Science fiction prototyping
(
SFP
) refers to the idea of using
science fiction
to describe and explore the implications of futuristic technologies and the social structures enabled by them.
[1]
[2]
Similar terms are
design fiction
,
speculative design
, and
critical design
.
[3]
History and progress
[
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]
The idea was introduced by Brian David Johnson in 2010 who, at the time, was a
futurist
at
Intel
working on the challenge his company faced anticipating the market needs for integrated circuits at the end of their 7?10 years design and production cycle.
[4]
[5]
The roots for Science Fiction Prototyping can be traced back to two papers, the first by Callaghan et-al
[6]
“
Pervasive Computing and Urban Development: Issues for the individual and Society
”, presented at the 2004 United Nations World Urban Forum which used short stories as a means to convey potential future threats of technology to society and the second, by Egerton et-al
[7]
"
Using Multiple Personas In Service Robots To Improve Exploration Strategies When Mapping New Environments
" describing
multiple personas
and
irrational thinking
for
humanoid robots
which inspired Brian David Johnson to write the first Science Fiction Prototype,
Nebulous Mechanisms
,
[8]
which went on to become a series of stories that eventually morphed into Intel's
21st Century Robot
project.
[9]
Together Johnson, Callaghan and Egerton formed the
Creative Science Foundation
as a vehicle to promote and support the use of Science Fiction Prototyping and its derivatives. The first public Science Fiction Prototyping event was Creative Science 2010
[10]
(not to be confused with
Creation Science
), held in
Kuala Lumpur
,
Malaysia
on 19 July 2010. This event was also significant as it included the Science Fiction Prototype
Tales From a Pod
[11]
which became the first Science Fiction Prototype to be commercialised (by Immersive Displays Ltd, ImmersaVU
[12]
). In 2011, a second Science Fiction Prototyping workshop was held in Nottingham (UK), Creative Science 2011,
[13]
in which Intel made the first documentary about this methodology. Shortly afterwards the
Creative Science Foundation
was formed as an umbrella organisation to manage Science Fiction Prototyping activity, leading to a proliferation of events and publications; a more detailed account is provided on the
Science Fiction Prototyping History
web pages.
[14]
Methodology
[
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]
The core methodology is the use of creative arts as a means to introduce innovations into science, engineering, business and socio-political systems. It doesn't aim to
forecast
the future, rather it focuses on inventing or innovating the future by extrapolating forward trends from research or
foresight
activities (creating new concepts, schemes, services and products). The main (but not exclusive) methodology is the use of
science-fiction
stories, grounded in existing practice which are written for the explicit purpose of acting as prototypes for people to explore a wide variety of futures. These 'science fiction prototypes' (SFPs) can be created by scientists, engineers, business or socio-political professionals to stretch their work or, for example, by writers, film/stage directors, school children and members of the public to influence the work of professionals. In this way these stories act as a way of involving the widest section of the population to help set the research agenda. Johnson advocates the following five step process for writing Science Fiction Prototypes:
[4]
- Pick Your Science and Build Your World
- Identify the Scientific Inflection Point
- Consider ramifications of the Science on People
- Identify the Human Inflection Point
- Reflect on what Did We Learn?
Full Science Fiction Prototypes are about 6?12 pages long, with a popular structure being: an introduction, background work, the fictional story (the bulk of the SFP), a short summary and a summary (reflection). Most often science fiction prototypes extrapolate current science forward and, therefore, include a set of references at the end. Such prototypes can take several days to write and for situations where ideas need to be generated faster (e.g. meetings), the concept of
micro science fiction prototypes (μSFP)
is used.
[11]
Generally, μSFP are the size of a Twitter or Text message, being around 25?30 words (140?160 characters in standard English).
Applications
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]
Science fiction prototyping has a number of applications. The most obvious is for
product innovation
, in which the two earliest examples are Intel's 21st Century Robot (an open innovation project to develop a
domestic robot
) and
Essex University's
eDesk (a
mixed-reality
immersive education desk)
[15]
both of which were introduced in the previous section. Beyond product innovation, science fiction prototyping finds itself being applied to many diverse areas. For example, at the
University of Washington
(USA) they have used it to facilitate broader contextual and societal thinking about computers, computer security risks, and security defense as part of an optional senior-level course in
computer security
.
[16]
In 2014,
[17]
these ideas were refined into a SFP methodology called
Threatcasting
with early adopters including the
United States Air Force Academy
, the
Government of California
, and the Army Cyber Institute at
West Point Military Academy
. An earlier variation called Futurcasting was used by government to provide a tool to influence the direction of society and politics. It did this by using stories about possible futures as a medium to engage the population in conversations about futures they would like to encourage or avoid. Science Fiction Prototyping is also being used in business environments. For example, in
Canterbury Christ Church University
(UK) Business School it is being used as a vehicle to introduce
creative thinking
in support of
entrepreneurship
courses. In the
National Taiwan University
(Taiwan), it is used to increase business school students' interests in science and technology for business innovation.
