Six Degrees of Speculation: Towards a Taxonomy of Temporality

Speculation is inherent in HCI methods and practices that seek to explore futures. Although speculative approaches are embedded in HCI, they are often associated with a lack of rigour, occupying an uncomfortable position between art and academia. Specifically, the relationship between time and speculation remains understudied. This workshop examines how temporal norms are constructed in speculative practices, aiming to bring together researchers, designers, and practitioners to explore how different temporal norms affect speculative work. Participants will develop an initial "Six Degrees of Speculation" taxonomy to help speculative artefacts function as boundary objects for interdisciplinary collaboration. Participants will engage in critical discussions, artefact analysis, and collaborative activities to address challenges, including interdisciplinary barriers and ethical considerations. The workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners who use speculative methods explicitly or implicitly. By facilitating interdisciplinary dialogue and developing a shared framework, we aim to advance speculative practices by encouraging nuanced approaches to envisioning futures, making temporal norms of speculation and their implications for the real world explicitly visible in design processes.