E-MAHINASYON is an exhibition of future scenarios. As a collection of design fictions, it aims to spark discussion about the social, cultural, and ethical implications of emerging technologies in the Philippines through design and storytelling.
Having worked in the local tech scene when I was young, I've always lamented how there seemed to be a lack of critical tech discourse in the country, even if we're so immersed in tech. I'd constantly encounter headlines about tech's negative impacts on Filipinos (i.e. exposure to disinformation, labor exploitation, social media addiction), but I would barely hear these issues being discussed by my peers and colleagues, who seemed so focused on technological progress. I believe this lack of critical consciousness needs to be addressed in order to break away from an oppressive status quo.
I interviewed two groups for this project.The first group consisted of Filipino professionals who have at least one year of experience working in the tech industry. . I chose these people to be my respondents because I believe that they play active roles in shaping technological innovation in the country; additionally, they are also a group I have easy access to thanks to years of experience in the local tech scene. Their real first names were replaced by psuedonyms for this website.The second group consisted of Filipino professionals who were deemed to have expertise in understanding emerging technologies, along with their social and ethical implications. These experts came from various fields (e.g. industry, academia, the arts), which exposed me to a curated range of informed perspectives. Expertise needs to be shown by published proof of work; for instance, a startup founder’s expertise would be verified by press work they’ve done (e.g. interviews), while a researcher’s experience would be verified by their list of publications. Most of them agreed to have their names shared publically.
The two groups experienced different interview processes.The first group of tech workers expereinced an interview based on The Ethnographic Futures Research format, wherein they describe their projected images of the future — or in other words, the potential changes they want, fear, and expect in their sociotechnical system.Meanwhile, the second group of tech experts responded to a discussion guide based on methods from the Berkeley College of Computing, Data Science, and Society's Human Context & Ethics Toolkit, which help analyze phenomena (i.e. technologies, institutions, problems) in the datafied world. I wanted to pursue this approach too because I believe it is vital to get a sense of the country’s general technological landscape; the personal visions gathered from EFR would be enriched when situated in this context.
All participants across both groups signed an informed consent form at the beginning of the study, which explained clearly who would have access to the data and how it would be shared. The identities of tech workers (from the first group) were kept anonymous, while tech experts consented to having their names publicized (unless they specifically asked to remain anonymous as well).
As a solo researcher-creator, I can confidently say that this project wouldn't have been possible without the help of AI tools (I really needed the help!). I used ChatGPT to help in summarizing interview excerpts (for easier writing), some creative brainstorming, and turning research findings into flavorful narratives. I used DALL-E and Pika to generate all of the visuals featured in this website.
Yes! I'm a creative at heart, so I'd love to make more scenarios and stories based on the project's research findings. I would also love to convey these findings and stories in a more accessible format; unfortunately, the website still isn't the most accessible format for most of the Filipino population.
Sure! You can read the final paper here. You can also watch a simulation of my thesis defense here.
I'm Bianca Aguilar, a supersenior in Ateneo de Manila University majoring in AB Interdisciplinary Studies, with tracks in Information Design and Computer Science: Programming. You can learn more about me at my personal website: bianca.digital