DYB124
Speculative Design
Speculative Design-
Project Hive
By Dylan Watson 10062246
[Video Transcript]
[Announcement Speech]
Welcome Everybody.
In 2020, life as we know it changed forever. The world was struck by a deadly virus that has lasted until today. 2070 marks the 50th anniversary of Covid19. The past decades have not been kind to our society. There have been many challenges that humanity has had to overcome but humans thrive best when faced with obstacles. In 2020, the worlds governments all approached the issue on how to beat Covid 19 in different ways. Some chose to invoke a stay at home order, others decided to let the virus run rampart. This caused governments around the world to disagree and foreign relations fell apart throughout the decades. Even today, 50 years later, governments argue on how we should have solved the issue and if we could have beaten it back then instead of it mutating and becoming the super virus it is today.
In today's presentation we are unveiling a new creation of the Australian Covid Taskforce. One the we believe will defeat the virus.
This is Project Hive.
It is a micro drone designed to defeat Covid19 once and for all. This small flying drone will fly all over the country along with thousands of others to identify who has Covid and who doesn’t. Currently we live in different societal groups called Germ Pods. There are those who are immune, those who are at risk and those who do not have access to the testing equipment. These drones will be released within the week and we will begin treating citizens immediately.
We aim to bring society from this separate class system, back to a society of equals. This micro drone will enable us to scan everyone in the country allowing us to identify those with the illness, then in turn being able to isolate and treat them until they recover. In doing this we will be able to wipe out the virus and become a free and equal society once more.
Thank you for listening.
[Proposal]
I chose the “Constraint: Germ Pods” scenario for the Design Speculation component of Assessment 2. This predicts that society may all be separated from each other depending on weather you have had and have immunity to the virus, are at risk, or unable to get tested for the virus. This thought experiment could be caused by a number of things. I chose to treat it as if it was caused by the governments unable to work together and solve covid19, at least on a global scale. This in turn creates a dystopian world of separate classes. My future is portrayed as if the corona virus has mutated into a super virus of which has a high fatality rate, causing governments to take drastic measures, like launching spy drone.
At the moment we as different countries are all trying to combat the corona virus in different ways, some which may be the best solution. However, if the governments are unable to work together the virus may indeed mutate and this battle may span much longer than we can anticipate. In the video I have created, I am a representative of the fictitious ‘Australian Covid Taskforce’ (A.C.T). Breaking News interrupts people from their phones and computers. I present a new device that will be used to combat the virus. The artefact designed in my predicted future is a micro drone built by the government. This drone is marketed to be able to scan everybody in the country, detect who has the virus, send government officials to isolate and treat the patients, which then will allow the corona virus to be beaten. However, the drone is essentially a micro spy drone used to track citizens.
In my scenario the corona virus spread could be stopped sooner rather than later if governments were to work together and try and create a plan to defeat the virus. As opposed to creating a dystopian future when citizens are separated by health status and the government had free reign to spy.
I approached this problem from a Human Centred Design perspective. The idea of government spying is a very ethically effected debate, some are pro some are against. However, humans should be free to live their everyday lives without fear of the government tracking them. The fact that the governments are not working together on this issue could prolong this virus’s impact on our society much longer than need be. Using the threat of government tracking may be an effective way to help show people that their privacy is at stake.
Word Count – 791
All images and videos from free use websites:
Mixkit. (2020). Mixkit - Awesome free assets for your next video project. https://mixkit.co