Entropy and Ensoulment
This essay is about the challenge of making environmental sustainability a focus of HCI research and practice. While environmental concerns have been around for a long time and have been considered important in other design disciplines like architecture and product design, the topic has only recently been recognized in the HCI community. It is also a very complex topic, posing a number of difficult theoretical questions. For example, it demands that we first understand the complex issue of how HCI design is currently impacting the environment. Second, we need to understand how concerns for these impacts can be effectively integrated into the design process. Finally, we need to develop insights and concepts for designing more sustainable interactive products. In this paper I look to the literature of design theory to provide insights into these three problems. Sustainability can and has been considered from many perspectives: political, economic, biological, technical, spiritual. My goal here is to describe my understanding of the issue of sustainability through the lens of design theory. Continue »