Research-Creations for Speculating About Digitized Automation: Bringing Creative Writing Prompts and Vital Materialism into the Sociology of Futures

Abstract

In this article, we present ideas about developing innovative methods for the sociology of futures. Our approach brings together the literature on sociotechnical imaginaries and the sociology of futures with vital materialism theories and research-creation methods. We draw on our research-creation materials from a series of online workshops. The workshops involved the use of creative writing prompts with participants across a diverse range of age groups and locations. The article ends with some reflections on the implications of our approach for researching the futures of emerging digital technologies and the methodological and theoretical development of the sociology of futures.

Arts–Research Collaboration: Reflections on Collaboration as Creative Method

“…These materials, and the acts of jointly crafting them, prompted people to discuss what and what not to keep from material and digital profusion and the kinds of futures selections were oriented toward. Our experience chimes with that of anthropologists Lupton and Watson (2022), who similarly found value in using arts-based methods to inspire conversation and communication of practices in relation to future-orientated “speculative imaginaires” (p. 754) or “people’s everyday experiences of and feelings about futures” (p. 755).…”

Generative Artificial Intelligence in Collaborative Ideation: Educational Insight From Fashion Students

“…In a study of prospective teachers, Vartiainen and Tedre [17] pointed out that collaborative production with imagegenerating AI tools can create a critical discourse on craft education. For example, AI images lead to data-driven decisions, raising new concerns, such as power relations, algorithmic bias, and hybrid impacts [61,[81][82][83]. Throughout the interview process, participants experienced confusion due to copyright issues and the derivation of images that were different from cultural or historical facts.…”

“…The process of AI-based image generation involves human participation as individuals respond to the system's autonomous responses to fit their expectations [32]. In addition, these systems use internetscale data that may involve copyright issues [60], social biases, and stereotypes [61]. These issues have sparked discussions about whether collaborative fashion ideation with AI creates new opportunities for designers or disrupts the job market in creative fields [32].…”

What Future for the Sociology of Futures? Visions, Concepts and Methods

“…While well-known Sociological methods, especially qualitative and participatory methodologies, will remain central here, the contributions in this Special Issue make the case for methods hitherto less familiar in Sociology, in particular speculative, slow, sensory and historical methods. Beyond this, the wider upsurge of interest in futures across the Humanities and Social Sciences ( New Media and Society , 2021; Qualitative Inquiry , 2022; also many articles in the journal Futures ) draws in a wider range of speculative methods (Marrero-Guillamon, 2022; Wilkie et al, 2017), Design Anthropology (Pink, 2016, 2022), creative writing (Lupton and Watson, 2022), participatory exhibition curation (Markham, 2021) and comic strips (Dahlgren et al, 2022) (for example). Detailed claims are made in each case, but the overall drive is to disrupt current practices and power relations of future-claiming and making to include marginalised voices, asking unlikely questions and visiting improbable futures (Wilkie et al, 2017).…”