Exploring New Technology’s Meaning for a Sustainable Future …
337
2 Study Design
The CSFP method combines the SFP approach with game mechanics inspired by
the game “For the Queen” by Roberts (2019). It is one of the most prominent games
leading players in a collaborative storytelling process: Every player in turn has to
answer a question and the next player has to build on the previous contributions with
their answer. In this way, a shared understanding of imaginary places, people and
problems is created, taking on a dynamic of its own.
In “For the Queen”, the questions are printed on cards and drawn randomly. For
our purposes, it was important for a clear story to emerge, so questions based on
those used by Wu (2013) were sorted into 8 phases (“The Seven Point Plot” by Algis
Budrys (Johnson 2011) plus an extra step focusing on technology). In addition to
this, questions with the function of increasing the immersion into the imagined world
were added.
In our previous work, the questions were posed and order was enforced by a
facilitator (“game master”). This smoothed and optimized the story’s flow, allowing
us to fluidly tailor the questions to the emergent input from the participants as well
as to set the atmosphere. The biggest change in this study was the substitution of
this person with question cards and written instructions. This was done in order to
allow hosting several 5-person groups in parallel to fit the offering into the university’s operating mode, with one to two instructors per course offering. Also, further
exercises to bridge the gap between science-fiction story and real-world realizations
were added.
This offering was tested with 13 master’s students of technology management
and engineering specializations at Stuttgart University. They must take part in 3–
6 practical courses as part of their studies. These usually last two hours and are
intended to connect their theoretical studies to real-world applications. We offered
the workshop in November 2019 as one of these, however, scheduled for seven hours.
12 students chose this offering and another one was allocated to it. They ranged from
21 to 27 years of age, 85% of them being male and 15% female. The majority was
studying technology management (77%), but mechanical engineering (15%) and
energy technology (8%) were also represented. Because technology management
students have to complete more of these courses, this cannot be said to be indicative
of different amounts of interest in the offering.
Data was collected using mixed methods. In order to capture the informationdense storytelling process, it was recorded on audio, transcribed and analyzed using
inductively generated categories. This approach was chosen because this was the
first, explorative instance of using this format. To evaluate how the students received
the offering and perceived its connections to sustainability, a quantitative survey was
conducted at the end of the workshop. Here, participants rated how given statements
applied to them on a scale on one (“applies completely”) to six (“definitely does not
apply”), with the additional option of “I do not know”.
337
2 Study Design
The CSFP method combines the SFP approach with game mechanics inspired by
the game “For the Queen” by Roberts (2019). It is one of the most prominent games
leading players in a collaborative storytelling process: Every player in turn has to
answer a question and the next player has to build on the previous contributions with
their answer. In this way, a shared understanding of imaginary places, people and
problems is created, taking on a dynamic of its own.
In “For the Queen”, the questions are printed on cards and drawn randomly. For
our purposes, it was important for a clear story to emerge, so questions based on
those used by Wu (2013) were sorted into 8 phases (“The Seven Point Plot” by Algis
Budrys (Johnson 2011) plus an extra step focusing on technology). In addition to
this, questions with the function of increasing the immersion into the imagined world
were added.
In our previous work, the questions were posed and order was enforced by a
facilitator (“game master”). This smoothed and optimized the story’s flow, allowing
us to fluidly tailor the questions to the emergent input from the participants as well
as to set the atmosphere. The biggest change in this study was the substitution of
this person with question cards and written instructions. This was done in order to
allow hosting several 5-person groups in parallel to fit the offering into the university’s operating mode, with one to two instructors per course offering. Also, further
exercises to bridge the gap between science-fiction story and real-world realizations
were added.
This offering was tested with 13 master’s students of technology management
and engineering specializations at Stuttgart University. They must take part in 3–
6 practical courses as part of their studies. These usually last two hours and are
intended to connect their theoretical studies to real-world applications. We offered
the workshop in November 2019 as one of these, however, scheduled for seven hours.
12 students chose this offering and another one was allocated to it. They ranged from
21 to 27 years of age, 85% of them being male and 15% female. The majority was
studying technology management (77%), but mechanical engineering (15%) and
energy technology (8%) were also represented. Because technology management
students have to complete more of these courses, this cannot be said to be indicative
of different amounts of interest in the offering.
Data was collected using mixed methods. In order to capture the informationdense storytelling process, it was recorded on audio, transcribed and analyzed using
inductively generated categories. This approach was chosen because this was the
first, explorative instance of using this format. To evaluate how the students received
the offering and perceived its connections to sustainability, a quantitative survey was
conducted at the end of the workshop. Here, participants rated how given statements
applied to them on a scale on one (“applies completely”) to six (“definitely does not
apply”), with the additional option of “I do not know”.