HCI research increasingly engages with relational notions of ethics, such as care, felt and transcorporeal ethics, as new paradigms for design. Here, we discuss these relational notions in the context of multispecies design, extending it to incorporate Acampora’s concept of Corporal Compassion, which grounds ethics on a shared sense of livingness and vulnerabilities across beings. In order to elicit corporal compassion towards microorganisms, we designed a dining-theatre intervention, which invited participants to ingest and assign moral values to dishes prepared with speculative human-microbial hybrid cells originated from beings exposed to similar levels of bodily distress. Tried with 47 participants in 7 sessions, the work surfaced the idiosyncrasies behind participants’ moral frameworks, and how socialised prescriptive frameworks of ethics sometimes acted as closure towards relational approaches. We discuss how HCI could rethink traditional frameworks of ethics in ways that support relationality, while calling for researchers to make space for moral hesitation.

Mainstream digital technologies tend to be designed without reflection on how the way they structure knowledge can decontextualise it from its surroundings, affecting different cultural groups. In this work, we discuss how community-led databases could be created while accounting for Indigenous values and land-based wisdoms, following a collaboration with Radio Tosepan Limakxtum, an organisation of Masewal People. Emerging from metaphors of sowing, growing and harvesting, a series of activities entwining technology with traditional knowledge systems were crafted. In response, exploratory roles and assemblies were created as data practices, reimagining the ancestral self-organisation processes, language and views that have shaped Masewal autonomy and self-determination. The work demonstrates how Indigenous knowledges can reframe ways of thinking about technology, creating a digital territory that extends intricate relations with the land as a living entity. This study contributes relational approaches to data, technologies and participation, emphasising community context, Indigenous research methods and collective wellbeing.

Temporal representations can have a socio-political impact and change how we see the world and design technologies. In this pictorial, we depart from a critique to classic representations of time that have long guided thinking in Western industrialised societies and design. Through the process of designing the More-than-Human Temporal Ontologies booklet, we describe a journey through practical engagements with the multiple ways time can be seen as created and creating more-than-human worlds. By embodying, imagining and sketching multiple expressions of more-than-human times, and by using these to appropriate, critique and expand representations of times, we propose the final outcome of the booklet as a tool for HCI and design researchers to structure dialogues and understanding of time and temporalities in more inclusive and expansive ways.

Efforts to integrate living organisms in the design of new technolo- gies are often motivated by prospects of greater sustainability and increased connection with more-than-human worlds. In this paper, we critically discuss these motivations by analysing the vast and mostly hidden ecologies of more-than-human organisms implicated in a biodesign lab experiment. Through the lenses of labour theory, we investigate the extent to which organisms’ bodily functions and relationships can be subsumed into capitalist modes of production. In order to help reveal and map out the network of more-than-human contributors to biodesign, we develop a workshop method and a labour provenance analytical framework that identifies five types of more-than-human labourers, stretching from the centre to the periphery of biodesign. We conclude by discussing how sustainable approaches should account for wider more-than-human ecologies, and how the labour lens could help stress conflicting goals, implicit anthropocentric agendas and ways of improving organismal welfare in biological design and HCI.

Notions of data increasingly revolve around digital representations prioritizing the efficiency and productivity of global economic-systems, often side-lining tangible and local information that is crucial for ‘more-than-human’ worlds. To challenge this, we propose the concept of, “Pheno-data,” which aims to embody the livingness of the lifeworld through the evolving characteristics and responses of organisms. We also introduce, “Pheno-fication”, as a means to access Pheno-data, and use tomatoes to exemplify the process. Through a fabulation workshop, we integrate these concepts into design practice in order to tangibly explore their potential for shifting perspectives from an anthropocentric to an ecological viewpoint.

Amidst a growing body of work in HCI focusing on designing systems that engage with care relationships, there is increasing interest in expanding notions of care beyond transactional practices, towards broader notions of “care ecologies”. However, how can we support care systems designers to apply these concepts in practice? This paper presents the Care Spectrums, a set of sensitising concepts for designers to explore and apply to their practice. Developed as a response to a design probe exercise (the CareTree) which was carried out with 14 participants over one month, the Care Spectrums respond to the multiplicity of expressions of care in participants’ everyday lives. Translated into a design resource (the ‘Co-Designing with Care’ card deck), and trialled with 10 designers, the Care Spectrums revealed hidden caring and uncaring practices in designers’ projects, and stimulated opportunities for designing with and for people's complex and entangled care ecologies.

