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Micro-SFP (µSFP) describes an ultra-short
science-fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...
story written for the specific purpose of capturing inventive ideas for product or service innovations. It is a combination of three concepts, first ''science-fiction prototyping'' (a methodology based on writing fictional stories to instantiate and test ideas for new products, businesses or political systems), second
flash fiction Flash fiction is a fictional work of extreme brevity that still offers character and plot development. Identified varieties, many of them defined by word count, include the six-word story; the 280-character story (also known as " twitterature"); ...
(a genre that advocates writing stories as small as just 6 words) and finally,
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and
texting Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/laptops, or another type of compatible compute ...
(messaging and social networking in less than 140 / 160 characters).


Roots

As a tool to influence the future, µSFP has similarities to
fables Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular moral ...
,
parables A parable is a succinct, didactic story, in prose or verse, that illustrates one or more instructive lessons or principles. It differs from a fable in that fables employ animals, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature as characters, w ...
,
anecdotes An anecdote is "a story with a point", such as to communicate an abstract idea about a person, place, or thing through the concrete details of a short narrative or to characterize by delineating a specific quirk or trait. Occasionally humorous, ...
,
sayings A saying is any concisely written or spoken expression that is especially memorable because of its meaning or style. Sayings are categorized as follows: * Aphorism: a general, observational truth; "a pithy expression of wisdom or truth". ** Adag ...
,
proverbs A proverb (from la, proverbium) is a simple and insightful, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and use formulaic speech, formulaic language. A proverbial phra ...
and maxims in that it seeks to capture and communicate an inspirational vision. In literary terms, it is similar to what the English speaking world refer to as
flash fiction Flash fiction is a fictional work of extreme brevity that still offers character and plot development. Identified varieties, many of them defined by word count, include the six-word story; the 280-character story (also known as " twitterature"); ...
(sometimes called micro-fiction, nano-fiction, sudden fiction or postcard-fiction), or in Latin-America microrrelato (or ficcione), in France;
nouvelles Nouvelles ( wa, Novele) is a town of Wallonia and a district of the municipality of Mons, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It was a municipality until the fusion of the Belgian municipalities The fusion of the Belgian municipalities ...
, China minute-long (or smoke-long) and in Japan
Haibun is a prosimetric literary form originating in Japan, combining prose and haiku. The range of ''haibun'' is broad and frequently includes autobiography, diary, essay, prose poem, short story and travel journal. History The term "''haibun''" was ...
. However, given that µSFP was initially devised to capture technological product
innovations Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entit ...
it was more closely connected to technology platforms such as ''T(ext)-Fiction'' (160 characters ~30 words) or '' Twitter Lit'' (140 characters or ~25 words). The initial motivation for developing a shorter variant of
science fiction prototyping Science fiction prototyping (SFP) refers to the idea of using science fiction to describe and explore the implications of futuristic technologies and the social structures enabled by them. Similar terms are design fiction, speculative design, an ...
was to provide a type of shorthand for capturing
ideas In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being ...
(and the context) quickly, such as in a
brain-storming Brainstorming is a group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members. In other words, brainstorming is a situation where a grou ...
meeting. µSFP was first proposed by Anasol Peña Rios, a researcher at the
University of Essex The University of Essex is a public university, public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass university, plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the an ...
, who used the methodology in support of a 2013 UK event for K12 students called ''The New Creatives''.


Examples

The most widely cited example of flash fiction is
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century fic ...
's classic six word story " For sale: baby shoes, never worn". Within the science and engineering community, the Creative Science Foundation has run a number of events that have produced examples of µSFPs such as from the New Creatives 2014 in Colchester "''Jack fall asleep in the sun. His smart sun protection sensor woke him up with an alarm & soft vibration. He avoids sun strokes!''" or from Creative Science 2014 in Shanghai "''Zoe, you've been my life-long friend on SentiBook; today the news feed reports most social network friends don't exist, are you real?''. The first example was written by a k12 student with a very practical eye on technical
innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity ...
whereas the second example was written by a researcher involved in advanced AI, pondering on the possibilities of it achieving the capability to masquerade as people, either openly or surreptitiously, opening up intriguing, if disturbing consequences for human society and relationships.


Methodology

The core methodology of µSFP is the application of flash fiction as shorthand for describing innovative ideas for science, engineering, business and socio-political systems. Generally there are three components to a µSFP; the technology, a simple action and a person. Most literature on µSFP advocates the following steps for writing a µSFP: * Start by identifying the technology, process or service * Identify a character (try use a very short person name) * Then create at plot (events that make up the story – should include an inflection point and a benefit) Because of its technical roots,
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
sized µSFPs (140 characters / 25 words) are more common. It is widely acknowledged that writing such ultra-short stories is difficult, so the general advice is to start big, then reduce it. As with larger science fiction prototyping, ideas can come from existing research, fiction or from people's imaginations. Adding a protagonist and context that illustrates the technology in use is an important feature of a µSFP since such
prototypes A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to ...
not just describe ideas, but test them by illustrating usage. µSFPs have numerous uses such as teaching
English as a foreign language English as a second or foreign language is the use of English by speakers with different native languages. Language education for people learning English may be known as English as a second language (ESL), English as a foreign language (EF ...
, motivating pre-university students to take up
STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...
studies and producing real-world technical innovations."''Creative Science: Injecting Innovation into the IT Industry''", Oxford Journals, ITNOW (Summer 2015) 57 (2): p52-55


See also

*
Creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...
*
Futures studies Futures studies, futures research, futurism or futurology is the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social and technological advancement, and other environmental trends, often for the purpose of exploring how people will li ...


References

{{Reflist Innovation Science fiction terminology