Using design fictions as a tool for engaging citizens in debating future pervasive health systems and services

The benefits provided by health-related technologies are often counterbalanced by the societal, legal and ethical challenges connected with the pervasive monitoring of people, as necessitated by such technological interventions. Through the ProtoPolicy research project we explored the co-creation and use of design fictions as a tool for open debate of pervasive health systems. Design fictions were co-created and tested in a series of design workshops with community groups in the UK. A thematic analysis of a debate among older people on a smart home and assisted living design fiction highlighted societal and ethical issues relevant to personal and pervasive health system design. We conclude that ethics, like ‘usability’, may be usefully based on engagement with directly or indirectly implicated publics and should not be designed into innovation by experts alone.