30
2024
Foraging walks, participatory mapping, and ice cream – by Youngsil Lee and Aditi Surana
This summer, we participated in the 2024 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems held in Copenhagen. As first-time presenters and attendees, the experience was incredibly meaningful and exciting. Here are some of our takeaways –
Aditi:
Traveling to Copenhagen for DIS was exciting, though slightly disrupted by visa-related uncertainties and connecting flight issues. But I made it! The first day began at full pace with early morning set-ups and frantic coffee runs. I was co-organising a full-day workshop on ‘Data of/ for / by the People: Designing Participatory Approaches to Data Governance’, along with other brilliant colleagues – Hattie Simms, Carlos Guerrero Millan, Natalia-Rozalia Avlona, SJ Bennett, Ewa Luger, and Bettina Nissen. We had a wonderful set of participants from various countries and disciplines. The workshop was geared towards understanding the layers of participation, representation, and care that needed to be embedded within data governance approaches and whether/how design methods offered a unique way of doing so. Having spent a large part of my PhD unpacking these topics, it was refreshing to have a larger conversation with others academics in similar positions and fields. These conversations and connections kept flowing through the rest of the conference as well, often over coffee or ice creams.
Youngsil:
Attending the DIS 2024 conference in Copenhagen was a very meaningful experience to gain other researchers’ comments and feedback on my PhD research in the final phase. During the conference, I had a great opportunity to lead a foraging workshop, Ecological Data for Manifesting the Entanglement of more-than-human Livingness, with an amazing group of design researchers involving my supervisors, Larissa Pschetz and Bettina Nissen, co-organisers, and participants. Through the workshop, we reflected on our design research from a data perspective and foraged at the local forest, Amager Fælled with a local foraging expert to explore wildlife and what ecological data would mean in the natural context. I also presented a collaborative provocation work titled “A Manifesto for Other-Than-Human Imaginaries of Data” with my DCODE cohort Carlos Guerrero Millan and Sonja Rebecca Ratty. These experiences allow me to collaborate and connect with like-minded people who are challenging our status quo of the ways of perceiving and using data in HCI and design. Additionally, I envisioned the potential contribution of my work in AI, communal, and ecological knowledge production. Besides the conference, I had a chance to explore the vibrant city, nature, people and the best ice cream in Copenhagen.
Aditi:
The theme of DIS 2024 was ‘Why Design’ – a question that has been particularly relevant for me as I navigated my doctoral research on designing and envisioning novel practices for governing AI within socio-technical infrastructures. Starting with ‘what forms and knowledges of design are needed and where’ to ‘when can design be problematic’ – the conference highlighted the emerging problems of human-centric models and the need for pluriversal paradigms and interventions. This was reflected in a delightful opening keynote by Prof. Mike Michael titled ‘Why Design? Because it can be SO idiotic, of course…” His work, inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky’s ‘The Idiot’, talked about the need for alternate – even seemingly ‘idiotic’ – forms of knowledges that challenge the constructed and accepted status quo, and how designers are experts in doing so. It brought forward the themes of making and unmaking that was complemented by the panel on ‘Why Design’. An interesting reflection from the panel for me was the differences in the viewpoints of the speakers on what design is and what its function should be. A dissonance here was the large gap in what was said vs what gets practiced, particularly when it comes to topics such as ‘decoloniality’ and ‘plurality’, especially in understanding ways in which design can be complicit in sustaining hegemonic practices.
Youngsil:
As a designer and researcher, my key takeaways around the central theme include the growing recognition within HCI and design communities of our anthropocentric mindset and practices that potentially harm ‘other’ humans, living beings, and nature. This awareness has raised a call to action to rethink our design approaches for ethical, sustainable, and plural futures. For example, numerous researchers participated in sessions on More-than-human, Human and Nature relations. There was also a discussion on why DIS organised social networking events under the theme of ‘plurality’ beyond inclusivity and diversity by emphasising the co-existence and respect of multiple distinct groups. In the ‘Why Design’ panel session, panellists discussed what designing and undesigning would entail for designers. Overall, this experience has provided me with a meaningful reflection: we are at a critical moment to rethink the role of design–not for changing or intervening in others but for critically reviewing our anthropocentric practices and responding to others as they are.
Aditi:
Besides the typical paper presentations and panels, DIS had a large lobby-turned-exhibition-space that included lovely interactive projects, zine collections, and spaces to have casual conversations in. The space offered a relaxing way to navigate the packed conference schedule and take breaks – something that often goes unplanned and unnoticed at large conferences. These spaces allowed me to have meaningful conversations and catch-ups with people. Given this was my first HCI / design focused conference, these spaces went a long way in forming a community.
Youngsil:
Through engaging with presentations, participating in conversations, and receiving feedback on my work, a crucial question emerged: “How can we rethink the role of design to ‘redesign or undesign’ our anthropocentric attitudes and mindsets, and what would that mean for my future research direction?” Connecting with like-minded researchers at the conference has reinforced my belief that this complex question is essential. This experience has given me the confidence to continue my journey alongside diverse researchers, communities, and organizations in the pursuit of more ecological futures.
Image 1: Yummy ice creams from Ismageriet
Image 2: Some of the DI folks at the DIS
Image 3: Collaborative provocation work with Carlos Guerrero Millan and Sonja Rebecca Ratty
Image 4: DIS workshop – foraging activity with a local foraging expert
Image 5 : DIS workshop – discussion of our design practices related to data
Image 5: Watching a double rainbow while exploring the city centre of Copenhagen.