The first text this week focuses on the concept of material speculation in design research, which involves creating counterfactual artifacts that exist in our everyday world to critically inquire and explore alternative possibilities.

Now this sounds a bit complicated, so I'll try to simplify it a bit. Speculative design is an approach to design that explores hypothetical ideas, technological developments and societal changes that might occur in the future. It is an experimental process in which fictitious solutions, products or environments are developed to create a new approach and new perspectives.

In other words, one uses one's own imagination to play through theoretical ideas in alternative worlds and draw insights from them.

Two examples are given in the text:

• The Obscura C1, a camera in a concrete housing that has to be destroyed to access the photos.
• The mediated Body, a performance for interactive soundscapes based on touch.

The two examples invite us to question current standards and perceive ideas in a new light.

Personally, for once I am a little unsure what to do with the theory. The text is quite short and I would need more examples of application in which findings are also shown in order to be able to form my own opinion.

For now, I will keep the theme in mind to apply it in a future project to hopefully get more out of it.