SpeculativeEdu

Call: Speculative and Critical Design: approaches and influences in education

March 20, 2021

Call for submissions to IxD&A (Interaction Design and Architecture (s)) Journal

For this special issue of the IxD&A journal we invite contributions that extend knowledge on this domain, for example, submissions addressing how educators are tackling, or aspiring to tackle, these challenges both in the classroom and in professional situations, or which discuss the collation and presentation of resources, methods and perspectives specifically in educational contexts. These can include stories and experiences along with critical reflections on the outcomes, impacts and implications.

Deadline
September 9, 2021
Notification to the authors
October 14, 2021
Camera ready paper
November 11, 2021
Publication of the special issue
end of November, 2021

Summary of the call

Speculative and Critical Design approaches and related Design Fiction practices are increasingly finding their place within interaction design and technology design educational programmes. The guest editors of this special issue are partners in the SpeculativeEdu project (Speculative Design – Educational Resource Toolkit), funded by the European Union, to explore novel educational skills and practices for the 21st century, especially those focused on the critical relations between technology and people. The inherently discursive and provocative nature of the Speculative or Critical Design approach makes it potentially useful for both teaching practical design skills and for reflecting on theoretical positions and the implications of introducing designed objects and systems into the world. There are however tensions and unresolved issues, and there is much potential for further development that deserves examination, particularly in the context of education, such as practical questions around; how to develop and share sets of tools, techniques and methods for concept creation, address aspects such as worldbuilding and the communication of narratives, and how best to apply criteria for assessment in educational domains as diverse as product and service design, architecture and urban studies, fashion design, media and communication, human-computer interaction, socio-technical studies and other creative fields. Further fundamental and overarching themes also deserve deeper interrogation, for example around; inclusion, diversity and participation, the influence of global and local cultures, understandings of the past, the present and the future, and the role of primary research in creative, imaginative work. Not least is the question of how to nurture the development of constructive tactics and strategies amongst students who are facing a world where problems seem too complex, too inextricably interwoven and too intractable to begin to address.

Full details and submission information

Topics of Interest

The indicative list of topics of interest for this special issue includes, but is not limited to:

Guest editors