Despite efforts to promote children’s rights in digital environments, a gap remains between principles and practice. To understand this gap and identify possible solutions, we examine whether and how designers embed children’s rights when developing digital products and services. Using the child-rights-informed ‘Playful by Design’ (PbD) principles and associated card pack as discussion probes in workshops with 30 designers from diverse companies, we identify designers’ understanding of children’s rights, their workplace requirements for implementing these, and competing professional and commercial priorities faced in designing for children’s play. Findings reveal the challenges of embedding rights-based principles, themselves building on theories of child development, in product design. Designers may believe that children’s rights are sufficiently realised by protecting children from risk, without ensuring their rights to provision and participation. Further, given the competing demands of commercial design settings, designers require a compelling rationale for and a practical means of implementing children’s rights.

Recent work in HCI has called for deeper ethical considerations when engaging with more-than-human organisms in design. In this paper, we introduce Microbial Revolt, a provocative method to support reflection on the perspectives of organisms involved in HCI and design practice. By asking participants to consider the reality of a chosen organism in feral and lab environments and to redesign lab tools in order to account for their “non-participation”, we identified the manifestation of key epistemic differences between approaches to care and ecologies in typical design and biology research - as well as the potential for design and HCI to creatively redefine power dynamics in the lab. Further interviews revealed specific challenges and opportunities that designers and HCI researchers face in adapting practices to lab standards, and lab equipment to their practices, calling for a redefinition of tools, spaces and guidance to accommodate phenomenological perspectives and multiple modes of interaction with living organisms.

Technological advancements have resulted in great shifts in the production and consumption of news articles. This, in turn, lead to the requirement of new educational and practical frameworks. In this paper, we present a classification of data-driven news articles and related design patterns defined to describe their visual and textual components. Through the analysis of 162 data-driven news articles collected from news media, we identified five types of articles based on the level of data involvement and narrative complexity: Quick Update, Briefing, Chart Description, Investigation, and In-depth Investigation. We then identified 72 design patterns to understand and construct data-driven news articles. To evaluate this approach, we conducted workshops with 23 students from journalism, design, and sociology who were newly introduced to the subject. Our findings suggest that our approach can be used as an out-of-box framework for the formulation of plans and consideration of details in the workflow of data-driven news creation.

This paper analyses practices of data perception and usage, as well as ongoing and envisioned community technology projects carried out by a Masewal Indigenous group in Mexico through their union of cooperatives, Tosepan. Through fieldwork interviews, Masewal participants expressed how they have been appropriating existing technologies for their people’s self-determination. During a workshop, they imagined how diverse knowledges and lived experiences of their worldview, passed down through generations, could be represented and translated into digital practices more broadly. We draw considerations for the HCI community to embrace novel approaches to data and information systems from the community’s concept of Cosmovision, and develop Micro-, Meso- and Macro- lenses within it. Through these lenses, we discuss how technologies could be designed for specific individual practices and connections with nature (Micro-cosmos) while supporting communal actions for autonomy and self-determination (Meso-cosmos), and considering broader worldmaking processes and implications for identity, prosperity, ecology and plural representations (Macro-cosmos).

Sensor networks are increasingly commonplace in visions of smart cities and future healthcare systems, promising greater efficiency and increased wellbeing. However, the design of these technologies remains focused on specific users and fragmented by context, overlooking the diversity of needs, wants and values present when technologies, people, and lived realities interact within instrumented spaces. In this paper we present a workshop method – Sensing Care – that can help researchers, interdisciplinary design and development teams, and potentially affected users, to explore what it takes to design for living with sensor technologies that intersect and interact across private and public spaces, through speculative scenarios and role play. Drawing from three deployments of the workshop, we discuss how this approach supports the design of future care-oriented sensor networks, and helps designers understand what it means to live with complex technologies as people traverse diverse contexts.

Digital calendars and other technologies for social event planning leave little space to communicate uncertainty regarding time, place or the ability to attend an event. However, narratives of certainty can be detrimental and lead to the marginalisation of those who find it hard to cope with rigid and strictly paced schedules, such as people with health conditions or caring responsibilities. In this paper, we explore uncertainty as the starting point and leading principle behind digital scheduling tools. We present Haze, a speculative tool and user interface, designed to gain insights on participants’ perceptions of uncertainty-based scheduling scenarios. We report on two qualitative studies (total of 21 participants), which indicate that a change in perspective towards uncertainty can challenge moral assumptions around certainty, increase temporal empathy, and indeed support those who are particularly affected by uncertainty. These findings help shift and expand the repertoire of temporality and discuss moral and social responsibilities for design and HCI.

