‘New’ media and algorithmic rules underlying emerging technologies present particular challenges in fieldwork. The opacity of their design, and, sometimes, their real or perceived status as ‘not quite here yet’ – makes speaking about these challenging in the field. In this paper, we suggest that there is promise and potential in using vignettes and scenarios from fictionalised accounts of the uses of emerging and new technologies, drawing upon data from a three-wave citizens’ council on data-driven media personalisation. We situate our paper within the methodological approaches seen in scholarship in user centric algorithm studies (Siles, 2023; Swart, 2021; Hargottai et al, 2021) and design futuring within HCI (Dunne and Raby 2013; Lindley and Coulton 2015). We outline the empirical case study of embedding vignettes within our citizens councils. We argue, first, that vignettes and scenarios help make ‘new’ technologies and often abstract algorithms more concrete, thereby drawing out lived experiences of the social dynamics of new media. Second, we suggest that vignettes and scenarios, by centring unknown others in the narrative, help draw out users’ normative reflections on what good looks like in contemporary datafied societies.