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| future_fabulators:antipodean_musings [2014-03-10 02:21] – alkan | future_fabulators:antipodean_musings [2014-03-11 01:31] – [Experiential futures] maja |
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| by Maja Kuzmanovic & Nik Gaffney. Glenelg, Australia. 020140210 - 02140305 | by Maja Kuzmanovic & Nik Gaffney. Glenelg, Australia. 020140210 - 02140305 |
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| During February 2014 we spent a few weeks on research for Future Fabulators. We wanted to gain a better understanding of the techniques, tools and theories of 'futures studies' and if they could be applied to our work in future pre-enactments. After much practice-based research in [[:/resilients/future_preparedness|future preparedness]], we found that a more theoretical underpinning was needed, which meant that our focus was primarily on the literature. We spent the retreat in more or less uninterrupted reading, following interesting leads down often fractal rabbit holes. We attempted to answer questions that had arisen from the last few years of experiments in [[prehearsing the future]]. Our starting points were of both methodological and philosophical nature: on the one hand we wanted to know how to improve our practice of scenario building and pre-enacments with new, transdisciplinary techniques, and on the other hand we were wondering what would happen if foresight became a part of everyday life, where uncertainty is not seen as a threat but an opportunity. | During February 2014 we spent a few weeks on research for Future Fabulators. We wanted to gain a better understanding of the techniques, tools and theories of 'futures studies' and if they could be applied to our work in future pre-enactments. After much practice-based research in [[:/resilients/future_preparedness|future preparedness]], we found that a more theoretical underpinning was needed, which meant that our focus was primarily on the literature. We spent the retreat in more or less uninterrupted reading, following interesting leads down often fractal rabbit holes. We attempted to answer questions that had arisen from the last few years of experiments in [[prehearsing the future]]. Our starting points were both methodological and philosophical in nature: on the one hand we wanted to know how to improve our practice of scenario building and pre-enacments with new, transdisciplinary techniques, and on the other hand we were wondering what would happen if foresight became a part of everyday life, where uncertainty is not seen as a threat but an opportunity. |
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| To ease ourselves into the researcher's mindset, we began by seeking answers to a number of methodological questions, first related to scenario building, then to inspiration for designing better prehearsals (including improv theatre, role playing games, disaster drills and simulations). We discovered many promising tools that we’re keen to start experimenting with. Through investigating these methods we began to grasp the full shape and size of futures studies as a field: hovering at the edges of a (consulting) practice and an academic discipline, with a strong focus on methodology. We read about the history, current developments and future aspirations of the field and came to the happy conclusion that, from its origins in systems theory and the culture of prediction some fifty or sixty years ago, it seems to be converging with our own areas of interest: complexity, experience, awareness, uncertainty, anti-fragility, among others. The final phase of our research focused on these kindred developments in the work of such futurologists as Stuart Candy and Jose Ramos, who merge futures with design, politics and action research. Their writings helped us contextualise our work with experiential futures, understanding what has been done so far and which questions still remain open. By the end of this short period of literature research we feel we stand on much firmer ground, with new potential allies and clearer future directions. What follows is an overview of our process and findings, and can serve as an alternative way to navigate the [[background]] material on the Future Fabulators wiki. | To ease ourselves into the researcher's mindset, we began by seeking answers to a number of methodological questions, first related to scenario building, then to inspiration for designing better prehearsals (including improv theatre, role playing games, disaster drills and simulations). We discovered many promising tools that we’re keen to start experimenting with. Through investigating these methods we began to grasp the full shape and size of futures studies as a field: hovering at the edges of a (consulting) practice and an academic discipline, with a strong focus on methodology. We read about the history, current developments and future aspirations of the field and came to the happy conclusion that, from its origins in systems theory and the culture of prediction some fifty or sixty years ago, it seems in part to be converging with our own areas of interest: complexity, experience, awareness, uncertainty, anti-fragility, among others. The final phase of our research focused on these kindred developments in the work of such futurologists as Stuart Candy and Jose Ramos, who merge futures with design, politics and action research. Their writings helped us contextualise our work with experiential futures, understanding what has been done so far and which questions still remain open. By the end of this short period of literature research we feel we stand on much firmer ground, with new potential allies and clearer future directions. What follows is an overview of our process and findings, and can serve as an alternative way to navigate the [[background]] material on the Future Fabulators wiki. |
