BEFORE SEMESTER STARTS
As the week passes during the break, I was thinking to myself, what exactly am I trying to convey and through what method am I going employ. Hence, I went to back to the readings and tried understand what exactly what does Speculative Design meant. That's when I came across the following fragmented paragraph on Critical Design:
Critical design needs to be closer to the everyday; that’s where its power to disturb lies. A critical design should be demanding, challenging, and if it is going to raise awareness, do so for issues that are not already well known. Safe ideas will not linger in people’s minds or challenge prevailing views but if it is too weird, it will be dismissed as art, and if too normal, it will be effortlessly assimilated.
It gave me an idea about the issue that I'm trying tackle which was AI-generated content which includes DeepFakes, Misinformation & Disinformation. It made me think about how I can make it more relatable to audience and how I can raise awareness, but I went down a rabbit hole with more questions about the speculated future.
WEEK 1
As mentioned how I was going down the rabbit hole, I decided to proceed with a user testing with my publication that was made on the previous submission. As the feedback gotten was only from the lecturers, I wanted feedbacks from my classmates on how they feel and percieve the images in the publication when shown to them.
THOUGHTS
The user testing was insightful. From the visual test, when the viewers are being told that they were to identify between the real and generated image, instinctively viewers will start to look out for details that may seem out of the norm.
However, if the visuals were to be flashed out in front of them without context provided, it would have been an opposite outcome as the viewer pointed out that “People are to incline to seeing image as it is without questioning it’s authenticity, the natural instinct from young was to believe what was captured or known as an image. As an image says more than a thousand words and anything else.
From the insight that was discovered, I realized how perhaps the issue stemmed back from the habits of people percieving information on surface value. Which will be expanded on in the later part of the prototype.
CRAFTING OF DESIGN STATEMENT
I was thinking that having a design statement would help me to better position the direction where the project was heading. Hence, the following consist of the crafted design statement:
In an age of rapid AI adoption, digital media profoundly influences younger generations like Gen Z and Gen Alpha, raising critical concerns about data privacy and the ethical use of AI-generated content. This project addresses the growing risks of personal data exploitation and overexposure to biased or unreliable AI-driven information. Through a curated space experience, it aims to educate audiences on safeguarding data privacy and understanding the ethical implications of AI tools. By advocating for greater transparency in AI training processes, the project seeks to foster awareness and equip future generations with the knowledge to navigate an increasingly AI-dominated digital landscape responsibly.
Therefore, with the design statement in place, I started planning out the methods that will be use to carry out the prototyping. The method that I will be employing is through the narrative of "what if" to the speculated future, highlighting the issue from the crafted design statement.
I tried to craft the narrative with the proposed method and tried to speculate scenarios which may be plausible in the near future, magnifying the issue with suggested idea outcomes.
However, in the second idea on the exercise book, it struck to me that perhaps instead of having it as a form of speculated exercise book, why not something that we as the younger generation are familiar with. That being said, I reworked on the previous publication into a exam paper that we are familiar with as a Singaporean student that went through our primary and secondary schools. With the sense of familiarity, I wanted to evoke that discussion that suggests on the state of education in near future where it involves the education of ethical AI knowledges and safeguarding techniques in the increasing AI-driven society. Through the design of the exam paper, it allows me to better bring across the user testing to participants as well. As it was something that they are familiar with, they were keen to partake on the user testing with curiosity of what it will contain.
INCORPORATING SURVEY
As I proceed with the design of the exam papers, I was then incline to incorporate a survey to emphasize the need to raise awareness on the issue. Through a quantitative data analysis, I was hoping to evaluate the lack of awareness among the younger generation, proving a point to my research objective. Therefore, I set up a Google Form which allows people respond and submit anonymously. The Google Form was then published on the Reddit forums as the source for my target audience. The reddit community that was chosen for the survey are mainly the groups involving Gen Alpha, Gen-Z, Milinials.
However due to time constraints, I decided to put this on hold for now as I will need to have a purpose to value add to the incoming prototype which will be the main focus.
