CHI 2011 Workshop: Everyday Practice and Sustainable HCI: Understanding and Learning from Cultures of (Un)Sustainability (May 2011, Vancouver)

Dates: May 8, 2011- Vancouver, BC
Website: http://www.jamesjpierce.com/CHI-2011/everyday-practice-and-sustainable-HCI.html

Everyday contexts and practices have emerged as key areas of focus for sustainable HCI, since everyday life is a critical site for the exchange, transformation, consumption and disposal of material resources implicated in issues around sustainability.  Everyday life not only is a point of intervention for sustainable HCI, but also raises issues concerning how HCI can and should approach sustainability, such as who is in charge of deciding what ‘sustainability’ is, which cultural practices are drawn on in framing sustainability, and the ethical implications of different design interventions. This workshop will investigate how descriptions and theories of everyday practice can be employed in order to critically and creatively re-think how HCI approaches research and design issues of sustainability.

Format and Goals

This one-day workshop will include short introductory presentations, breakout activities, and group discussion around the following goals:

• Applying and developing theories of (sustainable) practice for HCI
• Understanding the implications for HCI of grounded studies of (un)sustainability in cultural practice
• Re-thinking sustainable HCI research practice and professional practice, including how HCI can and should approach sustainability

Call for Submissions

We welcome a wide variety of submissions related to the workshop theme and goals. Selection will favor work related to the following areas: (i) engaging underrepresented and marginalized communities, (ii) cultural exemplars of sustainable practices, (iii) critical theories of everyday practice, (iv) the role of specific technologies in mediating everyday practices, and (v) the ramifications for everyday practice of emerging technologies (e.g., shared-use systems, DIY tools, energy microgeneration and smart-metering). Please email a 4-6 page position paper in the CHI Extended Abstracts format by January 14 to pierjam@gmail.com. At least one author of accepted papers must register for the workshop and at least one day of the conference. More information can be found at:
http://www.jamesjpierce.com/CHI-2011/everyday-practice-and-sustainable-HCI.html

Key Dates

• Submission deadline: January 14, 2011
• Notification: February, 11, 2011
• Workshop: May 8, 2011 in Vancouver, BC

Organizers

James Pierce, Carnegie Mellon University
Hrönn Brynjarsdóttir, Cornell University
Phoebe Sengers, Cornell University
Yolande Strengers, RMIT University