Speculative Design and Social Justice in Human-Computer Interaction

Speculative design in human–computer interaction involves creating imagined artefacts, scenarios and narratives that surface hidden assumptions in technology and provoke critical reflection on possible futures. When anchored in social justice, these practices foreground power imbalances, structural oppression and the lived experiences of marginalised communities. Recent work has drawn on Black feminist thought, intersectionality and feminist science and technology studies to develop methods that expose and transform sites of violence and exclusion in digital systems. Participatory and co-design approaches have been combined with design fiction and provotypes to engage stakeholders in constructing alternative futures that challenge dominant ideologies and material inequalities. Globally, this research informs interventions in areas as diverse as automated labour, environmental justice and community-based health technologies. Concrete examples include speculative commitments that question prevailing design-reality gaps, feminist methodologies for post-work automation, and micro-ethical frameworks guiding engagements with children and underserved groups. By weaving together critical theory, ethical speculation and hands-on prototyping, the field is reshaping both the tools and the discourse of HCI to pursue more equitable and inclusive technological futures.

Research from Nature Portfolio

No recent Nature Portfolio content available.

Speculative Design and Social Justice in Human-Computer Interaction publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in speculative design and social justice in human-computer interaction across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Speculative design: A method of creating hypothetical futures through artefacts and narratives to critique current technological paths.

Design fiction: A form of speculative design that uses storytelling and world-building to explore the implications of emerging technologies.

Intersectionality: An analytical framework examining how overlapping social identities produce compounded forms of discrimination and privilege.

Participatory design: A collaborative design approach that involves stakeholders—especially marginalised users—in decision-making and prototyping.

Provotype: A provocative prototype intended to spark debate, reflection and imagination about social and technological issues.

References

1. A Method to the Madness: Applying an Intersectional Analysis of Structural Oppression and Power in HCI and Design. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (2023).
2. In the details: the micro-ethics of negotiations and in-situ judgements in participatory design with marginalised children. CoDesign (2020).
3. Post-work Futures and Full Automation: Towards a Feminist Design Methodology. Open Cultural Studies (2018).