DNA-based digital data storage technology is hailed as a potential solution for the issues around exponential global data production. However, while the technology continues to strive towards its full commercialization, there is a lack of discourse on how it could be applied to facilitate interactions that are meaningful, ethical, and socially sustainable. As an approach to address this gap, we hosted a series of online workshops, soliciting 15 participants to engage in grounded speculations on plausible futures of DNA data storage. Themes drawn from the resulting imaginaries and discussions were situated within a selection of existing HCI literature, to generate an initial set of design opportunities and challenges for DNA data storage. Early analysis suggests that the system could be designed to 1) facilitate meaningful interactions that are intangible and molecular, and 2) foster better human relationship with more-than-human entities. Furthermore, we highlight the imperative for cross-disciplinary collaborations and pedagogy, to ensure fair and high quality access to the technology.

This special issue focuses on new perspectives of time within HCI research. We begin by explicating how HCI’s views of time have broadened over the years, going beyond the traditional subjective-objective dichotomy. We describe how the HCI community was originally anchored to clock time, but more recently the field has begun to incorporate the existential, social, and cultural dimensions of time. We introduce the papers in this special issue by contextualizing them according to different research areas. We conclude by identifying open issues and opportunities that should be explored in future HCI research and practice.

This article presents an annotated portfolio of projects that seek to understand and communicate the social and societal implications of blockchains, DLTs and smart contracts. These complex technologies rely on human and technical factors to deliver cryptocurrencies, shared computation and trustless protocols but have a secondary benefit in providing a moment to re-think many aspects of society, and imagine alternative possibilities. The projects use design and HCI methods to relate blockchains to a range of topics, including global supply chains, delivery infrastructure, smart grids, volunteering and charitable giving, through engaging public, exploring ideas and speculating on possible futures. Based on an extensive annotated portfolio we draw out learning for the design of blockchain systems, broadening participation and surfacing questions around imaginaries, social implications and engagement with new technology. This paints a comprehensive picture of how HCI and design can shape understandings of the future of complex technologies.

Information technology is increasingly designed to increase information transparency as a way to increase trust. However, it can be hard to comprehend and anticipate the social implications of information visibility, people’s competing expectations of transparency versus privacy, and the role of enabling technologies. We devised Live Action Role Play (LARP) as a means for people to explore the potential and consequences of transparency, within a social context of daily transactions related to food, fashion, and finance. Through the process of deliberation, we enabled participants to critically assess their co-created LARP experience and articulate their transparency expectations for design considerations. We report on insights into their expectations and perceived limitations of information technology in delivering transparency, including social measures required to realise the full potential of technology, as well as transparency, while minimising unintended consequences.

Distributed energy resources are expected to radically change the way energy is produced and distributed through decentralised generation and storage. Current distributed energy models tend to hide the complexity of these systems in order to improve ease of use, while restricting people's participation to predefined roles of passive users who can benefit from more reliable infrastructures, more competitive prices, and more access to sustainable energy. In this paper, we question these roles and present the Karma Kettle, an open-ended device that aims to explore perceptions of different levels of agency in distributed energy resources. A study of the Karma Kettle with 20 residents of a block of flats in the UK reveals strategies and values of these residents, the effectiveness of the Karma Kettle to inspire discussion on levels of agency, and how these systems could be designed to promote more participatory approaches in distributed energy systems.

Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) have been celebrated for promoting transparency, trust, and efficiency in several domains. However, recent research has also pointed out the potential of these technologies to increase power asymmetries and deepen social inequality. In this paper, we contribute to this discussion by reporting on a collective effort of academics, development partners, local authorities, businesses, and farming groups to look at the potential of DLTs, particularly Blockchains, to support socio-economic development in rural communities in the Caribbean. We present a series of design concepts resulting from this effort and reflect on a method to facilitate stakeholders' experience of possible implementations and enable them to voice concerns, preferences, and expectations. Results from workshops with different groups of stakeholders contribute insights into opportunities and limitations of these applications to enable social development and to level the playing field in agricultural exchanges in developing countries.

