I was glad to see the kind of evolution that this subject had turned out, with the symposium being successful this week. We had moved on and are now tackling the content provided in last week’s readings, ultimately with the tutors reiterating what we had opened up in the tutorials and allowing the students to make comments…as some people had done already.
Upon committing to last week’s readings, I had assumed that design fiction was a design process that allowed scientists and inventors to break the bonds of constraints today. However, it has been clarified in the unlecture that it is in fact, incorporated to most professions in the known community; medical, architectural only amongst those given examples.
“What do you think your job will look like in 2020?” was one of the questions posed by Adrian, in explaining the concept of the topic. Except design fiction is not about forecasting the future, but assessing the present and creating possibilities with tools like “How will I make money?” and “Who will pay me?” The example of the dwindling business in wedding photo/videography was provided and perfectly encapsulated the concept that was being spelled out to us. As the random guy in the crowd said, one could not look too far into the future without looking at the problems of today. So a part of the process is to absorb the constituents and to create an abstract interpretation of solutions to these socialist ‘problems’.
I don’t know what kind of future is laid ahead, but I am learning how to take advantage of anything thrown at me. Ultimately, it is a game of “imagined futures” (Elliot) that requires speculative thinking to take on new approaches.