SINAIS from Fanal: design and evaluation of an art-inspired eco-feedback system

In this paper we present the challenges exposed during the designing, implementing and assessment of a novel eco feedback system resulting from the intersection of human computer interaction (HCI), and Digital Art. We explore how a digital art mode of inquiry can contribute to expose existing challenges in eco-feedback technology. Our new art inspired eco-feedback visualization, maps electricity consumption to effects on natural elements of the local natural landscape. The feedback was piloted with eight local families for four weeks. Reactions of the users were assessed through interviews and quantitative measures. Our findings showed that users found the mapping of the eco feedback to artistic representations of elements of the natural environment somehow compelling, despite lacking of clear quantitative information. In conclusion, the conducted study provide useful findings and insights into future deployment of eco-feedback using artistic visualizations, information visualization and motivating behavior change.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Human-computer interaction for development (HCI4D):the Southern African landscape

Human-Computer interaction for development (HCI4D) research aims to maximise the usability of interfaces for interacting with technologies designed specifically for under-served, under-resourced, and under-represented populations. In this paper we provide a snapshot of the Southern African HCI4D research against the background of the global HCI4D research landscape.We commenced with a systematic literature review of HCI4D (2010-2017) then surveyed Southern African researchers working in the area. The contribution is to highlight the context- specific themes and challenges that emerged from our investigation

The research landscape of ICT for sustainability: harnessing digital technology for sustainable development

Within the growing debate about sustainability issues, a variety of research communities emerged to connect the fields of sustainable development and ICT. Each of them addresses the link between sustainable development and digital technologies from a slightly different angle. However, the overlaps and blurred boundaries in the scope of research exist. Taking “Doughnut economics” as a foundation and inspired by the LES model, we propose a new conceptual framework to structure the ICT for Sustainability (ICT4S) research landscape. The new model encompasses both environmental and social effects in line with socio-ecological systems thinking. We go one step further and propose to incorporate a decision-making dimension to represent the research of the governance, strategies and policies with respect to ICT effects. We proceed by exploring how this framework could be used to position research fields and communities according to their scope of interest and, by doing so, find synergies between research communities and within the ICT4S landscape. Our aim is to contribute in creating tools to foster dialogue and bridge fragmented research fields and communities interested in ICT impacts on sustainable development

Sustainability analysis on Urban Mobility based on Social Media content

Urban transport became an important element in the promotion of strategies towards sustainability, in fact one of the challenges posed by booming urban populations is the question of mobility. Traditional travel survey methods used to study urban mobility are very expensive, and the data collected are of poor quality. This is mainly explained because of the difficulty of getting a representative sample of the population, and the lack of motivated participants. Therefore, travel surveys are carried out less and less frequently, and the result is that good travel data is not available to develop mobility and travel behaviour studies. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) offer the opportunity to improve traditional travel survey methods, decreasing bias in the data, reducing respondent burden, and increasing data quality. On the other hand, nowadays the User Generated Content (UGC) is growing very fast in Internet. Social media have become a valuable source for knowledge but there is a big gap in the automatic Sentiment Analysis with Semantic taxonomy annotation of online textual content. The aim of this research is to identify sustainability issues related to urban mobility based in the perceptions and experiences that underlie in the UGC. The methodology follows a quantitative and qualitative content analysis using Sentiment Analysis techniques. This paper demonstrates empirically the feasibility of the automatic identification of the Sustainable Urban Mobility problems in the discourses generated by the UGC, through a powerful ad-hoc software combining Natural Language Processing and Sentiment Analysis field tools. The main contribution of this work is the development of a tool and methodology on sustainability analysis on urban environment. Our approach enriches the data of the traditional surveys, extends traditional analysis with Big-Data methods, using data mining algorithms and Natural Language Processing techniques to extract urban mobility information from Social Media data. These data include important information about activities and travels, and can help to improve our understanding of urban mobility

Challenges and complexities in application of LCA approaches in the case of ICT for a sustainable future

