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Rethinking sustainability in computing: from buzzword to non-negotiable limits

Published: 26 October 2014 Publication History

Abstract

Recent years have seen a flurry of work on sustainable computing and sustainable HCI, but it is unclear whether this body of work adheres to a meaningful definition of sustainability. In this paper, we review four interlocking frameworks that together provide a rigorous foundation for what constitutes sustainability. Each consecutive framework both builds upon and can loosely be seen as a refinement of the previous framework. More specifically, we leverage prominent ecological thinking from outside of computer science to inform what sustainability means in the context of computing. To this end, we re-evaluate some recent results from the field of sustainable HCI and offer thoughts on further research in the field.

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Cited By

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  • (2024)Expanding the Concept of Sustainable Interaction Design: A Systematic ReviewSustainability10.3390/su1617748616:17(7486)Online publication date: 29-Aug-2024
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    NordiCHI '14: Proceedings of the 8th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction: Fun, Fast, Foundational
    October 2014
    361 pages
    ISBN:9781450325424
    DOI:10.1145/2639189
    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 the author(s) 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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    Published: 26 October 2014

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    Author Tags

    1. collapse informatics
    2. critical reflection
    3. ecological footprint
    4. ecological sustainability
    5. environmental sustainability
    6. limits to growth
    7. steady-state economy
    8. sustainability
    9. sustainable HCI
    10. sustainable development

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    View all
    • (2024)Expanding the Concept of Sustainable Interaction Design: A Systematic ReviewSustainability10.3390/su1617748616:17(7486)Online publication date: 29-Aug-2024
    • (2024)Three Ways to Destroy a SoundAdjunct Proceedings of the 2024 Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/3677045.3685496(1-7)Online publication date: 13-Oct-2024
    • (2024)Systemic Sustainable HCI: Integrating Collaborative Modeling into a Design Process to Address Rebound EffectsProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3661618(3046-3062)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
    • (2024)Exploring the association between engagement with location-based game features and getting inspired about environmental issues and natureProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642786(1-15)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
    • (2023)Post-growth Human–Computer InteractionACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction10.1145/362498131:1(1-37)Online publication date: 29-Nov-2023
    • (2023)How Viable are Energy Savings in Smart Homes? A Call to Embrace Rebound Effects in Sustainable HCIACM Journal on Computing and Sustainable Societies10.1145/36081151:1(1-24)Online publication date: 22-Sep-2023
    • (2023)Le désalignement de valeurs dans les interactions : une opportunité pour l'IHM soutenableProceedings of the 34th Conference on l'Interaction Humain-Machine10.1145/3583961.3583964(1-10)Online publication date: 3-Apr-2023
    • (2023)Junkyard Computing: Repurposing Discarded Smartphones to Minimize CarbonProceedings of the 28th ACM International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating Systems, Volume 210.1145/3575693.3575710(400-412)Online publication date: 27-Jan-2023
    • (2023)Virtual and Augmented Reality for Environmental Sustainability: A Systematic ReviewProceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3544548.3581147(1-23)Online publication date: 19-Apr-2023
    • (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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