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| {{>http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/12979291555/}}\\ | {{>http://www.flickr.com/photos/foam/12979291555/}}\\ |
| ==== But why…? ==== | ==== But why…? ==== |
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| Since we began working with what we now call 'speculative culture' (~2009), we have crossed paths with people like Bruce Sterling, Anab Jain, Chris Luebkeman, Scott Smith, Justin Pickard, Maya van Leemput, and Stuart Candy (amongst others) who are more directly involved with futures and future studies, and may even call themselves futurists. We have seen many points of contact (and departure) with their work. Our literature survey has allowed us to see where our own endeavours stand in relation to these and other futurists, situating our practice in the wider context of futures studies. It has helped us understand where we can stand on others' shoulders, and where we have stumbled consciously or unconsciously on possible solutions or new avenues of exploration. It has helped us begin to answer why we might want to work more explicitly with futures, and given us a glimpse of solutions to such queries as: | Since we began working with what we now call 'speculative culture' (~2009), we have crossed paths with people like Bruce Sterling, Anab Jain, Chris Luebkeman, Scott Smith, Justin Pickard, Maya van Leemput, and Stuart Candy (amongst others) who are more directly involved with futures and future studies, and may even call themselves futurists. We have seen many points of contact (and departure) with their work. Our literature survey has allowed us to see where our own endeavours stand in relation to these and other futurists, situating our practice in the wider context of futures studies. It has helped us understand where we can stand on others' shoulders, and where we have stumbled consciously or unconsciously on possible solutions or new avenues of exploration. It has helped us begin to answer why we might want to work more explicitly with futures, and allowed us to glimpse solutions to such ongoing queries as: |
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| * how do we foster a sense of agency when faced with volatile, unknowable futures? | * how do we foster a sense of agency when faced with volatile, unknowable futures? |
| * what are the different forms experiential futures can take? | * what are the different forms experiential futures can take? |
| * what can we add to our toolbox of methods and techniques? | * what can we add to our toolbox of methods and techniques? |
| * etc. | |
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| We began by interviewing each other using the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys|5 whys]] technique. From this conversation it became clear that we’re interested in examining the tools and techniques that can help us adapt to uncertainty in its many guises. We believe that a culture where foresight is embedded in daily life would be more adept to living in a world of probabilities without anxiety, away from a rigidly linear 'cause and effect' perspective. Envisioning alternative futures in the present could allow us to embrace uncertainty more easily. It could also open up new possibilities to shake up the currently unacceptable status quo and attempt to steer it towards a future where holistic, inclusive and anti-fragile values prevail. We want to investigate experiential futurism as a way to (re)connect future visions with realities, where humans aren’t separate from planetary 'others'. Our conjecture is that by experiencing what it would be like to be ourselves in a range of future scenarios, we can observe our present situation more clearly, adapt to the world as it evolves, and attain the agency to navigate our present in the direction of more preferred futures. | We began by interviewing each other using the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_Whys|5 whys]] technique. From this conversation it became clear that we’re interested in examining the tools and techniques that can help us adapt to uncertainty in its many guises. We believe that a culture where foresight is embedded in daily life would be more adept to living in a world of probabilities without anxiety, away from a rigidly linear 'cause and effect' perspective. Envisioning alternative futures in the present could allow us to embrace uncertainty more easily. It could also open up new possibilities to shake up the currently unacceptable status quo and attempt to steer it towards a future where holistic, inclusive and anti-fragile values prevail. We want to investigate experiential futurism as a way to (re)connect future visions with realities, where humans aren’t separate from planetary 'others'. Our conjecture is that by experiencing what it would be like to be ourselves in a range of future scenarios, we can observe our present situation more clearly, adapt to the world as it evolves, and attain the agency to navigate our present in the direction of more preferred futures. |
