Understanding, mitigating and preventing the harms caused by digital technologies is a fundamental challenge for all of us. But we believe it also fundamental to propose alternatives - to imagine the future we want to see, so that we have a better chance of reaching it.
As part of the DSI4EU project, we have put together this collection of ten fictional, fun, accessible and thought-provoking stories, set in the year 2030, to begin building a vision for a more positive future, where technology is shaped and harnessed as a force for good.
The stories purposefully focus on tech as a tool, not an end, placing as much importance on political, social, economic, demographic and environmental trends as on technological ones. They are centred on people, not technologies, as it is people who will be at the heart of our envisioned future. All of them draw upon existing DSI examples from across and beyond Europe.
To put together the collection, DSI4EU held three workshops in London, Berlin and Barcelona and created a card game, 'Cards for the future', alongside desk research. Both the materials from our workshops and the print-and-play edition of 'Cards for the future' are available to download under a Creative Commons license.
We hope the collection inspires people to think about the future, and that the stories will play a small part in helping us achieve technology’s potential as a tool for empowerment, education, democracy, sustainability, equality and social justice.
