Sustainable interaction design: invention & disposal, renewal & reuse

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the perspective that sustainability can and should be a central focus of interaction design-a perspective that is termed Sustainable Interaction Design (SID). As a starting point for a perspective of sustainability, design is defined as an act of choosing among or informing choices of future ways of being. This perspective of sustainability is presented in terms of design values, methods, and reasoning. The paper proposes (i) a rubric for understanding the material effects of particular interaction design cases in terms of forms of use, reuse, and disposal, and (ii) several principles to guide SID. The paper illustrates--with particular examples of design critique for interactive products and appeals to secondary research--how two of these principles may be applied to move the effects of designs from less preferred forms of use to more preferred ones. Finally, a vision for incorporating sustainability into the research and practice of interaction design is described.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.m Miscellaneous

Additional Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.7 COMPUTERS IN OTHER SYSTEMS
      Subjects: Consumer products

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.1 THE COMPUTER INDUSTRY
      Subjects: Markets
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY
      K.4.m Miscellaneous

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Theory

Keywords:
design, design theory, interaction design, sustainability, sustainable interaction design