Mozilla Festival 2021 (March 8th – 19th, 2021)

Mozilla Festival 2021 (March 8th – 19th, 2021)

Reconsidering AI through Speculative Writing Techniques

In this workshop we will envision alternative possible realities through a hands-on speculative fiction writing activity. We have been using this technique for a year with a long-standing group that explores current and future technology through speculative writing.

This highly structured yet improvisational activity uses a customized set of cards that are reshuffled to create different and unexpected writing prompts. The approach frees the mind to think differently, both about the realities of current technologies and about writing itself.

In this workshop we will introduce the concept of speculative fiction and the writing activity, and then try the activity for ourselves, focusing particularly on themes relevant to this year's Mozfest, including Truthworthy and not trustworthy AI, misinformation, and power.

Also, we will get silly. You will leave with an understanding of how to use these writing prompts, whether individually or with others.


What is the goal and/or outcome of your session?:

The goal of our session is to teach participants how to use speculative writing techniques to explore alternative realities. Anyone can participate—you don't have to identify as a writer, creative, or technologist. Participants will get to know one another in small breakout groups, which should encourage community and engagement.

We're hoping that many efforts and discussions will continue after Mozfest. Share any ideas you already have for how to continue the work from your session.:

Ideally we would be able to promote the workshop ahead of time and ask potential participants to suggest content for the particular word prompts we put on the cards. We will also invite people to share additional word prompts after the workshop, when they will have a better understanding of the activity. If we have sufficient contributions, these can then be collected and shared with participants so that after the workshop everyone receives a set of cards and are thus fully set up to continue the practice, on their own or, if they wish, together.

Further, if people are interested, we would love to put together a collection of people's creations that we can share out to the Moz community and beyond.

How will you deal with varying numbers of participants in your session?:

The workshop will begin as a whole group with the two presenters explaining the activity. Once we move to the activity we will separate into breakout rooms of 3-5 people. We can facilitate up to a dozen people ourselves. If we think the workshop will be large, we will ask people in the community to facilitate the small breakout groups, which is pretty easy to do. We will provide them with a brief facilitator guide to help. With thirty people, for instance, we will need at least 3 additional facilitators.

Elisabeth Sylvan is the Managing Director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. She's interested in sociotechnical systems that support creativity, shared knowledge, and collaboration.

Amy Johnson is a writer, scholar, and facilitator of speculation. She explores unexpected uses of technology across English, Arabic, and Japanese; she holds a PhD from MIT.