“Some things should just be left like they were in the stone age”
What would be an authentic Estonian souvenir in a future where biometric data and surveillance will be the new norm ?
- Course name: Speculative Design: Rethinking security in
Estonia in 2051 - Timeline: 5 weeks
- Team: Birna Sísí Jóhannsdóttir & Tarmo Kiuru
- Mentors: Nesli Hazal Akbulut & Mert Oktay
Kickstarting the project
We went through an intense two weeks period of research, observations and interviews. We did a STEEP analysis of the past and present trends in Estonia in order to speculate about the future of security. Being a team of two very different individuals, one local Estonian and other a student from Iceland helped with seeing Estonia from dissimilar angles.
It became clear how much has changed in just 30 years. With Estonia’s Restoration of Independence in 1991 where internet was still in its infancy, poverty was significant and the challenge of having to build up a nation from scratch. Today might have seemed like a utopia back then.
Estonia is now one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world where digitalisation and the need for privacy is a hot topic. Estonia’s geographical location as well as its history and technological advances make it a boiling pot for many different cultures and the line between what is considered typical Estonian or simply just European is always blurring.
The topic of COVID-19 also can not be avoided and it has been shown that people are seeking to slowing down. The pandemic left a deep mark on the promotion of Estonian national culture. As the sale of handicrafts was largely built on foreign tourists, many companies and artisans had to reorient to other professions. However, self-isolation also had a positive side — many people became interested in traditional handicrafts out of “boredom”.
Continuing the research phase we went to Tammsare Service point which is where people go to get documents such as passports, visa’s and ID cards. In Estonia ID cards are mandatory, making it difficult to conduct daily tasks with out it. As expected when arriving, the environment was not very friendly and they were extremely busy. To our surprise the officer that guided us through the building gave us a really important insight into their job. One of the key findings for us was the need for a human element. As she said herself
“Police wants to automate the whole system fully. In my opinion that would be impossible. There are cases where you just
cannot avoid the human element.”
Another thing she mentioned concerned the development of the automation. She told us that the next step towards a more automated system was the usage of biometric data. In general she seemed positive about how the system works today but when discussing the future she gave us an important point of view when she said:
““We are getting very spoiled, we are too lazy to even put in 4 letters for a pin code. Some things should just be left like they were in the stone age”
To conclude our research phase we did an online survey where we asked both local Estonian’s as well as expats how they experience the e-services in Estonia. What we found was that there was a contrast between the two groups. The expats were a lot more positive towards it than the Estonians. Estonian’s demanded more efficiency. As the police officer in Tammsare pointed out maybe Estonian’s are becoming too spoiled after all.
Ideation phase
Starting the ideation phase we focused on our key findings which were automation, handcraft, human element and biometric data. Based on our resarch and with the help of Bootlegging mixing exercise we came up with our “what if” question which is:
“What if biometric data would be the new ID card?”
Given that the ID cards are mandatory in Estonia and conducting daily tasks are impossible. We started speculating about possible scenarios the biometric data could have. We used the ideation method Future wheels diagram to pinpoint the positive and negative consequences. Thoughts such as:
- Estonia becoming a pioneer in the field
- Attraction of foreign crowds interested in biometric data
- Estonia seen as the capital of surveillance
- People denying giving out their biometrics
all led us to ideate about a possible souvenir from the future of 2051.
The story of Free Island Vormsi
The idea of having biometrics in laws led us to speculate about a commune which would deny this new social structure and distance themselves from regular Estonian society. Communes exist all over the world where they usually share a common believe in something, in our case that would be the rebellion against surveillance.
We decided to imagine a single island since Estonia has many islands around the coast making it easier to create an isolated society. To illustrate it we pictured a society in the island Vormsi which is just outside of the capital, Tallinn.
We tried to speculate how the community could be both rebellious while at the same time accepted and respected by the locals of Estonia. With increasing automation and usage of AI there becomes a space for trends that seek going back in time. We see this today with increasing interest in analog things such as cameras and vinyl records.
Estonia is known for their handcrafting skills, with the Estonian Academy of Arts in the frontlines of handcraft departments such as blacksmithing, textile, ceramics etc. In our future the handcrafting skill is becoming more and more rare with a growing number of people studying IT and anything related to computer science.
Our idea then started to develop around souvenirs that the inhabitants would develop. Something that holds on to the Estonian handcraft while at the same time harmonize with the need for privacy and security of one’s biometric data data.
Our final outcome for the souvenirs were knitted jewelry of the future that would both serve an aesthetics purpose but also as protection for one’s biometrics. The protection would be the users choice. These souvenirs would then eventually go viral.
To conclude our research we created an article from the future that would write about the story of the Free Island Vormsi from the global perspective. Here is the link.
The Island would be a tourist attraction and therefore would not cause any trouble to the regular Estonian society. The question is though what would happen if the viral souvenirs would become the new norm and not just a trend? What if more people will seek for the lifestyle?
We see the idea of Free Island Vormsi as a basiss for a lot more speculations concerning various troubles that might accure in the future where digitalisation and automation rules everything. As the lovely police officer in Tammsare said: “Some things should just be left like they were in the stone age.”