Useful FictioN™ is the deliberate blending of narrative and nonfiction in packages that range from books and short stories to bespoke illustrations, videos, and graphic novellas.
WHATEVER THE FORM,
THERE ARE THREE PRIMARY ATTRIBUTES
THAT MAKE USEFUL FICTION™
SO USEFUL
Understanding
First, it packages new information within the oldest, and most effective, technology of communication. The use of narrative dates back to humans’ earliest days around a fire in a cave (while Powerpoint is only 30 years old), so it is not surprising that our brains are literally wired to take in story. Studies from fields extending from cognitive science and psychology to national security research finding that such “synthetic experiences” are actually even more powerful influencers than even the most “canonical academic sources” on not just public understanding but policymaker actions.
It is particularly useful for complex or new concepts. Understanding a new trend or technology is tough enough. It is all the more difficult when it is something that the targeted audience has no deep background or current frame of reference for it. In such situations, we can be aided by guides in a sense, imagined characters who can lead us into simulated versions of our world. We can then “experience” what the research is actually telling us, as well as “feel” out its effects.
“Entertaining and informative and, through the narrative settings and characters who share research ideas, a reader will be able to learn about the transformative potential some technologies have and how they could shape future conflicts.” – IFL Science
MEDIa ON USEFUL FICTION™
- BBC World – The World This Weekend
- “Startup Helps Officers Explain Future Warfare Through Storytelling” National Defense magazine
- “The True Story of Using Fiction to Enhance Risk Intelligence” , AIRIP
- Useful Fiction’s work featured on NPR’s Morning Edition
- Thinking The Unthinkable With Useful Fiction” Study on Useful Fiction for Canadian military
- Feature on Useful Fiction’s work in Le Figaro, the oldest French newspaper
- IBBC‘s Samira Ahmed about “Useful Fiction.”; Recorded on board the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (Code: AFF20#POSTEVENT! )
- Unconventional Wisdom podcast
- JANES, Fiction Intelligence (FICINT™)
- Information Professionals Association Podcast
- US Navy’s Proceedings magazine on the value of Useful Fiction for analysis, explanation and prediction
- Mitre report highlighting the value of FICINT™
- US Army’s Futures Command “Mad Scientist” project on Useful Fiction
- US Army’s “Convergence” podcast
- US Special Operations Command
- Strategic News Service
- The Great Conversation about “The Stories that Influence Leaders”
- Interview on ABC News “Government Matters”
-
“How Useful Fiction makes facts compelling” British Ministry of Defense
- “What Winning Looks Like?” Useful Fiction Testimony to House Armed Services Committee
- Radioflash! Podcast
Action
Secondly, creative content places information within a framework that is more likely to be acted upon. FICINT™ engages both the left and right sides of the brain, enhancing understanding and creating emotional connection. Put simply, effective narrative provokes an emotion and that emotion then provokes action. We are all heroes or victims in our own life stories, and the same plays out in the connections we make to the scenes and characters in synthetic environments. FICINT™ narratives allow us to leverage that all-too-human inclination to drive change, be it the fear of avoiding a depicted “nightmare scenario” or the desire to have real something experienced only in simulation.
Connection
Third, we connect through story, which makes the work more likely to be read and more likely to be shared than traditional forms. One of the biggest challenges for any project, especially those wrestling with future trends, is how much is competing for our attention today. People are more likely to read an engrossing story than a white paper and rarely recommend to others a good PowerPoint to read on vacation.
“The aim of the tales, described as “useful fiction”, is to spark discussion and creative insight which might challenge established thought.” – Forces
