2024 || Design Project
Mentor: Baharati Bahar, Oscar Tamico, Kristina Anderson
"Little Twin" is a speculative children's book from the year 02038 that uses storytelling to provoke reflection on current technology trends and future societal challenges. Through an experiential exhibition, time travelers from the future presented the book alongside personal letters from visitors' future (grand)children, building emotional connections to distant futures.
Children’s books from the future
Children inherit tomorrow's tech-dominated world, yet we ignore long-term impacts like data privacy and digital twins. Speculative children's books make complex futures tangible, sparking urgent reflection today.
Why?
We staged a time-travel scenario from the year 02038 where visitors sat in a cozy reading corner, read the "Little Twin" book, and opened a letter written by their future (grand)child. The story used simple metaphors and moral lessons to talk about data and technology in daily life. After reading, visitors filled two sticker matrices: one about how well they understood the future world in the story, and one about how much it felt connected to their current lives.
Approach
Visitors understood future tech better and cared more about tomorrow's world. Children's books proved effective for complex issues via metaphors; future-child letters built emotional connection.sparking critical reflection on current practices' long-term impact. Study noted story content needs sharper speculation/representation for maximum impact.
Results
