For those with an interest in applied science fiction, in particular the digital psychiatry project I worked on with Dr Christine Aicardi and others at King’s College London – our most recent paper is published in the Journal for Technology Assessment in Theory and Practice.
https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/en/article/view/7276
“Abstract • This practice-based research article defines, analyzes, and reflects on the use of applied science fiction (SF) for anticipating the sociotechnical and ethical challenges of future digital mental health technologies. It details the bespoke applied SF process designed for the 3-year project, which involved creating two short SF stories and organizing their subsequent afterlife. The key findings of the project show the impact of this experience on the scientific team: They became aware of and attentive to possible societal implications of the projected technology and questioned taken-for-granted assumptions.
Developing future-oriented critical reflexivity is part of futures literacy, which is essential to technology assessment but often
overlooked.”
Tag Archives: applied science fiction
AI and children’s mental healthcare
As part of my applied science fiction work, I was involved in a project to look at AI-driven tools in children’s mental healthcare.
Recently, a paper about the project has been published.
This is the abstract:
Artificial intelligence may be able to improve the efficiency, accuracy and predictiveness of mental health assessments, and public perspectives are crucial to ensuring these tools are implemented with fairness and accountability. We developed an artificial intelligence-driven tool to automatically analyse parents’ speech data, which if successful could be implemented in children and young people’s mental health assessments. To engage stakeholders with this project, we worked with a science fiction writer to produce two stories about possible futures of our tool, which we discussed in workshops with young people and parents. Here, we summarise key themes arising from this novel method of engaging the public in mental health research, and highlight considerations for clinicians and researchers creating novel technologies for children and young people’s mental healthcare.
The full paper can be read here: https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/camh.70045
Fitzrovia Futures is LIVE!
The fitzrovia futures 2055 project that I’m involved in now has a website where you can find a short video about the project and links to events.
If you live or work in Fitzrovia, London then please come along to our events.
If you’re interested in the future of the area (30 years from now) then please get involved.