Understanding limits from a social ecological perspective

Abstract

The latest developments in the field of HCI have given rise to an increasing interest in issues pertaining to global warming, resource depletion and environmental degradation. Concern about such issues has contributed to give shape to the design space of Sustainable HCI (SHCI); a space whose boundaries are at times blurred. On the one hand, some, design "sustainable" information technology based on visions of the world that do not really question limits to continuous economic growth and, on the other hand, others embrace the design of information technology from stances that acknowledges limits (i.e. economic, ecological, energetic). This paper introduces the perspective of social ecology into SHCI. This perspective provides us with a core set of principles that makes us situate computing at the intersection of physical (natural) and moral (human) qualities of our human environment systems. As such it confronts us with choices to be made in the challenging years to come and invites us to argue about the very purpose of information technology in a world of limitations. KeywordsResilience, sustainable development, material-ecological and socio-semiotic dimensions, transactions, multi-forms of capital.

Regenerative computing

“…In their otherwise useful conclusion there is no hint of a vision: "The central-home message is that: we are not only part of our environment but we are our environment and we evolve together with it and vice-versa... [and]...Reflections about computing within limits might benefit from acknowledging that the relation between computing and the environment is 1) of a co-evolutionary nature, 2) presents a multidimensional structure, 3) is reflected in transactions between material and semiotic resources, 4) is, analytically speaking, better grasped with contextual analysis in a trans-disciplinary action research orientation. " [22] We believe that this LIMITS treatment of Transition does a disservice, both to Transition and a sustainable future. What a missed opportunity to inject the notion of a positive vision into the LIMITS lexicon.…”

“…These have included: reduced growth itself [37]; internet freedoms [19]; gender imposed [1]; or policy modelling [11]. Some of these identified limits question the nature of limits to the paradigm of Human Computer Interaction [22] or the human "needs and requirements" at the centre of design decision Human Centred Design [36].…”

“…Transition groups are great at helping people create visions of the future they'd like to see and then start taking steps towards it. " [9, p. 8] Despite such a strong statements, when Pargman and Joshi similarly described the Transition Town Movement as "striving toward alternative ways of living" and "the loci of social experimentation, learning and innovation that are key for exploring questions" [22], there was no mention of the vision or the deliberately positive approach. In their otherwise useful conclusion there is no hint of a vision: "The central-home message is that: we are not only part of our environment but we are our environment and we evolve together with it and vice-versa... [and]...Reflections about computing within limits might benefit from acknowledging that the relation between computing and the environment is 1) of a co-evolutionary nature, 2) presents a multidimensional structure, 3) is reflected in transactions between material and semiotic resources, 4) is, analytically speaking, better grasped with contextual analysis in a trans-disciplinary action research orientation. "…”

“…Pargman and Joshi [22] describe two alternative approaches... "On the one hand, some, design "sustainable" information technology based on visions of the world that do not really question limits to continuous economic growth and, on the other hand, others embrace the design of information technology from stances that acknowledges limits (i.e., economic, ecological, energetic). "…”

On fairness & sustainability: Motivating change in the networked society

“…By transcending traditional HCI boundaries, this body of work is at once deeply concerned by environmental [1], sociopolitical [12], political economy [18], social sustainability [5] and ecological concerns [26]. Latest developments in SHCI clearly indicate there is today an emergent research community committed to rethinking human computation from visions of the world that are more in line with contemporary moral and environmental conundrums [3,7,8,2,17,18,19,22,31]. Our paper follows from the above, focusing primarily on the social value laden enterprise and its processes of activism and co-creation that inform critical alternatives within the SHCI discourse.…”