Workshop: Government Memos From the Near Future
This interactive workshop uses present-day government artifacts (e.g., trademark application forms, benefit eligibility letter) where a crucial detail has been changed to evoke a possible real-world near-future scenario and spark the policy imaginary.
This Black Mirror-like exercise encourages participants to think through plausible versions of the near future in which our governments will need to take action, adapt, communicate, and create responsive and proactive policy.
Using design fiction – the practice of creating tangible and evocative near future prototypes to help discover and represent the consequences of decision-making – the workshop hosts will bring three examples of mundane government documents where something is slightly altered to evoke a divergence from our present.
Participants will produce a briefing note response to a possible, or probable near future, using familiar, tried and tested formats for communicating storytelling government as a tool for making a possible future feel real.
This workshop is open to everyone, regardless of creative writing or design experience and irrespective of sector: artists, policymakers, technologists, and decision-makers may appreciate this simple way to discuss complex near future issues.
No registration is required for this workshop. Simply click on this link on 21 March to take part in the workshop: meet.google.com/mgj-vtjc-arp
Nisa Malli
Team Lead, Delivery Policy, Government of Canada / Canadian Digital Service
Dan Monafu
Senior Policy Advisor, Government of Canada / Canadian Digital Service