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| The question how to construct rich [[http://lib.fo.am/future_fabulators/scenario_methods#scenarios|scenarios]] lead us deeper into the territory of axes, branches, layers, fans and cones (no specialist field is complete without a working vocabulary) - all of which can represent different relationships between (elements) of possible, probable and/or preferred futures. It is interesting that several researchers warn that different methods will produce different types of future scenarios. This is something that we intuitively grasped after facilitating several workshops. The research confirmed that we have to be very careful about not just the methods we use, but also of our influence as facilitators on the process and outcome of the scenarios. A lot of the [[integral futures]] research talks about the inclusion of the practitioner as part of scenario creation. Our personal development, history, worldviews, presence and other factors has an impact on the content and the process of the workshop. This lead us to search for different ways to ask questions during the constructions of scenario skeletons, that might lead to different answers and therefore different stories, than if we intuitively ask questions that interest us. | The question how to construct rich [[http://lib.fo.am/future_fabulators/scenario_methods#scenarios|scenarios]] led us deeper into the territory of axes, branches, layers, fans and cones (no specialist field is complete without a working vocabulary) - all of which can represent different relationships between aspects of possible, probable or preferred futures. Interestingly, several researchers warn that different methods will produce different types of future scenarios. This is something that we intuitively grasped after facilitating several workshops. The research confirmed that we have to be very careful not only of the methods we use, but also of our influence as facilitators on the process and outcome of the scenarios. A lot of the [[integral futures]] research talks about the inclusion of the practitioner as part of scenario creation. Our personal development, history, worldview, and other factors all have an impact on the content and process of the workshop. This made us search for different ways to ask questions during the construction of scenario skeletons that could lead to different answers and therefore different stories, rather than if we just asked the questions that interested us alone. |
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| What we have previously called 'retrocasting' or 'scenario testing' (probing the paths from "here" to various projected futures) goes by several names in the futures field, the most widespread being "[[http://lib.fo.am/future_fabulators/scenario_methods#retrocasting|backcasting]]" and/or "incasting". The difference between backcasting and retrocasting (if we understood this correctly) is that backcasting envisions a preferred future and asks what would have to be done in the present to get to that future, while incasting looks at finding signals of emergence different possible or probable futures (preferred and otherwise). | What we have previously called 'retrocasting' or 'scenario testing' (probing the paths from 'here' to various projected futures) goes by several names in the futures field, the most widespread being '[[http://lib.fo.am/future_fabulators/scenario_methods#retrocasting|backcasting]]' or 'incasting'. The difference between backcasting and retrocasting (if we understood this correctly) is that backcasting envisions a preferred future and asks what would have to be done in the present to get to that future, while incasting looks at finding signals of emergence different possible or probable futures (preferred and otherwise). |
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| Exploring each of these methods and techniques has of course revealed many promising leads, some of which have been left unexplored for now. However, our initial collection of [[scenario methods]] is now more extensive and has already sparked ideas about how we could use or adapt some of them in our work. | Exploring each of these methods and techniques has of course revealed many promising leads, some of which have been left unexplored for now. However, our initial collection of [[scenario methods]] is now more extensive and has already sparked ideas about how we could use or adapt some of them in our work. |
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| As we were approximately knee-deep in [[http://lib.fo.am/future_fabulators/scenario_methods#futures_research_methods|futures research methods]], Justin Pickard diverted our attention to Stuart Candy’s thesis [[The Futures of Everyday Life]]. Written in 2010, his work provides a strong theoretical and practical grounding for what he calls "[[experiential futures]]" a term that we’ll happily adopt, as it seems a better fit for our future pre-enactments than say 'design fiction' or 'speculative design'. The thesis begins with outlining ways that can move us away from the usual polarisation of utopian, dystopian futures, with the continuation of the status quo somewhere in between. One of the ways is the [[four generic futures]], that he used to design experiential scenario experiments for [[http://www.futures.hawaii.edu/publications/hawaii/FourFuturesHawaii2050-2006.pdf|Hawaii in 20150]]. The second issue that is identified in the thesis is the experiential gulf between thinking or talking about future scenarios and actually experiencing them. He calls for an integration of futures research and experience design, allowing different ways of knowing to penetrate our futures awareness. From reuniting body and mind, Candy goes on to discuss the uniting futures and design with politics, and looks at some principles upon which experiential scenarios could be built. Going beyond controlled exercises in workshops and gallery spaces, he talks about [[guerrilla futures]], or futures in the wild, where unsuspecting public encounters speculative artifacts from a future scenario, embedded in the spaces of daily life. The three examples of guerrilla futures discussed are the [[New York Times Special Edition]] of the Yes Men, [[http://www.bluelineproject.org/|The Blue Line Project]] and [[http://futuryst.blogspot.com.au/2007/10/bird-cage.html|Found Futures Chinatown]]. It was interesting to read the authors' reflection regarding the effectiveness and ethical issues of such interventions (such as potential distress