The Cassandra Method: Dystopian Visions as a Basis for Responsible Design

Innovative technologies often have unforeseen negative consequences on an individual, societal, or environmental level. To minimize these, the Cassandra method aims to foresee such negative effects by systematically investigating dystopian visions. Starting with the activation of a (self-)critical m...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sarah Diefenbach, Daniel Ullrich
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-06-01
Series:Engineering Proceedings
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4591/68/1/2
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Innovative technologies often have unforeseen negative consequences on an individual, societal, or environmental level. To minimize these, the Cassandra method aims to foresee such negative effects by systematically investigating dystopian visions. Starting with the activation of a (self-)critical mindset, the next steps are collecting a maximum number of negative effects and assessing their relevance. Finally, the envisioned impairments are used to improve the product concepts in a responsible way. This paper broadly outlines the method, its applications during product development and research, and reports on experiences from an expert workshop.
ISSN:2673-4591