Use of Storytelling For Evaluation
Mandatory texts
Auger, James. 2012. “Demo or die: Overcoming oddness through aesthetic experience”. In Why Robot? Speculative Design, the domestication of technology and the considered future. PhD Thesis. RCA, London.
Kim, J., Lund, A. & Dombrowski, C. 2010. “Mobilizing Attention: Storytelling for Innovation”. In Interactions.
Additional readings
Brown, D. M. (2010). “Competitive Reviews” In Communicating Design: Developing Web Site Documentation for Design and Planning. 254-263. Berkeley: New Riders.
Quesenberry, W. & Brooks, K. 2010. “Why Stories?”. In Storytelling for User experience. Rosenfeld Media.
Loch, Christopher. 2003. Moving Your Idea Through Your Organisation. In Laurel, Brenda (ed.). Design Research. Methods and Perspectives.
**Case study: Almost twenty years apart, read how researcher Hiroshi Ishii & his colleagues present their visions of the future:
Ishii, Hiroshi & Ullmer B. 1997. “Tangible Bits: Towards Seamless Interfaces between People, Bits and Atoms”. In Proceedings of CHI ‘97.
Ishii, Hiroshi, Lakatos, D., Bonanni, L. & Labrune, J. “Radical Atoms: Beyond Tangible Bits,Toward Transformable Materials”. In Interactions. 19:1. January/ February 2012. 38–51.
Notes on the texts
- Auger, J.: First part: live demo = communicating to an audience complex experiential propositions that challenge their normative perceptions on a subject.
- Talks about how sensory deprivation can lead to a fully immersive experience.
- Second part: through storytelling and reimagining of past events, speculative design can be facilitated.
- “[…] grounding the speculation to ensure that it connects with an identified audience’s perceptions of the temporal world around them.”
- Kim, J., Lund, A. & Dombrowski, C: “Innovation is the collective process of creating new ideas with business value.” Ok capitalists!
- “During storytelling, knowledge is co-constructed.”
- “Because stories are natural communication vehicles, teams can escape established roles and procedures through storytelling, thus finding new approaches and products.”
- “If listeners do not connect to the story, an idea is not yet ready for development.”
Learnings from / thoughts on the texts
- Storytelling is another way to try and break out of preconceived notions about a thing or a circumstance and to re-think it in a new manner, thus achieving innovation.
Notes on the class
- The tool of storytelling for evaluation: exploratory play; stories create sympathy, value, and meaning; imaginary outcome, alternative present
- Criteria for success / achievement / going forward / following further: fulfilling the main question, provocative, user-centered / fulfilling / rigorous, proof of concept
- Things to keep in mind during storytelling: no manipulative music, no cliches / stereotypes, look-and-feel, the camera angle, lighting, position of the person, tone of voice, manipulative rhetoric (cult-like)
- https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/studio-banana/ostrich-pillow