and misleading of audience caught unawares), as well as his conclusion that the alternative - continuing to work on scenarios on purely analytical and intellectual levels - isn't acceptable, The final chapter of the thesis was quite encouraging for us. It talks about different ways of infusing foresight outside expert fields, moving toward what Stuart calls "futures oriented social ecology". One of the tactics he calls "future shock therapy" and the other "ambient foresight". Future Shock is a tactic deployed by guerrilla futurists, and Hakim Bey's [[http://hermetic.com/bey/taz1.html|Poetic Terrorists]]. On the other end of the spectrum, "rather than demanding attention with fireworks, an ‘ambient’ future awareness is gentle, or perhaps almost invisible." Ambient foresight "nudges" people towards developing the futures skills, as do for example prediction markets and alternate reality games, such as [[http://archive.superstructgame.net/|Superstruct]]. We had a couple of inspiring conversations with Stuart and uncovered many common threads, which we hope will eventually result in some form of collaboration. | As we were approximately knee-deep in [[http://lib.fo.am/future_fabulators/scenario_methods#futures_research_methods|futures research methods]], Justin Pickard diverted our attention to Stuart Candy’s thesis [[The Futures of Everyday Life]]. Written in 2010, his work provides a strong theoretical and practical grounding for what he calls "[[experiential futures]]" a term that we’ll happily adopt, as it seems a better fit for our future pre-enactments than say 'design fiction' or 'speculative design'. The thesis begins with outlining ways that can move us away from the usual polarisation of utopian, dystopian futures, with the continuation of the status quo somewhere in between. One of the ways is the [[four generic futures]], that he used to design experiential scenario experiments for [[http://www.futures.hawaii.edu/publications/hawaii/FourFuturesHawaii2050-2006.pdf|Hawaii in 20150]]. The second issue that is identified in the thesis is the experiential gulf between thinking or talking about future scenarios and actually experiencing them. He calls for an integration of futures research and experience design, allowing different ways of knowing to penetrate our futures awareness. From reuniting body and mind, Candy goes on to discuss the uniting futures and design with politics, and looks at some principles upon which experiential scenarios could be built. Going beyond controlled exercises in workshops and gallery spaces, he talks about [[guerrilla futures]], or futures in the wild, where unsuspecting public encounters speculative artifacts from a future scenario, embedded in the spaces of daily life. The three examples of guerrilla futures discussed are the [[http://theyesmen.org/hijinks/newyorktimes|New York Times Special Edition]] of the Yes Men, [[http://www.bluelineproject.org/|The Blue Line Project]] and [[http://futuryst.blogspot.com.au/2007/10/bird-cage.html|Found Futures Chinatown]]. It was interesting to read the authors' reflection regarding the effectiveness and ethical issues of such interventions (such as potential distress and misleading of audience caught unawares), as well as his conclusion that the alternative - continuing to work on scenarios on purely analytical and intellectual levels - isn't acceptable, The final chapter of the thesis was quite encouraging for us. It talks about different ways of infusing foresight outside expert fields, moving toward what Stuart calls "futures oriented social ecology". One of the tactics he calls "future shock therapy" and the other "ambient foresight". Future Shock is a tactic deployed by guerrilla futurists, and Hakim Bey's [[http://hermetic.com/bey/taz1.html|Poetic Terrorists]]. On the other end of the spectrum, "rather than demanding attention with fireworks, an ‘ambient’ future awareness is gentle, or perhaps almost invisible." Ambient foresight "nudges" people towards developing the futures skills, as do for example prediction markets and alternate reality games, such as [[http://archive.superstructgame.net/|Superstruct]]. We had a couple of inspiring conversations with Stuart and uncovered many common threads, which we hope will eventually result in some form of collaboration. |
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| Finding ourselves on more familiar transdisciplinary theory, we continued collecting references to [[design fiction]], a field that has gained traction in recent years, merging design and foresight, to create objects, spaces and experiences as futures prototypes. Alongside (the now usual suspects) Bruce Sterling, Superflux, Dunne & Raby, The Extrapolation Factory are people and works spanning the arts, games, movies and architecture, such as Nelly Ben Hayoun, Natalie Jeremijenko, Atelier van Lieshout, Angelo Vermeulen, Adrian Hon and others. We haven’t spent too much time looking through many new and interesting projects but this is something that could benefit from further studies, conversations, comparisons, pattern-finding, etc. | Finding ourselves on more familiar transdisciplinary theory, we continued collecting references to [[design fiction]], a field that has gained traction in recent years, merging design and foresight, to create objects, spaces and experiences as futures prototypes. Alongside (the now usual suspects) Bruce Sterling, Superflux, Dunne & Raby, The Extrapolation Factory are people and works spanning the arts, games, movies and architecture, such as Nelly Ben Hayoun, Natalie Jeremijenko, Atelier van Lieshout, Angelo Vermeulen, Adrian Hon and others. We haven’t spent too much time looking through many new and interesting projects but this is something that could benefit from further studies, conversations, comparisons, pattern-finding, etc. |
nik