ProtoPolicyAsia

Empowering local communities and Government in Malaysia in addressing social issues in ageing and disabilities

Month: May 2019

Speculative Design for Policy-Making Workshop

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ProtoPolicyAsia team successfully conducted a two one-day workshop on Introducing Speculative Design for Policy-Making on April 29th and May 2nd in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A total number of 44 participants attended the workshops and they were from various government agencies and representatives from community-based organisations and non-government organisations.

Workshop introduction by Dr Yong Min Hooi of Sunway University.

At the beginning of the workshop, participants were given a brief background on the research aims followed by watching the Speculative Design animation video as a brief introduction to speculative design.

Dr Lim Shiang Cheng from United Nations University introducing the Sugar Neutraliser Prototype to stimulate the discussion for the Speculative Café session.

We had the Speculative Café in which participants sat in small groups of 3-5 with a facilitator to discuss the SD concepts using the Sugar Neutraliser prototype that was created in previous ImaginAging workshops. After a short break, participants worked on one of the main pillars in SD; problem ideation/definition. Here, participants reviewed each issue with a specific time frame and finding specific themes and moving onto fast prototyping for solutions.

Group work session using Speculative Design in identifying short-term, mid-term, and long-term problems.
Group work on problem framing stage using Speculative Design.

They were reminded of the categories which were featured in the video, which were “Possible”, “Plausible”, “Probable”, and “Preferable” in providing a solution for their identified problem.

Group work on solution testing stage in deriving to a prototype.

What’s next?

We will host a two-day “Champions Workshop” to be held at Sunway University on July 1st & 2nd. The aim is to train the participants specific details on speculative design and how to be a successful facilitator.

To enable them to practice what they have learned, the “Champions” will run a co-designing workshop with community members on July 3rd. This is also to be held in Sunway University.

More details to follow and for more information please contact Liza (lizaht[at]sunway.edu.my / 60137678897) and Dr Yong (mhyong[at]sunway.edu.my / 03-7491 8622 ext 7165).