The Quality of Speculation – A Scoping Review

In Human-Computer Interaction, speculative design is widely used to explore the opportunities and challenges of future technologies. However, the criteria that define a “good” speculation are scattered throughout the literature. This challenges the application and evaluation of speculative design especially in an academic context. Through a review of 63 publications on speculative design, design fiction, and critical design, we identified nine key qualities of speculations that can be grouped in three categories: speculative, discursive, and process. Speculative qualities (i.e., fictional, critical, socio-political) reflect the fundamental characteristics of speculative design. Discursive qualities (i.e., experienceable, thought-provoking) facilitate envisioning and debate. Process qualities (i.e., grounded, participative, reflected, playful) encourage an inclusive, responsible, scientifically based and creative approach to speculative design. We propose this as a descriptive taxonomy of qualities, which can serve as a starting point for the creation and evaluation of high-quality speculative designs in diverse contexts, including academic peer review.