Reimagining the Now - Gillian Russell, Garnet Hertz, Craig Badke

Reimagining the Now is a custom card set designed by Garnet Hertz, Gillian Russell and Craig Badke to highlight how existing technological infrastructures can be re-imagined and re-designed around different sets of cultural values. This card set features a deck of 52 custom cards with a tuck box and a custom play mat. It is a continuation of Hertz's Critical Making Design Process Cards merged with the workshop methods of Russell and Badke.

As of October 2019, his card set has been beta tested in workshops at Emily Carr University of Art and Design (May 2019), Simon Fraser University (May 2019), and Harvey Mudd College (October 2019). If you are interested in having this workshop given at your institution, please contact us.

Details of the released card set will be documented here in December 2019.

Version 1.0 (Beta)

• Print Production Files
  • 52 Card Fronts - Reimagining the Now - Version 1.0 (May 2019) - PDF File (13.6 MB, 7.62 cm x 7.62 cm / 3" x 3" trimmed size)
  • Card Back - Reimagining the Now - Version 1.0 (May 2019) - PDF File (265 KB, 7.62 cm x 7.62 cm / 3" x 3" trimmed size)
  • Tuck Box - Reimagining the Now - Version 1.0 (May 2019) - PDF File (384 KB)
  • Play Mat - Reimagining the Now - Version 1.0 (May 2019) - PDF File (1.2 MB, 121.92 cm x 60.96 cm / 24" x 48")
  • (52 Cards and Tuck Box printed on 14pt 2cs paper in an edition of 10)
• Instructions:
  • STEP 1: EXPLODE INFRASTRUCTURE. Select and place one Infrastructure card in the center of the circle on the left of the Play Mat. Discuss and write down:
    1. All the social, political, power, cultural, and environmental circumstances of this infrastructure's construction and use as well as its unintended consequences.
    2. What does this infrastructure afford, how has it changed the world around us? How has it changed us, our relationships to one another, our patterns of behaviour?
    3. Hint: use the provided prompts on the Play Mat to assist your discussion.
       • Play Mat prompts adapted from "Do Artifacts Have Ethics?" by L.M. Sarcasas: What sort of person does the use of this technology make of me? // What habits does the use of this technology instill? // How does the use of this technology affect my experience of time? // How does the use of this technology affect my experience of place? // How does the use of this technology affect how I relate to other people? // How does the use of this technology affect how I relate to the world around me? // What practices does the use of this technology cultivate? // What practices does the use of this technology displace? // What does the use of this technology encourage me to notice? // What does the use of this technology encourage me to ignore? // What was required of other human beings so that I might be able to use this technology? // What was required of other creatures so that I might be able to use this technology? // What was required of the earth so that I might be able to use this technology? // Does the use of this technology bring me joy? // Does the use of this technology social arouse anxiety? // How does this technology empower me? At whose expense? // What feelings does the use of this technology generate in me toward others? // Can I imagine living without this technology? Why, or why not? // How does this technology encourage me to allocate my time? // Could the resources used to acquire and use this technology be better deployed? // Does this technology automate or outsource labor or responsibilities that are morally essential? // What desires does the use of this technology generate? // What desires does the use of this technology dissipate? // What limits does the use of this technology impose upon me? // What limits does my use of this technology impose upon others? // What does my use of this technology require of others who would (or must) interact with me? // What assumptions about the world does the use of this technology tacitly encourage? // What knowledge has the use of this technology disclosed to me about myself? // What knowledge has the use of this technology disclosed to me about others? // What possibilities for action does this technology present? Is it good that these actions are now possible? // What possibilities for action does this technology foreclose? Is it good that these actions are no longer possible? // How does the use of this technology shape my vision of a good life? Is it good to have this knowledge? // What are the potential harms to myself, others, or the world that might result from my use of this technology? // Upon what systems, technical or human, does my use of this technology depend? Are these systems just? // Does my use of this technology encourage me to view others as a means to an end? // What risks will my use of this technology entail for others? Have they consented? // Can the consequences of my use of this technology be undone? Can I live with those consequences? // Does my use of this technology make it easier to live as if I had no responsibilities toward my neighbor? // Can I be held responsible for the actions which this technology enables? // Does this technology require me to think more or less?
  • STEP 2: EXPAND VALUES. Write your new infrastruture (found in brackets) on the Play Mat. Place two Values cards in the centre of the Play Mat. What do these values mean? Use the space below the cards on the Play Mat to write out ideas to unpack what each of the values mean.
  • STEP 3: REIMAGINE THE NOW. Use the right hand space on the Play Mat to design a new digital infrastructure based on your new value set. Propose a design where technology does not only serve the value of making things faster or more efficient, but instead focuses significantly on human experience and life itself, utilizing your 2 New World values as its main drivers. Use the right hand space on the Play Mat to map, sketch, and write down a brief description of how your new system works.