PXF: Immersive Futures for California
Experiential Futures workshops for regional partners to inspire greater engagement with Human-Centered Design. We collectively imagined what would be different if California state government fully embraced co-design.
This project, funded by the Digital Harbor Foundation, seeks to motivate greater engagement with HCD in government by co-creating aspirational visions of a California civil service that regularly and easily learns and innovates with people.
In our grant application we promised, "We will collaboratively craft a compelling vision of a future in which using HCD and inclusion of customer voices in policy and decision-making is standard practice.”
Methods
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Collective imagination
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Participatory co-design
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Future scenario development
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Participatory Experiential Futures
Deliverables
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Five immersive futures workshops in five counties across California
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Case studies of how co-design could be adopted by state government
Results
Rich conversations between community groups about tech and non-tech possibilities for more participatory methods in civic partnerships
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Ridiculously Hopeful Futures
Based in my dissertation work, I purposefully use 'ridiculous' to give people permission to be hopeful about change.
Participatory Imagination Sessions
I created workshops for stakeholders connected to safety-net benefits in California to imagine better futures for government.
Synthesized into Two Core Hopes
Across the discussions in the workshops, two core tenets were clear: it will be routine to involve people and to be innovative.
Separated into Two Distinct Visions
We also identified two core differences to explore through futures: new technologies v. new processes to facilitate co-design in civics?
User Testing Our Futures with Friends
This was a very helpful step. To our surprise, one scenario was too serious, and the other was delightfully joyful.
Workshops: A Portal to the Future
Our Participatory Experiential Futures workshops invited partners to step into two futures and engage in participatory activities.
Scenario 1: Alexa for User Research
Our first immersive provocation was a 'tech demo' of a fictional future product that would speak up for constituents in all government meetings.
Scenario 2: Celebrating Co-Design
The second scenario jumped to 20 years from today, celebrating the impact co-design in gov't has had and inviting more work.
Results: Five Workshops in Five Counties
140 government partners (workforce training, community centers, SNAP and EFT, etc) spent a day in their California county, immersed in thinking about the futures they could build.
Impact: Optimism for What's Next
Actively engaging gov't partners in a futures experience served to build new connections in the present.