Offload trends to the book introduction

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It will be boring if each groups start their respective chapter by writing a page or two about different trends they assume will happen during the next 10-20 years if several other group assume the same trends will happen (identity, anonymity, libraries, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, filter bubbles, shorter attention span, smartphones, future Internet archtecture etc.). 

You can thus "offload" these trends and this work to Daniel and Malin who will write the introduction to the book. See this blog post with info about trends that were picked up in the introductory chapter in last year's course ("The Future of News / News of the Future").

We have created a Google form where you can suggest trends that you assume will happen and that you would like Daniel and Malin to write about - instead of taking valuable space in your own chapter to write about these things.

The form for offloading trends is available here. 

Do note that there are also group- or project-specific trends that you should hold on to and write about in your text - what we are talking about here is more general "background" societal/economic/technological trends that you have reason to suspect that also other groups will assume in their scenarios.

We have a tight schedule for writing the texts for the book, so you will unfortunately only have until Friday Nov. 28 at 19.00 to submit your suggestions. Daniel and Malin will review them and will get back with information about which trends we will "pick up" for the introductory chapter at the coordination meeting with the project group leaders on Tuesday Dec 2. That will hopefully make it possible for you to write good "transitions" between the book intro and your own chapter and please do remember that the deadline for submitting your book chapters is on Thursday Dec 4. 

Do note:

- For the sake of simplicity, we recommend you designate one person who is responsible for your group's text. 

- This is the person who should have the final say in all matters relation to your text. This person should probably not be the person who is already your project leader.
- This is also the person who should come to the "work seminar"/"writer's workshop" (send (at least) one representative per group) on Friday Dec 5 from 13.00 in room 1537. 

- For the sake of simplicity, please have this person be the only person from your group who uses the form to suggest topics to offload (so there will not be mix-ups and confusions).

Good luck with your texts!

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Mid-crit feedback

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Dear all,

Thank you for the presentations at the mid-crit last Friday. We hope you enjoyed hearing what other groups are working on and that you all felt that the critique was both inspirational and useful for your continued work.

Here are some general thoughts and comments, brought up during the day and hopefully useful for many or even for all groups:

- Remember the human aspects of the sociotechnical loop. This year's theme is sharing, but please also remember the human aspects of sharing as well - try not to disappear too deeply into the technical solutions and loosing track of the people who will live in the future and use these systems. A set of technological developments is not a story in itself, or, at least it isn't a very engaging story. You have to imagine a future scenario that is underpinned by - but that in itself is more than - those technical developments.
- The projects should include a fair amount of media technology in any of its manifold and different forms. There should be a media (technology) angle for every project even if the emphasis is on this year's theme and your theme.
- An interesting aspect to include in your projects is "the history of the future" - what happened that lead up to the scenario of the future that you are describing? What can explain how that future came about, e.g. what about the years 2015-2030 (all projects are supposed to aim for 10-20 years into the future)?

Good luck with your projects!

Best,
Daniel & Malin

Future of Media as Design Fiction

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I learned about the term "design fiction" last year and instantly realised that we have been working with "design fiction" in the Future of Media for more than 10 years without know it... :-)

It might be that design fiction will be used more explicitly as a framework for the course next year. It might also be the case that it could be useful/helpful for you to read up (a little) on design fiction since that might help to frame what your are doing in your project and what we are doing in this course. It might also be the case that me and Malin will explicitly refer to design fiction in the introduction to the book we will produce in the course.

I have put together a few easy-to-read resources about design fiction that I suggest you read:
1) Read the introduction to the workshop that was held on design fiction at this year's huge conference on human-computer interaction.

Read these two position papers that were submitted to the workshop:
2) Product Boxes and Worst Nightmares: User-generated Design Fiction (pdf file)
3) Digital Spirits: Report of an Imaginary Workshop on Technologies to Support Religious and Spiritual Experience (pdf file)

4) Then read my reflections about design fiction and about the workshop in this (long) blog post.

5) Finally have a look at this scientific article that uses design fiction to think about the future, "ICT4S 2029: What will be the systems that supporting sustainability in 15 years" (link to pdf file)
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Mid-crit schedule

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- The mid-crit will be held in lecture hall V1 between 08.45-16.30. We will have three outside guest critics - please impress them by being on time!

- Each group has 25 minutes for their presentation + questions and discussion. Please use no more than 10 minutes for your presentation so that there is plenty of time left for discussions.

- You should attend all the presentations in your block. Feel free to ask for clarifications or questions

We have put together a schedule for the mid-crit presentation as follows:

Block 1

• 08.45-09.00 - Mini-lectures (5-10 minutes) by Gnospelius ("Future of finance") & Schön ("Share or die")
• 09.00-09.25 Future of learning
• 09.25-09.50 Future of crowdwork
• 09.50-10.15 Future of work
• 10.15-10.30 BREAK
• 10.30-10.45 Mini-lectures (5-10 minutes) by Ahlsén & Friberg ("Future of libraries")
• 10.45-11.10 End of big business
• 11.10-11.35 3D society 
• 11.35-12.00 Future of piracy
• 12.00-12.05 Wrap-up/concluding words (Daniel)

• 12.05-13.15 LUNCH BREAK

Block 2

• 13.15-13.30 Mini-lectures (5-10 minutes) by Vishnyakova ("Future of discrimination") & Zhulyabina ("Sharing and size")
• 13.30-13.55 Future of shared food
• 13.55-14.20 Bottom-up revolution (share your life)
• 14.20-14.45 Future of trust
• 14.45-15.00 BREAK
• 15.00-15.10 Mini-lecture (5-10 minutes) by Lundh Heinstedt ("Future of direct democracy")
• 15.10-15.35 Sharing motivations
• 15.35-16.00 Trust and reputation systems
• 16.00-16.25 Sustainable sharing economy
• 16.25-16.30 Wrap-up/concluding words (Daniel)

If you have any questions about the schedule or other practical aspects around the Friday mid-crit event, please have your project leader bring them to the coordination meeting this coming Wednesday (12-13 in seminar room 1537).

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