Greetings from

Silicon Heaven,

As the importance of minimising e-waste and increasing sustainability increase, exploring the design matters impacting the transience of digital technologies has become a key concern.  We know that the number of connected everyday objects, known as the Internet of Things (IoT) is only projected to increase in the near future and is set to contribute to rising e-waste.  We are also curious about the fate of what have been identified as ‘unaccounted for’ objects  that may include ‘interstitial’  and forgotten electronic objects. 

In this workshop we will explore IoT sustainability through the metaphorical lens of the lives, deaths, and afterlives of electronic objects. Participants will create obituaries for IoT objects and postcards from the afterlife that will help us question the emotional, ethical, aesthetic and ecological implications of objects reaching the end of their life. We will use role-play, making and interviews to explore the end-of-life of IoT objects.

Drawing upon our work for the EPSRC Fixing the Future Project, we anticipate that the discussions and collaborations that emerge through the workshop will generate design themes that contribute to the wider agendas and communities advocating for the Right-to-Repair of IoT devices globally.

The workshop will be held in person at NordiCHI ‘24 in Uppsala, Sweden on the 13th of October 2024 from. This is a full-day workshop. For more details visit https://www.nordichi2024.se/. 

To attend the workshop, sign up at https://forms.gle/mdcTfrhoP1pS5WNdA

Please apply by 1st September 2024 for the early-bird registration. Applications received before the early-bird registration will be given preference. 

Please upload a position paper (500 words) in pdf format when signing up. This should include- A short bio, a description of a previous work or project with images and your interest in the workshop. 

We will select participants based on the position papers submitted. We would like to have participants with a broad range of skills and interests in the workshop. 

Selected participants will be required to register for NordiCHI ‘24 at https://www.nordichi2024.se/

Selected participants will be asked to access a set of resources including news articles and papers as background reading prior to the workshop. These resources will be provided on the workshop website.

For information contact n.primlani@napier.ac.uk

View the Workshop Paper

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