Hyperrhiz 27

In the Middle of It All: Collective Futuring in the Panhandle of Nebraska

Ash Eliza Smith
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Sam Bendix
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Daniel Lichtman
St. John‘s University

Citation: Smith, Ash Eliza, Sam Bendix and Daniel Lichtman. “In the Middle of It All: Collective Futuring in the Panhandle of Nebraska.” Hyperrhiz: New Media Cultures, no. 27, 2024. doi:10.20415/hyp/027.a02

Abstract: We explore how worldbuilding, speculative fiction, and co-creation can shape collective futures, imagining new possibilities for community-driven innovation. Our project, The Middle, is a prototype for a digital platform—a story engine—where all communities, regardless of size or location, can archive their hopes and dreams through interactive tools like 3D collage, storytelling, pen drawings, and audio recordings. The platform, a game-like environment, invites audiences to navigate these creative contributions at their own pace, fostering an inclusive and collaborative space for imagination and action.

Keywords: interactive narrative worldbuilding, speculative design, co-design, spatial storytelling, generative AI.

View Project: In the Middle of It All: Collective Futuring in the Panhandle of Nebraska

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Artists' Statement

“How can we build a future together when being in the same room is difficult?” The Middle explores this question by addressing the challenges of health and well-being in communities where populations are spread out across wide rural areas and stigma around Substance Use Disorder (SUD) persists. We developed this iteration of the project through a series of worldbuilding workshops in Nebraska’s panhandle, involving participants such as those impacted by SUD, after-school robotics club members, healthcare workers, and local business owners. Participants envisioned speculative designs through these sessions to reimagine their towns’ public works projects, community health clinics, and crafted narratives that connect geographically dispersed members to support each other’s mental health. The resulting prototype is an interactive online platform where communities can share and develop ideas through voice memos, stories, and speculative designs. Participants use the platform to create and explore speculative ideas, incorporating 3D scans of landscapes, communal spaces, and objects alongside drawings, found images, and sketches. This story engine enables the creation of interactive 3D environments accessible online, both as a repository for past ideas and as a space for future contributions. Future versions aim to expand this living repository into a tool for any collective to archive and upvote ideas, creating a dynamic ecosystem for shaping collective well-being and reimagining what is possible in physical and virtual spaces. Ultimately, The Middle seeks to empower any community that would like to use the platform for any reason to envision and shape their collective futures.

Credits

Co-created with community contributions and Ash Eliza Smith, Sam Bendix, Daniel Lichtman, Alex Gee, Sam Lawton, Julia McQuillan, and Lisa Pytlik-Zillig, with support from the Speculative Devices Lab within the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts. Funded by the Rural Drug Addiction Research Center at UNL.

This project and experience was made possible by Nebraska Tobacco Settlement Biomedical Research Development Funds and supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health and the Rural Drug Addiction Research (RDAR) Center (COBRE: P20GM130461). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the University of Nebraska.

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