Props to Prototypes: Design Fiction Part 2 Design Connexity 2009

Julian BleeckerDesign ConnexityAberdeen, ScotlandApril 2, 2009

Part 2 of a short slideshow on design, science, fact and fiction.

Props to Prototypes

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Julian BleeckerDesign ConnexityAberdeen, ScotlandApril 2, 2009

http://cli.gs/DesignFictionEssay

Part 1






4 Quotes About The Future


“You never change things by !ghting the existing model. To change something, build a new model that makes the

existing model obsolete”~ R. Buckminster Fuller


“As I’ve said many times, the future is here. It’s just not evenly distributed”~ William Gibson


“Fiction is evolutionarily valuable because it allows low-cost experimentation compared to trying things for real”

~ Dennis Dutton OH on @kevinmarks’ Twitter


“The Future Is Always Over Sold And Under Imagined”~ Chris Luebkeman


This Is My Context


I Play Here


And I Also Play Here


These Ideas Do Not Represent..


But In Some Near Future, They May..


Part IUndisciplined Practice


Me?

An Engineer+

Science Studies





Why Engineering & Science Studies?

To make new, more habitable near-future worlds


How?

Material practices that allow for the making of things+

Knowledge practices that allow for the making of meaning


How Practically?

Technology PracticesArt Practices

Design Practices








John-Rhys Newmanhttp://rhysnewman.com







Things Have Been Otherwise


Swerving Systems of Meaning

Epistemological Wrenches


How?


Part IIThe Special Effect of Knowledge Making




1. A material technology embedded in the construction and operation of the air-pump

2. A literary technology by means of which the phenomena produced by the pump were made known to those who were not direct witnesses

3. A social technology that incorporated the conventions that experimental philosophers should use in dealing with each other and considering knowledge-claims

Three “technologies” for epistemological change management




1. Material2. Literary3. Social

1. Instruments2. Colleagues3. Allies4. Publics5. Links & Knots

Latour Shapin & Shaffer

Speci!cations for Epistemological Wrenches


So...what?How does this relate to making new kinds of near-

future worlds?


The Special Effect



http://cli.gs/p4X92W


http://cli.gs/p4X92W


http://cli.gs/s9NNgp


http://cli.gs/s9NNgp



Realistic dinosaurs as a special-effect, produced to be visually compelling as a “prop” to help tell a story more

compelling than a dowdy documentary.


http://cli.gs/ZX9R5t









Dark Knighthttp://cli.gs/GzHJhW


http://cli.gs/1Gbm8P


Dark Knighthttp://cli.gs/GzHJhW




Stories Matter More Than Features, Specs And Engineering


Diegetic Prototype

"..cinematic depictions of future technologies are actually “diegetic prototypes” that demonstrate to large public audiences a technology’s need, benevolence, and viability. I show how diegetic prototypes have a major rhetorical advantage over true prototypes: in the diegesis these technologies exist as “real” objects that function properly and which people actually use."David A. Kirby, “The Future Is Now: Diegetic Prototypes, and the Cinematic Creation of the Future” (pre-pub)


Diegetic Prototype

"..cinematic depictions of future technologies are actually “diegetic prototypes” that demonstrate to large public audiences a technology’s need, benevolence, and viability. I show how diegetic prototypes have a major rhetorical advantage over true prototypes: in the diegesis these technologies exist as “real” objects that function properly and which people actually use."David A. Kirby, “The Future Is Now: Diegetic Prototypes, and the Cinematic Creation of the Future” (pre-pub)

Wow. Stories matter when designing the future. Maybe even more than the “real thing” in terms of their ability to flash-bang the imagination of real people. Ideas are more powerful than a crappy product that aspires to the idea.


Science Fiction Can Do Things Science Fact Cannot.



How William Shatner Changed The Worldhttp://cli.gs/tUJs1d


http://cli.gs/tUJs1d


Star Fleet Technical Manual, by Franz Josephhttp://cli.gs/rduvjm




Published: January 11, 1976Copyright © The New York Times


Published: January 11, 1976Copyright © The New York Times




COMMUNICATORSTANDARD FIELD EQUIPMENT ITEM



“Death Star Over San Francisco” by Michael Horn (2008)http://cli.gs/mmBtgN


http://cli.gs/mmBtgN


“Death Star Over San Francisco” by Michael Horn (2008)http://cli.gs/mmBtgN




Julian Bleeckerhttp://www.nearfuturelaboratory.comjulian at nearfuturelaboratory dot comjulian.bleecker at nokia dot com

Thank You.



