Task 12
Speculative Futures
For this speculative future task the two stories I explore contrast, one having a positive light, and one having a negative light. With my context being in education, one is an educational lens, and one is a workers lens.
Speculative Future #1
Sara woke up by her automatically scheduled alarm and got dressed in her uniform for work. It was the same thing every day, that every employee wore at the office she worked at. When she made it to the kitchen her breakfast was already made and ready for her by automated machines. The same breakfast every morning that matched her physiological needs for the optimal health. Sara ate it slowly, but the chip in her head reminded her she had 3 mins to leave. She sped up and put her dishes away, heading out the front door. The automated car picked her up and delivered her to work. She worked throughout her day, trying her best to focus on the menial tasks of a secretary, but her mind wandered to her free time after work. She wanted to paint more, and was working on a piece she was excited about. ‘Back to work’ the voice reminded her, and she snapped back to writing an email. Co-workers smiled at each other pleasantly, but they didn’t really know each other. Some of them chatted during their breaks, but they didn’t have the same break times often. As the day wrapped up, Sara heard the voice in her head inform her that she was docked 42 mins back for her being off task. She sighed as she entered the self driving car to take her home. Did she have a choice in anything? All that mattered was that she stayed healthy and was productive. The voice in her head reminded her to not be so negative. Sara got home and changed into comfortable clothes of her choice, and then was able to paint, her allowed hobby. She wanted to buy more painting supplies, but she was always reminded to ensure that she had savings, a retirement plan, and all her bills paid. She did not have the extra money yet for the canvas she wanted, so she would have to wait. She then decided she would walk to the store. She felt better having spent time painting, and was happy when the voice in her head rewarded her with 10 credits for walking to the store. The store scanned her as she walked in, automatically preparing her grocery order for her. She picked up her usual bag of items but she added a bag of chips and then was deducted 50 points for the unhealthy choice. It was hard to stay ahead. As she walked home, receiving 10 credits, the voice in her head reminded her that yesterday she had thought about contacting her mom and would she want to compose a message now. Sara thought to the voice yes, and thought to the voice what she would write. It was much like speaking out loud to Alexa like she had grown up with, but instead, the voice could read your thoughts. The voice repeated the message back to her before Sara asked it to send the message. She had the voice read her her personal emails as she walked, saving time for her. Once home she watched a show and enjoyed her chips. She was reminded by the voice when it was bedtime and the voice shut off her show and went to bed. The voice shut the lights off as she settled into bed and put on the calm music she liked to help her sleep.
This story highlights the idea of technology having the power over people. In this case, the individual's health is controlled, and their work. Though the idea of mental health and freedom are things that are not considered and productivity is the main goal..
Speculative Future #2
Students
I woke up to my favourite song lately and go up, excited for another day. My mom had my breakfast and lunch ready for me and I was off to school. I know the adults talk about why we still go to school when we do different things, but I like seeing my classmates and getting out of the house. I get to school before the bell and hang out with my friends a little bit before heading to class. We start out with our tablets with silent reading. The teacher finds out things we like to read, and fills it in for us individually. I like it because it’s also at my reading level. We all read and learn differently, so it’s nice it knows what we can do. We can rate what we read too so it helps guide what we will read next. When reading time is done Mr. J explains that today we will be going on our exploration of ancient civilizations. We have learned about the features of civilizations and then we all got to pick one to explore. I picked Ancient Egypt so today my experience is going to be visiting a pyramid. We recorded our wonders yesterday. We all get our VR sets and I am immersed in the big sun and glowing sands of Egypt. As I traveled through my experience, I had a VR tour guide that told me about the area and answered any questions I had. We can write however we want. Some kids like paper, some type on our tablets, or we can put on our neural analyzer and think about what we want to write, and it will type it for us. When that was done we recorded the answers to our wonders and then went out for lunch. I got to see my other friends from Grade 7 in other classes and play some basketball. When we come back it is time for math. We are learning about integers, and we all work at our own level. I am doing two digit addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of positive and negative numbers. Others are working on bigger numbers, and some smaller ones. We all work and progress on the skills as we can because we all learn differently, and at different rates. I get stuck on a question and I can hit multiple ways to get help. The teacher can help, there’s a hint, there’s a video, and there are manipulatives like a movable numberline. Once we have done some practice we move into our inquiry on integers in the real world. I like how what am I learning is always connected to the real world, not just problems on my tablet.
The second narrative follows a Grade 7 student through his school day considering new technologies. This is a more positive narrative that has the student have a lot of voice and choice over their learning. The AI involved also helps the teacher not needing to curate everything, but the tablet is set up to follow and adjust as students improve. It also aims to make learning disabilities invisible because the supports are built in for all. In the podcast Episode 60 of Leading Lines it talks about technology having the potential to make disabilities invisible. In this speculative future, the tech is designed to do just that, and to give more control to the students learning.
Leading Lines (2020). Episode 60: The Future of Digital Literacies. Retrieved 2021 from https://soundcloud.com/leadinglines/episode-060-future-of-digital-literacies-faculty-panel