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Editor’s Note: UX and Science Fiction

The topic of this special issue of UX magazine provides an occasion to explore perspectives on the future of technology, society, communication, and user interaction. The issue stems from guest editor Aaron Marcus’ lifelong interest in science fiction and user interface design (as evidenced by his childhood drawing of a “spaceman” shown below).

Astronaut with a weapon
Drawing by Aaron Marcus, age 10, Omaha, Nebraska, 1953

The issue specifically derives from the panel discussions organized by Aaron at the SIGCHI 1992 and CHI 1999 conferences, at which he invited science fiction authors to speculate on the future of human-computer interaction. Some of those authors (Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling) appear in these pages. Following up on his keynote lecture about UX in science fiction movies and television in 2011 at the Mensch und Komputer conference in Germany in 2012, Aaron self-published a free, downloadable ebook on the topic entitled The Past 100 Years of the Future: HCI in Science-Fiction Movies and Television and presented a tutorial on the topic at APCHI 2012 in Japan and CHI 2013 in Paris. He will again present the tutorial at DUXU/HCII 2 at DUXU/HCII 2013 in Las Vegas.

In recent years, similar books and journal articles about UX and science fiction have appeared. User experience researchers, designers, and others have shown renewed interest to analyze past examples of science fiction media and emerging examples, applying the critical skills of our profession to the implied or stated personas, use scenarios, technology platforms, and cultural/social contexts depicted in modern science fiction. These are exciting times for those interested in these developments and we are privileged to have many contributors to this worldwide effort represented in these pages.

In this issue of UX, we offer articles by several innovative and engaging authors:

Christina York conducts a field observation about user experience details in the movie Star Trek. Robert Grant considers the storytelling techniques of science fiction media. Patrick Purdy analyzes the back-and-forth linkage between user experience professionals and science fiction writers in advancing knowledge about technology and people. Alex Feinman comments on the nature of futuristic user interfaces from some classic successes and failures in science fiction media.

Gerry Gaffney and Masaaki Kurosu, detail the impact of pessimism and optimism in science fiction, helping us to be more sanguine about the future, if we have the courage to look at the warnings present in science fiction media. Tricia Flanagan explores the embodiment of high-technology concepts in wearables as fashion artifacts of the future.

Lastly, two well-known science fiction authors, Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling, provide lively, challenging, and just slightly outrageous speculations in interviews about science fiction, the uses of user experience, and what we might expect in the future.

The study of user experience in science fiction media, and science fiction in user experience documents, has a rich future. Join us as we explore this interaction in the multi-polar, multi-cultural, multi-platform, multi-context world of the future, as envisioned by past, present, and future writers, designers, and producers of the world’s science fictional user experiences.

Finally, I would like thank guest editor Aaron Marcus for sharing his enthusiasm for UX and sci-fi during the preparation of this issue.与我们共同探索作家、设计师和制片人缔造的多极、多元文化、多平台、多层背景的科幻小说世界。从科技到时尚,从用户体验设计到电影,科幻小说让我们窥探未来世界,或许这也是一种影响未来的方式。

文章全文为英文版작가, 디자이너, 프로듀서들이 구상하는 다극성, 다문화, 다중 플랫폼, 다중 상황의 공상과학 세계를 함께 탐구해보겠습니다. 과학기술에서 패션까지, UX 설계에서 영화까지, SF는 미래 엿보기이며, 미래에 영향을 주는 한 방식일 것입니다.

전체 기사는 영어로만 제공됩니다.Junte-se a nós na exploração do mundo multipolar, multicultural, multiplataforma, multicontexto da ficção científica idealizado por escritores, designers e produtores. Da tecnologia à moda, do projeto da experiência do usuário aos filmes, a ficção científica é um vislumbre do futuro e talvez uma forma de influenciá-lo.

O artigo completo está disponível somente em inglês.作家、デザイナー、プロデューサによって想定された、多極的、多文化的、マルチプラットフォーム、多背景的なSFの世界の探索に是非加わっていただきたい。テクノロジーからファッション、UXデザインから映画に至るまで、SFは未来を垣間見る機会であるとともに、未来に影響を与える機会でもあるだろう。

原文は英語だけになりますÚnase a nosotros en la exploración del mundo multipolar, multicultural, multiplataforma y multicontexto de la ciencia ficción de la manera que lo han imaginado los escritores, diseñadores y productores. Desde la tecnología hasta la moda, desde el diseño de UX hasta las películas, la ciencia ficción es un vistazo del futuro y quizás una forma de tener impacto sobre éste.

La versión completa de este artículo está sólo disponible en inglés.