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Collapse informatics: augmenting the sustainability & ICT4D discourse in HCI

Authors:

Bill Tomlinson,

M. Six Silberman,

Donald Patterson,

Eli BlevisAuthors Info & Claims

CHI '12: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Pages 655 - 664

https://doi.org/10.1145/2207676.2207770

Published: 05 May 2012 Publication History

Abstract

Research in many fields argues that contemporary global industrial civilization will not persist indefinitely in its current form, and may, like many past human societies, eventually collapse. Arguments in environmental studies, anthropology, and other fields indicate that this transformation could begin within the next half-century. While imminent collapse is far from certain, it is prudent to consider now how to develop sociotechnical systems for use in these scenarios. We introduce the notion of collapse informatics---the study, design, and development of sociotechnical systems in the abundant present for use in a future of scarcity---as a complement to ICT4D and mitigation-oriented sustainable HCI. We draw on a variety of literatures to offer a set of relevant concepts and articulate the relationships among them to orient and evaluate collapse informatics work. Observing that collapse informatics poses a unique class of cross-cultural design problems, we sketch the design space of collapse informatics and provide a variety of example projects. We explore points of connection and distinction between collapse informatics and sustainable HCI, ICT4D, and crisis informatics. Finally, we discuss next steps and comment on the potential value of collapse informatics work even in the event that collapse never occurs.

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Cited By

Besana NKrogh PPetersen MSpallazzo D(2024)Expanding the Concept of Sustainable Interaction Design: A Systematic ReviewSustainability10.3390/su1617748616:17(7486)Online publication date: 29-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177486
Lu JLopes P(2024)Unmaking Electronic WasteACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/367450531:6(1-30)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3674505
Widdicks KKnowles BFriday ABlair G(2024)ICT under Constraint: Exposing Tensions in Collaboratively Prioritising ICT Innovation for Climate TargetsACM Journal on Responsible Computing10.1145/36482341:2(1-21)Online publication date: 11-Mar-2024
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Index Terms

Collapse informatics: augmenting the sustainability & ICT4D discourse in HCI
1. Human-centered computing

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

CHI '12: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

May 2012

3276 pages

ISBN:9781450310154

DOI:10.1145/2207676

General Chair:
Joseph A. Konstan
University of Minnesota
,
Program Chairs:
Ed H. Chi
Google
,
Kristina Höök
Mobile Life at KTH

Copyright © 2012 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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SIGCHI: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer-Human Interaction

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

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Published: 05 May 2012

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CHI '12: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

May 5 - 10, 2012

Texas, Austin, USA

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Overall Acceptance Rate 6,199 of 26,314 submissions, 24%

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Cited By

Besana NKrogh PPetersen MSpallazzo D(2024)Expanding the Concept of Sustainable Interaction Design: A Systematic ReviewSustainability10.3390/su1617748616:17(7486)Online publication date: 29-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177486
Lu JLopes P(2024)Unmaking Electronic WasteACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/367450531:6(1-30)Online publication date: 20-Jun-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3674505
Widdicks KKnowles BFriday ABlair G(2024)ICT under Constraint: Exposing Tensions in Collaboratively Prioritising ICT Innovation for Climate TargetsACM Journal on Responsible Computing10.1145/36482341:2(1-21)Online publication date: 11-Mar-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3648234
Sharma VTuli AWani AMohan ANardi BHassenzahl MVigil-Hayes MJensen RBardzell SKumar N(2024)Post-growth HCI: Co-Envisioning HCI Beyond Economic GrowthExtended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613905.3636292(1-7)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613905.3636292
Giacobone GPollini AUrquiza DChouta K(2024)Participatory design methods for sustainable interaction design: co-designing digital experiences for sustainability educationUniversal Access in the Information Society10.1007/s10209-024-01092-4Online publication date: 14-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-024-01092-4
Pollini AGiacobone G(2024)Rely on Available Resources: Designing Sustainability Education Technologies for Low Resources ScenariosFor Nature/With Nature: New Sustainable Design Scenarios10.1007/978-3-031-53122-4_45(761-781)Online publication date: 4-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53122-4_45
Centivany A(2024)Infrastructure Development and Donation Culture in the Gaza StripProceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology10.1002/pra2.100861:1(56-67)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.1008
Sharma VKumar NNardi B(2023)Post-growth Human–Computer InteractionACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/362498131:1(1-37)Online publication date: 29-Nov-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3624981
Hoefer MVoida S(2023)Being, Having, Doing, and Interacting: A Personal Informatics Approach to Understanding Human Need Satisfaction in Everyday LifeProceedings of the 2023 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3563657.3596120(2593-2610)Online publication date: 10-Jul-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3563657.3596120
Bremer CKnowles BFriday A(2022)Have We Taken On Too Much?: A Critical Review of the Sustainable HCI LandscapeProceedings of the 2022 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3491102.3517609(1-11)Online publication date: 29-Apr-2022
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