In this work, three of many ICT-specific challenges of LCA are discussed. First, the inconsistency versus uncertainty is reviewed with regard to the meta-technological nature of ICT. As an example, the semiconductor technologies are used to highlight the complexities especially with respect to energy and water consumption. The need for specific representations and metric to separately assess products and technologies is discussed. It is highlighted that applying product-oriented approaches would result in abandoning or disfavoring of new technologies that could otherwise help toward a better world. Second, several believed-untouchable hot spots are highlighted to emphasize on their importance and footprint. The list includes, but not limited to, i) User Computer-Interfaces (UCIs), especially screens and displays, ii) Network-Computer Interlaces (NCIs), such as electronic and optical ports, and iii) electricity power interfaces. In addition, considering cross-regional social and economic impacts, and also taking into account the marketing nature of the need for many ICT's product and services in both forms of hardware and software, the complexity of End of Life (EoL) stage of ICT products, technologies, and services is explored. Finally, the impact of smart management and intelligence, and in general software, in ICT solutions and products is highlighted. In particular, it is observed that, even using the same technology, the significance of software could be highly variable depending on the level of intelligence and awareness deployed. With examples from an interconnected network of data centers managed using Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) technology and smart cooling systems, it is shown that the unadjusted assessments could be highly uncertain, and even inconsistent, in calculating the management component's significance on the ICT impacts.Comment: 10 pages. Preprint/Accepted of a paper submitted to the ICT4S Conferenc

The Revolution of Mobile Phone-Enabled Services for Agricultural Development (m-Agri Services) in Africa: The Challenges for Sustainability

The provision of information through mobile phone-enabled agricultural information services (m-Agri services) has the potential to revolutionise agriculture and significantly improve smallholder farmers’ livelihoods in Africa. Globally, the benefits of m-Agri services include facilitating farmers’ access to financial services and sourcing agricultural information about input use, practices, and market prices. There are very few published literature sources that focus on the potential benefits of m-Agri services in Africa and none of which explore their sustainability. This study, therefore, explores the evolution, provision, and sustainability of these m-Agri services in Africa. An overview of the current landscape of m-Agri services in Africa is provided and this illustrates how varied these services are in design, content, and quality. Key findings from the exploratory literature review reveal that services are highly likely to fail to achieve their intended purpose or be abandoned when implementers ignore the literacy, skills, culture, and demands of the target users. This study recommends that, to enhance the sustainability of m-Agri services, the implementers need to design the services with the users involved, carefully analyse, and understand the target environment, and design for scale and a long-term purpose. While privacy and security of users need to be ensured, the reuse or improvement of existing initiatives should be explored, and projects need to be data-driven and maintained as open source. Thus, the study concludes that policymakers can support the long-term benefit of m-Agri services by ensuring favourable policies for both users and implementers

Public access to environmental information: Past, present and future

Since the late 1960s and the "environmental revolution", information and information systems have been an integral part of the environmental debate. In the decade that has passed since the Rio conference and the establishment of the "sustainable development" principle, there have been legislative and practical moves to open access to environmental information for all stakeholders that are involved in environmental decision making processes. In this paper, the origins of environmental information and public environmental information systems are explored and scrutinised. The paper questions the current state of the art in environmental information provision, and offers some directions for possible improvements. © 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd

A Vehicle for Research: Using Street Sweepers to Explore the Landscape of Environmental Community Action

Researchers are developing mobile sensing platforms to facilitate public awareness of environmental conditions. However, turning such awareness into practical community action and political change requires more than just collecting and presenting data. To inform research on mobile environmental sensing, we conducted design fieldwork with government, private, and public interest stakeholders. In parallel, we built an environmental air quality sensing system and deployed it on street sweeping vehicles in a major U.S. city; this served as a "research vehicle" by grounding our interviews and affording us status as environmental action researchers. In this paper, we present a qualitative analysis of the landscape of environmental action, focusing on insights that will help researchers frame meaningful technological interventions.Comment: 10 page