Speculative Futures
Dunne and Raby (2013) describe speculative design as “the idea of possible futures and using [technology] as tools to better understand the present and to discuss the kind of future people want, and, of course, ones people do not want. They usually take the form of scenarios, often starting with a what-if question” (p 2-3). Dunne and Baby continue to argue that design speculation “requires viewers to suspend their disbelief and allow their imaginations to wander, to momentarily forget how things are now, and wonder about how things could be” (p 3). I took all these points and considered the role of teaching with the future of educational technology.
This is the first part of my Final Project where I speak about the potential relationship between education and technology in the year 2052. I wanted to explore the idea of how technology could possibily take over the mechanics of writing where students would no longer need to learn how to write manually. The process has already begun with accessibility features such as speech to text and texting using a digital keyboard. What if the physical mechanics of writing ceased to exist in 2052? I created iMovie trailers describing a Utopian and a Dystopian perspective of this notion. Enjoy!
The second part of my Final Project will be a Podcast, in which I will be interviewing my children about their thoughts of the potential of writing changing with the increase of availability and accessibility of digital writing tools. Stay tuned!
An Utopian World (iMovie transcript) The year is 2052 A time where young students are solely reliant on technology Students learn digital writing and errors do not exist Teachers don’t need to waste time teaching students how to write No Stationary and writing supplies means less money spent Technology creates excellent digital writers Utopian "Takes place in a highly desirable society, often presented as advanced, happy, intelligent, or even perfect or problem-free" An Utopian World
A Dystopian World (iMovie transcript) The year is 2052 There has been a worldwide indefinite power surge All devices have stopped working Students have to learn how to do everything manually, like holding a pencil A dystopian world, "a highly undesirable society, often plagued with chaos and other negative elements" A Dystopian World
Now that you have viewed both speculative futures, what are your thoughts?
References
Dunne, A. & Raby, F. (2013). Speculative everything: Design, fiction, and social dreaming. [eBook edition]. The MIT Press. https://muse-jhu-edu.eu1.proxy.openathens.net/book/28148/
Speculative Fiction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculative_fiction
First of all, hats off to you Jade for creating 2 fantastic videos!! Both were equally impressive and kept me engaged and informed, and you did it without using any verbal communication and even if I did not read your iMovie transcript – the visuals and music chosen conveyed your message very clearly to me – which is that the relationship between education and technology, as O’Sullivan (2013) suggests is yin and yang, meaning they “are interconnected and interdependent, the image itself contains both light and dark, one feeds the other. The key is finding balance and harmony so both can be developed” (O’Sullivan, 2013, p. 74). As I mention in my own Task 12, when applying this notion towards education, design & technology, media and text, there are at times differing philosophical positions surrounding the function and purpose of design and technology education that could be seen, as with yin and yang, as polar opposites.
In the past, our planet and all of the living species on it lived with the sole purpose of survival, currently, it seems we are living with the sole purpose of optimal survival which only a special few enjoy, tomorrow I feel we are going to still be stuck in a state of paradox, where a contradiction will present us with an unresolvable conundrum: “the source of our progress has become the source of our downfall. Things are too good for us to change it all, yet too bad for us to leave anything as it is” (Wijnburg, 2019). By 2052, I hope that all of us continue to take into consideration all of the best that humanity has to offer – our positive attributes, our hopes and our dreams to better not only mankind’s attitudes on life and genuinely caring for each other, but our whole planet. Through change, which according to Harari (2017) is always stressful,” we become stronger global citizens with purpose and understanding of our world and how to make our planet fairer, more sustainable, innovative and peaceful (Harari, 2017, p. 325).
Thank you for sharing your thought-provoking videos Jade, I really want to learn how to make videos like the ones you created here one day for my future assignments 🙂 Did you you use a special app/software program to create this content?
Hi Selene!
Thank you for your comments. I used iMovie to create the videos, specifically the trailer option. I then converted the file into a YouTube video in order to share it on the blog. It is user friendly and I have had much success using this program with my students and to create online assemblies for Remembrance Day and Pink Day. Let me know if you need any support with it!
Cheers