Technologies such as blockchains, smart contracts and programmable batteries facilitate emerging models of energy distribution, trade and consumption, and generate a considerable number of opportunities for energy markets. However, these developments complicate relationships between stakeholders, disrupting traditional notions of value, control and ownership. Discussing these issues with the public is particularly challenging as energy consumption habits often obscure the competing values and interests that shape stakeholders' relationships. To make such difficult discussions more approachable and examine the missing relational aspect of autonomous energy systems, we combined the design of speculative hairdryers with performance and deliberation. This integrated method of inquiry makes visible the competing values and interests, eliciting people's wishes to negotiate these terms. We argue that the complexity of mediated energy distribution and its convoluted stakeholder relationships requires more sophisticated methods of inquiry to engage people in debates concerning distributed energy systems.

Design and HCI researchers are increasingly working with complex digital infrastructures, such as cryptocurrencies, distributed ledgers and smart contracts. These technologies will have a profound impact on digital systems and their audiences. However, given their emergent nature and technical complexity, involving non-specialists in the design of applications that employ these technologies is challenging. In this paper, we discuss these challenges and present GeoCoin, a location-based platform for embodied learning and speculative ideating with smart contracts. In collaborative workshops with GeoCoin, participants engaged with location-based smart contracts, using the platform to explore digital 'debit' and 'credit' zones in the city. These exercises led to the design of diverse distributed-ledger applications, for time-limited financial unions, participatory budgeting, and humanitarian aid. These results contribute to the HCI community by demonstrating how an experiential prototype can support understanding of the complexities behind new digital infrastructures and facilitate participant engagement in ideation and design processes.

Technologies such as distributed ledgers and smart contracts are enabling the emergence of new autonomous systems, and providing enhanced systems to track the provenance of goods. A growing body of work in HCI is exploring the novel challenges of these systems, but there has been little attention paid to their impact on everyday activities. This paper presents a study carried out in 3 office environments for a 1-month period, which explored the impact of an autonomous coffee machine on the everyday activity of coffee consumption. The Bitbarista mediates coffee consumption through autonomous processes, presenting provenance data at the time of purchase while attempting to reduce intermediaries in the coffee trade. Through the report of interactions with and around the Bitbarista, we explore its implications for everyday life, and wider social structures and values. We conclude by offering recommendations for the design of community shared autonomous systems.

We are surrounded by a proliferation of connected devices performing increasingly complex data transactions. Traditional design methods tend to simplify or conceal this complexity to improve ease of use. However, the hidden nature of data is causing increasing discomfort. This paper presents BitBarista, a coffee machine designed to explore perceptions of data processes in the Internet of Things. BitBarista reveals social, environmental, qualitative and economic aspects of coffee supply chains. It allows people to choose a source of future coffee beans, situating their choices within the pool of decisions previously made. In doing so, it attempts to engage them in the transactions that are required to produce coffee. Initial studies of BitBarista with 42 participants reveal challenges of designing for connected systems, particularly in terms of perceptions of data gathering and sharing, as well as assumptions generated by current models of consumption. A discussion is followed by a series of suggestions for increasing positive attitudes towards data use in interactive systems.

Once upon a time, people told stories unencumbered by slides. What modern presentations gain through visual slide support, however, is often at the expense of storytelling. We present TurningPoint, a probe to investigate the potential use of narrative-driven talk planning in slideware. Our study of TurningPoint reveals a delicate balance between narrative templates focusing author attention in ways that save time, and fixating attention in ways that limit experimentation.

Robots have a long history as a tangible platform through which designers and artists can explore human and social experiences. From Pierre Jaquet-Doz's Automatons from the Eighteenth Century, to Dunne & Raby's technological dreams of non-anthropomorphic robots that assist our lives [1], robots have been a rich form of technology that artists and designers have used to explore the human condition and how we relate to technology. This studio will give an introduction to small programmable robots and participants will learn how to use them to develop collaborative performances. Following an introduction, participants will be given the choice to work with bespoke robots (arduino based) or an e-puck [2] robot, participants will work in small groups to develop behaviours that, infer a form of robot dance. For a dance based upon a twitter feed or perform a collective task that assists a human. The studio will culminate in a series of performances by the bots that explore the potential for robots as materials for designing with data.

The movement crafter attempts to reconcile the pace of new technologies with traditional crafting activities that are performed as pastimes. The project explores concepts of quiet communication and technology hybrids and attempts to support crafting without making the craftsperson overly self-conscious of their practice.