We began by simulating a collective Atlas of Weak Signals exercise in class. The game consists in identifying weak signals, areas of opportunities and trigger points to constitute a design space. But what are those? Weak signals are inflection points that indicate future change. Areas of opportunities are technologies, tools and ideas that can address weak signals. Trigger points are random parameters that can influence the design space.

We were then asked to build our own Atlas of Weak Signals:

My Weak Signals

Truth Wars. I am concerned with the increasing polarisation of opinion in the physical and online space, leading to greater societal divide and tensions. Public opinion is becoming less nuanced, more extreme and more exclusionary, leading to a decrease of mutual understanding and peaceful co-existence at local, regional and global level.

Technology for Equality. While technology can empower minorities, it can also be used by governments and corporations to assert control and limit personal freedoms. Design can play a role in promoting "technology for good" and limiting "technology for bad".

Loneliness and mental health in the digital age. I added this weak signal as it wasn't in the game deck but represents a critical current and future issue to address. While ICTs were designed to connect us, they moved human interactions from the physical to the digital space, causing more loneliness. Additionally, some communication technologies and platforms intentionally designed addictive interfaces to boost profits, causing serious repercussions on mental health.

MY AREAS OF OPPORTUNITY

Cities bring people together and are therefore places where loneliness and mental health in the digital age can be addressed, but also where technology can be applied to tackle inequalities in the urban space.

Multi-scalar thinking promotes the consideration of various contexts and viewpoints at different scales and could be a useful methodology to tackle truth wars.

Distributed network infrastructure promotes decentralised governance models, giving less power to central authority. This can be a useful methodology to limit governments or corporations´ control and surveillance of population.

MY TRIGGER POINTS

Digital camouflage can fuel truth wars by allowing less accountability for content shared online. However, it can be combined with distributed network infrastructure to bypass technological surveillance by governments and corporations.

Redesigning convenience in the digital space can help address mental health and loneliness issues associated with the use of communication technologies. Redesigning the convenience of social media can also dismantle online echo-chambers, which are real catalysers of polarisation and truth wars.

My Multiscalar Design Space

We were then asked to place our chosen weak signals on different scales, along with leading research or researchers in those fields (orange), available infrastructure (blue), materials & resources (pink), technologies & methodologies (purple) in our environment as well as possible intervention contexts (red). This exercise helped us understand the scalability of possible interventions and how these are shaped by our personal environment. For example, being a student at IAAC in Barcelona gives me access to certain resources and technologies, while having a professional background in European policy gives me access to others.

My Design Space

We then placed our design space on our Atlas of Weak Signals to understand how interventions related to our weak signals can be shaped by our own environment. For example, my body could be used as a digital camouflage tool to bypass technological surveillance. Nature can be used for the same purpose. Our online space can be redesigned to encourage multi-scalar thinking in online behaviour, leading to less polarisation of opinion. Cities such as Barcelona can be places where social innovation initiatives use the urban space to tackle digitally-induced loneliness and mental health issues. AI and algorithms play central roles in technological surveillance, truth wars and loneliness & mental health in the digital age and have a big potential as means of intervention.