices go by various names, including “design fiction”, “artifacts from the future”, and “experiential futures”. This work inquires into the methodological possibilities offered by these practices by investigating the ways in which they are being employed by current practitioners. Five instances of practice were analyzed in depth, primarily through practitioner interviews, in order to construct a taxonomy. While the practices differ in significant ways, they were found to share some key attributes; in particular, they act to enhance our capacity to seek out and work with possibility, enrich communication in the exchange of speculative ideas, disrupt conventional mindsets with provocative visions of alternative futures, and affirm individual agency. iii Acknowledgments Foremost, I would like to thank my advisors, Suzanne Stein, Patricio Davila, and Scott Smith, for countless hours spent working with me to nurture this research project from a faint notion into its current form. Their guidance, support and enthusiasm have been invaluable. I would also like to thank my classmates and instructors in the Strategic Foresight and Innovation program for creating the learning environment in which this work originated, and whose contributions to my thinking cannot be overstated. In particular, I must thank John Cassel, who, in lending me his copy of Design Noir may have been inadvertently responsible for planting the seeds of this project, and who has consistently been an enthusiastic supporter of this work. Finally, I wish to thank the practitioners and thinkers who made this work possible by graciously agreeing to be interviewed: Julian Bleecker, Stuart Candy, Jake Dunagan, Anab Jain, Nicolas Nova, Miriam Simun, Scott Smith, and Bruce Sterling. iv Table of Contents 1 Introduction........................................................................................................1 2 Background........................................................................................................4 2.1 Materialization of the speculative in design................................................4 2.2 Materialization of the speculative in futures................................................9 2.3 Summary..................................................................................................16 3 Research design & methodology.....................................................................20 3.1 Literature review.......................................................................................20 3.2 Practice Analysis......................................................................................21 3.2.1 Practice selection..............................................................................21 3.2.2 Interview design & data analysis.......................................................26 4 Results.............................................................................................................29 4.1 Practice profiles........................................................................................29 4.1.1 Design Fiction – Julian Bleecker & Nicolas Nova..............................29 4.1.2 Design Futurescaping – Anab Jain...................................................36 4.1.3 Experiential Futures – Stuart Candy & Jake Dunagan......................40 4.1.4 Creative Disruptions – Miriam Simun................................................48 4.1.5 Future Fabbing – Scott Smith...........................................................52 4.2 Discussion................................................................................................58 4.2.1 Product.............................................................................................58 4.2.2 Process and Roles............................................................................64 4.2.3 Motivations........................................................................................70 4.2.4 Intended Audience............................................................................85 4.2.5 Points of differentiation.....................................................................86 4.3 Putting the pieces together.......................................................................88 5 Conclusions.....................................................................................................94 5.1 Summary..................................................................................................94 5.2 Further research.......................................................................................97 6 Bibliography...................................................................................................101 7 Appendices....................................................................................................107 7.1 Appendix A: Interview protocol...............................................................107 7.2 Appendix B: Interview records................................................................108 7.3 Appendix C: Product theme map............................................................109 7.4 Appendix D: Process theme map...........................................................110 7.5 Appendix E: Motivations theme map......................................................111 v List of Tables Table 1: Practices studied...................................................................................21 Table 2: Four analytical perspectives..................................................................26 Table 3: Practitioner interviews.........................................................................108 vi List of Figures and Illustrations Figure 1: Timeline: materialization of the speculative in design............................6 Figure 2: The Foresight Diamond.......................................................................10 Figure 3: Timeline: materialization of the speculative in futures..........................13 Figure 4: Bibliometric analysis............................................................................17 Figure 5: Diversity of educational/professional backgrounds..............................25 Figure 6: Example of a "theme map" in development.........................................28 Figure 7: Slow Messenger (Near Future Laboratory 2007).................................31 Figure 8: PSX (Near Future Laboratory 2007)....................................................35 Figure 9: 5th Dimensional Camera (Superflux 2010)..........................................37 Figure 10: 5th Dimensional Camera, rear view (Superflux 2010)........................38 Figure 11: Hawaii 2050 kick-off (Candy, Dator and Dunagan 2006)...................42 Figure 12: Found Futures: Chinatown (Candy and Dunagan 2007)....................43 Figure 13: New York Times Special Edition........................................................44 Figure 14: Human Cheese (Simun 2010)............................................................49 Figure 15: Human Cheese tasting event (Simun 2010)......................................50 Figure 16: Visceral Switch #1 (Simun n.d.).........................................................52 Figure 17: Future fabbing workshop...................................................................54 Figure 18: Future fabbing workshop tools and materials.....................................56 Figure 19: Product theme map............................................................................58 Figure 20: Product characteristics.......................................................................59 Figure 21: Process theme map...........................................................................64 Figure 22: Practice orientation............................................................................65 Figure 23: Motivations theme map......................................................................70 Figure 24: Intended audiences............................................................................86 Appendix C: Product theme map (large)...........................................................109 Appendix D: Process theme map (large)..........................................................110 Appendix E: Motivations theme map (large).....................................................111 vii 1 Introduction At the intersection of the disciplines of design and futures, a set of practices