Research into the values motivating unsustainable behavior has generated unique insight into how NGOs and environmental campaigns contribute toward successfully fostering significant and long-term behavior change, yet thus far this research has not been applied to the domain of sustainable HCI. We explore the implications of this research as it relates to the potential limitations of current approaches to persuasive technology, and what it means for designing higher impact interventions. As a means of communicating these implications to be readily understandable and implementable, we develop a set of antipatterns to describe persuasive technology approaches that values research suggests are unlikely to yield significant sustainability wins, and a complementary set of patterns to describe new guidelines for what may become persuasive technology best practice.
Artist-researchers Lisa May Thomas (center, left panel) & David Glowacki (center right panel) guiding audienceparticipants through multi-person VR workshops (photo courtesy of Stu Allsop, taken during the "Future Knowledge" program at Modern Art
Dominant approaches to developing more sustainable ways of living are often underpinned by the modern values and knowledge that have been instrumental in creating our unsustainable world. Such approaches tend to emphasise reducing unsustainability via technological fixes rather than addressing sustainability more comprehensively. This paper argues that more traditional forms of knowledge (associated with deeper ecological, spiritual and ethical values) are important for addressing sustainability more holistically. To demonstrate this, we present and discuss the Miswak Toothbrush designed by the lead author. The Miswak Toothbrush has been designed to appeal to modern teeth cleaning customs but its brush head is made from Miswak, a natural twig that has a long tradition of use for teeth cleaning in rural India. This paper contributes insights into what contemporary product design can learn from traditional knowledge by discussing the implications of the Miswak Toothbrush for the development of a more meaningful and more sustainable material culture.
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