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Short abstract:

The anticipations of the digital futures of ageing populations are often based on ageist assumptions. Based on speculative design and futures workshops in Germany, Austria and the UK, we explore how we might open up futures making to different people and what we might learn from their responses.

Long abstract:

Who or what is able to claim the future is an exercise of power and a matter of social justice (Urry 2016). The future is not simply happening but is made now – through regimes of anticipation that shape our expectations, imaginaries, visions and hypes, and define what is thinkable and desirable (Poli 2017, Markham 2021). Current anticipations circulating about a datafied future are often determined by powerful social actors such as states or technology companies. The anticipations for datafied futures of ageing populations are—in addition—often based on ageist assumptions about the lives of older people. In this presentation, we explore how we might open up futures making to different people and what we might learn from their responses for the design of digital technologies, but also for our own research practice. Based on a series of speculative design and futures workshops with older adults, civil society organisations and civil servants in Germany, Austria and the UK, our analysis draws out how concepts of care and connectivity are imagined, what kinds of assumptions around older adults and technologies are being claimed and who or what stands to gain power and influence. We explore critical questions including tensions related to surveillance, autonomy, privacy, data ownership and inequalities.