We examine the recent move from a rhetoric of “users” toward one of “makers,” “crafters,” and “hackers” within HCI discourse. Through our analysis, we make several contributions. First, we provide a general overview of the structure and common framings within research on makers. We discuss how these statements reconfigure themes of empowerment and progress that have been central to HCI rhetoric since the field's inception. In the latter part of the article, we discuss the consequences of these shifts for contemporary research problems. In particular, we explore the problem of designed obsolescence, a core issue for Sustainable Interaction Design (SID) research. We show how the framing of the maker, as an empowered subject, presents certain opportunities and limitations for this research discourse. Finally, we offer alternative framings of empowerment that can expand maker discourse and its use in contemporary research problems such as SID.

This note describes our analysis of 35 papers from CHI 2011 that aim to improve or support interaction design practice. In our analysis, we characterize how these CHI authors conceptualize design practice and the types of contributions they propose. This work is motivated by the recognition that design methods proposed by HCI researchers often do not fit the needs and constraints of professional design practice. As a complement to the analysis of the CHI papers we also interviewed 13 practitioners about their attitudes towards learning new methods and approaches. We conclude the note by offering some critical reflections about how HCI research can better support actual design practice.

In this workshop, we intend to explore within the HCI community the importance of fashion in the IT industry. We will explore the meaning of fashion and how fashion and sustainability could and might interplay in the IT industry. Participants in the workshop will collaborate in a practical exercise to act as a stimulus for thought concerning how the notion of fashion affects people's behaviors and attitudes toward digital consumption. Participants will also form different groups and share their own personal experience, behavioral changes, as well as insights related to sustainability and fashion. The outcomes of the workshop will include 1) a collection of exemplars and patterns relevant to fashion related to digital devices and technology services; 2) the identification and description of the characteristics of fashion in the digital technology domain; 3) a summary of the discussion on how interaction designers and researchers can use fashion as a positive force in sustainable HCI.

As a starting point, this paper considers a compelling idea concerning fashion and sustainable HCI---rather than attempt to thwart fashion, or exhort people not to engage in fashion-related behavior, instead, based on a deeper understanding of the complexity of fashion, utilize this concept to design products and services so as to resonate with those dimensions of fashion that are most compatible with sustainability. Our ultimate vision is to provide mechanisms to allow designers to use fashion as a positive force for sustainable design, especially in the context of HCI and interaction design. As a step along the path between this starting point and our ultimate vision, this paper describes some related literature and thoughts about methods, reports on a collection of interviews and emergent insights, and several general design implications which link fashion positively to sustainable practices and futures. Moreover, we hope to inspire others to contribute to this idea and its potential for sustainable HCI.

This paper describes the design and interprets the results of a survey of 435 undergraduate students concerning the attitudes of this mainly millennial population towards sustainability apropos of the material effects of information technologies. This survey follows from earlier work on notions of Sustainable Interaction Design (SID)---that is the perspective that sustainability can and should be a central focus within HCI. In so doing it advances to some degree the empirical resources needed to scaffold an understanding of the theory and principles of SID. The interpretations offered yield key insights about understanding different notions of what it means to be successful in a material sense to this population and specific design principles for creating interactive designs differently such that more sustainable behaviors are palatable to individuals of varying attitudes.