[18]
Elsewhere the Business Schools of the universities of Leeds and Manchester (UK) are exploring its use in community development projects.
[19]
Finally, it is being applied to
Education
. For example, in
San-Diego State University
(USA)
Department of Learning Design and Technology
they have explored it as a means for motivating pre-university students to take up
STEM
studies and careers.
[20]
Further afield, in
China
, they have identified a novel use for the methodology to address the mandatory requirement for all science and engineering students to take a course in
English language
. In particular
Shijiazhuang University
(China) are exploring the potential for Science Fiction Prototyping to overcome the dullness that some science students experience in language learning by using it as an integrated platform for teaching
Computer English
, combining language and science learning.
[21]
China is also concerned to improve the creative and innovation capabilities of their graduate which this approach supports.
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Johnson, Brian David.
"Science Fiction Prototypes Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying about the Future and Love Science Fiction"
(PDF)
. Retrieved
17 April
2014
.
- ^
"Science Fiction Prototyping at the Creative Science Foundation"
.
Intel
. Retrieved
17 April
2014
.
- ^
Adam, David (16 June 2020).
"Science and Culture: "Design fiction" skirts reality to provoke discussion and debate"
.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
.
117
(24): 13179?13181.
doi
:
10.1073/pnas.2008206117
.
ISSN
0027-8424
.
PMC
7306760
.
PMID
32461354
.
- ^
a
b
Johnson, Brian David (20 April 2011).
Science Fiction Prototyping: Designing the Future with Science Fiction
. Morgan & Claypool.
ISBN
978-1608456550
.
- ^
"Science Fiction Prototyping"
.
IEEE Computer Society
. Retrieved
17 April
2014
.
- ^
Callaghan V, Clarke G, Chin J “
Pervasive Computing and Urban Development: Issues for the individual and Society
”, United Nations World Urban Forum (Habitat) ‘Cities: Crossroads of Cultures, Inclusiveness and Integration?’ within the IRFD Theme: “The Role of Cities in an Information Age” on 13?17 September 2004, Barcelona, Spain (later reproduced in V. Callaghan, G. Clarke, J. Chin, “
Some Socio-Technical Aspects Of Intelligent Buildings and Pervasive Computing Research
“.Intelligent Buildings International Journal, Earthscan Journals, Vol 1 No 1, Jan 2009, ISSN 1750-8975)
- ^
Simon Egerton et-al "
Using Multiple Personas in Service Robots to Improve Exploration Strategies When Mapping New Environments
, 4th International Conference on Intelligent Environments, 2008 IET, pp 1 ? 5, 21?22 July 2008,
ISBN
978-0-86341-894-5
- ^
B.D.Johnson,
"Nebulous Mechanisms"
, Omedia, 2011
- ^
21st Century Robot Project
- ^
Creative Science 2010
(CS'10), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 19 July 2010
- ^
a
b
Victor Callaghan
Tales From a Pod
, Creative Science 2010 (CS'10), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 19th of July 2010.
- ^
Immersive Displays Ltd,
ImmersaVU
- ^
Creative Science 2011
, Nottingham, UK,, 25?26 July 2011
- ^
Creative Science Foundation History
- ^
Anasol PENA-RIOS et-al "
Using mixed-reality to develop smart environments
", Intelligent Environments 2014, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China, 2?4 July 2014
- ^
Kohno, Tadayoshi; Johnson, Brian David (9?12 March 2011).
"Science Fiction Prototyping and Security Education: Cultivating Contextual and Societal Thinking in Computer Security Education and Beyond"
(PDF)
. Retrieved
17 April
2014
.
- ^
"Drones, smart hydrants considered by experts looking at future of firefighting". Colorado Springs Gazette. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
- ^
Wu, Hsuan-Yi (2013).
"Imagination workshops: An empirical exploration of SFP for technology-based business innovation"
(PDF)
.
Futures
.
50
: 44?55.
doi
:
10.1016/j.futures.2013.03.009
.
- ^
Future Cities
Innovation Workshop
- ^
Mary de Lepe et-al "
Using Science Fiction Prototyping to Decrease the Decline of Interest in STEM Topics at the High School Level
", Transactions of Future Educational Environments (European Alliance for Innovation Endorsed Transactions), Fall 2015
- ^
Shumei Zhang "
Using Science-fiction Prototyping as a Means to Motivate Learning of STEM Topics and Foreign Languages
", Intelligent Environments 2014, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China, 2?4 July 2014
Further reading
[
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]