Sustainable Transitions for HCI : Technologies, Fictions and Futures

Stead, Michael (2023) Sustainable Transitions for HCI : Technologies, Fictions and Futures. In: 2023 ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 2023-04-23 - 2023-04-28, Congress Center Hamburg (CCH).

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Abstract

Given the climate emergency, the growing environmental challenges that come with increased adoption of digital technologies are rightly beginning to come under greater scrutiny. Yet, it is not our devices nor systems that have led us into an era of unsustainability, but how we have continued to design them to deplete precious natural resources, generate copious amounts of carbon emissions and create mountains of obsolete technology. These harmful impacts are, for the most part, a symptom of the problematic design patterns and rhetoric persistently put forward by technology firms predicated on commercial gain and market growth. Our current technology research paradigm also actively contributes to these problems. In response to these critical issues, this short position paper argues for a new vision for HCI which transitions beyond purely human needs and places environmental and social sustainability firmly at its core. To do so, the paper harnesses Design Fiction and More-than-Human-Centred Design methods to outline a design futures model for facilitating Sustainable Transitions for HCI.