From Nostalgia to Neostalgia: Imagining Healing Visions of Computing

Many people are fondly nostalgic about the technologies of their pasts, but what happens when we shift from nostalgia (longing for the past) to *neo*stalgia (longing for what could have been)? What can we learn and create—especially while working towards equitable futures? In this hands-on, speculative design workshop, participants will first reflect on their early experiences with technology through a visualization exercise. They will be encouraged to interrogate the social values—both beneficial and harmful—that exist within personally formative computing technologies. Next, participants will brainstorm alternate-reality computing artifacts from a personal, healing lens, that instead embody values they wish they could have seen—both socially and technologically. After sketching or free-writing about their speculative artifact, participants will opt-in to share them within small breakout groups, mentioning what experiences and values inspired them. Finally, the group will return for a reflective discussion.