“a speculative sprint story collection”, 2 day workshop

Seeking plural voices, in Asia: why? because : All too often, utopias and dystopias, moral panics and progress narratives—particularly from Western perspectives—dominate conversations about AI and related technologies. In this collection we focus on Asian perspectives.

merits of writing in short time frames:

On the creative side, writing in short timeframes can be surprisingly generative for writers and non-writers alike. Such time constraints encourage brainstorming and commitment, pushing participants DRONES & DREAMS A Speculative Sprint Story Collection 11 away from indecision and hesitation.

Workshop, Day 1:

• participants divided into themed groups, such as “Animals, Family, and Food” and “Cities and Infrastructure.”
• In these groups, participants worked rapidly—in roughly 15-minute stretches—to respond to prompts like: • Write guidelines for the development, use, and retirement of AI centered around the wellbeing of insects. And: • Upon reaching adolescence, your AI child insists you change your relations with the global supply chains of manufacturing. Describe how this alters your daily life.
• Seeds and Fragments section of this volume collects these prompts and a selection of the responses that participants wrote.

Workshop, Day 2:

• transforming a single idea into a longer piece.
• Stories and Other Speculations section
• After the two days of the official sprint had ended, participants had an optional, additional 24 hours to polish their longer pieces.

We decided to standardize each piece to each author, rather than to one imperial/neoimperial system, as a way to reflect the many voices and experiences included.