Sustainability and the role of technology continues to be a strong and growing theme at CHI. The panel “Green Day” drew a large crowd of engaged people with lots of questions. In addition to some interesting work from Elaine Huang of Motorola, “Breaking the Disposable Technology Paradigm,” the panel also included a paper I co-authored on Green Homes research I conducted with Allison Woodruff: “A Bright Green Perspective on Sustainable Choices” (presented by Allison), and a summary of a recent survey conducted by Eli Blevis and grad students Will Odom, David Roedl, and Kristin Hanks: "Sustainable Millennials: Attitudes towards Sustainability and the Material Effects of Interactive Technologies."
In addition to these papers, I sat on a panel titled “Beyond the Hype: Sustainability and HCI” on which I presented “Hackers as Healers: Finding Inspiration for Sustainable Technology Design.” Here's a quick blurb on that work:
In addition to improving recycling methods and raising public awareness, we can most effectively address the problem of e-waste by positioning it as a design challenge, where a "design win" is far more than a compelling form factor. Tapping McDonough's work on cradle-to-cradle life-cycle design, this work asks how we can approach the design of electronics so that we've 'baked in' materials and configurations that facilitate a sustainable product lifecycle from the start. It takes as its inspiration inventive re-use and re-purposing strategies from consumers (via ethnographic research), the DIY movement, and a comparative look at different cultural understandings of embodiment and healing.
Other excellent panelists included:
Lisa P. Nathan, University of Washington, Host
Eli Blevis, Indiana University
Bill Tomlinson, UC Irvine
Phoebe Sengers, Cornell University
Batya Friedman, University of Washington, Discussant
John Thomas, IBM Research, Discussant
Congratulations to Will Odom for his First Place award in the Graduate Student Research Competition. His work "Personal Inventories: Toward Durable Human-Product Relationships" represents the kind of human-centered explorations that will become increasingly necessary for understanding how designers can find effective metaphors that enable sustainable practices.
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