| 1. |
- Andersson, Camilla, et al.
(author)
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Materializing “Ruling Relations” : A Case of Gender, Power and Elder Care in Sweden
- 2017
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This paper reflects upon our critical (feminist) design research approach developed in response to the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (Vinnova)’s innovation program on equality. As a pilot of the program, the subject of our research is equality within elder care work, a female-dominated employment sector with particular gender and power dynamics. We have responded to this program and sector by rethinking our research methodologies and critical design research method. Inspired by institutional ethnography and the concept of ‘ruling relations’, our research approach involves critical design to materialize structural inequalities manifested within the everyday micro-practices of care work. Stories and sketches (as ‘material theses’) were generated through qualitative fieldwork involving ‘research through design’ processes to observe, document, explore, interpret, discuss and communicate gendered practices of elder care. Three themes emerged along the way, which articulate ruling relations revealed within elder care work. This research case is reported here along with reflections about the potentials of critical design as a (feminist) research approach capable of more critically interrogating power and positionality within design and innovation. From our perspective, equality as a policy and subject of research – including design research – calls for critical (and feminist) theoretical and methodological development.
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| 2. |
- Andersson, Camilla, et al.
(author)
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Who cares about those who care? : Design and technologies of power in Swedish elder care
- 2019
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In: Proceedings of the Nordic Design Research Conference. ; , s. 1-9
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Design is increasingly recognized as an instrument of power. We explore power in the context of the Swedish welfare state and care institutions, which are undergoing political and structural reconfiguration as new technologies are introduced. Our aim is to better understand the effects of designed technologies within care institution and over care workers. Through our research, we have identified deviances, or gaps, between institutional policies and daily working practices, in which workers must cope within a grey zone of legality. Against this backdrop, we bring together and discuss concepts from philosopher Michel Foucault and sociologist Dorothy Smith in order to frame issues of power relevant to design. We elaborate upon these issues through a discussion of our project set in Swedish elder care institutions. Three 'research through (critical) design' examples illustrate ways and extents to which power is exerted over care workers. We discuss effects upon their subjectivity, including how their knowledge and agency can risk being ignored or overruled. Ultimately, we argue for design research to examine and articulate the (powerful) role of design in such contexts. We see this as a form of 'De-Scription' and active 'mapping' that can open up for wider debate and reconfigurations of power.
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| 3. |
- Avila, Martin, et al.
(author)
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3Ecologies
- 2013. - 24
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In: SWITCH! Design and everyday energy ecologies. - Stockholm, Sweden : Interactive Institute Swedish ICT. - 9789198092400 - 9789198092417 ; , s. 45-80
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- ‘3Ecologies’ makes visible factors affecting the sustainability of consumer products. Including environmental, sociological and psychological factors in production and consumption, 3Ecologies challenges prevalent models of sustainability to emphasize human agency and consequences. Sustainability is mapped over time — as histories and potential futures of products — through lifespan and extended lifecycle(s). Under development as an open-source internet application, graphical eco-labeling scheme and interactive museum installation, 3Ecologies develops novel techniques for dynamic information visualization, interactive story-telling and user interaction. By providing a long view upon the ‘life’ of things we might ordinarily take for granted, the project aims to engage a broad audience in ecological thinking.
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| 4. |
- Avila, Martin, et al.
(author)
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3Ecologies: Visualizing sustainability factors and futures
- 2010. - 9
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- ‘3Ecologies’ makes visible factors affecting the sustainability of consumer products. Within engineering and economics, there are a variety of models for analyzing and ‘predicting’ the environmental factors such as energy, emissions and waste involved during production, consumption and disposal. We develop an expanded model, which emphasizes human impact and choices as well as potential consequences and futures. Psychological, sociological and environmental factors are mapped over time – throughout the lifespan (production, purchase, use, and disposal) and the extended lifecycle(s) of products. Case studies of familiar products in everyday life are developed to demonstrate the conceptual model, and three applications are proposed to reach designers, consumers and the general public. 3Ecologies uses diagrams and narratives to visualize the history and possible futures of products, including natural disintegration, active recycling and unexpected adaptations – an alternative view upon the ‘life’ of things that we might ordinarily take for granted.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Backlund, Sara, et al.
(author)
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STATIC! The Aesthetics of Energy in Everyday Things
- 2007. - 1
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In: Proceedings of Design Research Society Wonderground International Conference 2006.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Abstract: Static! is a project investigating interaction and product design as a way of increasing our awareness of how energy is used in everyday life. Revisiting the design of everyday things with focus on issues related to energy use, we have developed a palette of design examples in the form of prototypes, conceptual design proposals and use scenarios, to be used as a basis for communication and discussion with users and designers. With respect to design research and practice, the aim has been to develop a more profound understanding of energy as material in design, including its expressive and aesthetic potential, thus locating issues related to energy use at the centre of the design process.
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| 7. |
- Bergström, Jenny, et al.
(author)
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Becoming materials : material forms and forms of practice
- 2010
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In: Digital Creativity. - : Routledge. - 1462-6268 .- 1744-3806. ; 21:3, s. 155-172
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- As a result of development toward ‘smart’ materials, materials now enable an expanding range of aesthetic expressions and user experiences. These materials are fundamentally temporal in their capacity to assume multiple, discrete states of expression that can be repeatedly and minutely controlled. These materials come to be, or become, only over time and in context—they are becoming materials. Thus, in the development and application of such materials, we must engage more extensively with the experience of materials in practices of design and of use. This paper introduces and discusses the concept of becoming materials—as well as the implications for practice—through a series of examples from our own practice-led research within art, design and architecture. Coming to terms with the implications for material practices of design and of use, we suggest, requires the development of new concepts and methods for doing and studying the design of becoming materials.
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| 8. |
- Bergström, Jenny, et al.
(author)
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Symbiots
- 2013. - 17
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In: SWITCH! Design and everyday energy ecologies. - Stockholm : Interactive Institute Swedish ICT. - 9789198092400 - 9789198092417 ; , s. 159-200
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- ‘Symbiots’ imagines forms in the urban landscape that operate parasitically — emerging and thriving when households or neighborhoods reduce energy consumption. For people, the provision of these as public functions acts as a reward. For Symbiots, it lures people away from their private habitats and energy-consuming habits, thus leaving more power for others in the electricity grid. The project queries increasing competition for natural resources and current human- (versus eco-) centered design paradigms. Symbiots takes the form of a photo series in the genre of contemporary hyperreal art photography. Produced as posters, these have been the basis for raising awareness and discussions with neighborhood residents.
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| 9. |
- Bergström, J., et al.
(author)
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Symbiots: Conceptual interventions into energy systems
- 2009. - 10
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In: Proceedings of NORDES.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Symbiots set out to examine values such as ease-of-use, comfort, and rationality assumed within conventions of ‘good design’, in order to expose issues related to energy consumption and current human- (versus eco-) centered design paradigms. Exploring re-interpretations of graphical patterns, architectural configurations and electrical infrastructure typical in Swedish cities, Symbiots takes the form of a photo series in the genre of contemporary hyper-real art photography. Painting a vivid picture of alternatives to current local priorities around energy consumption, the three design concepts depicted are strangely familiar, alternatively humorous and sinister.
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| 10. |
- Bergström, Jenny, et al.
(author)
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Telltale
- 2013. - 15
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In: SWITCH! Design and everyday energy ecologies. - Stockholm, Sweden : Interactive Institute Swedish ICT. - 9789198092400 - 9789198092417 ; , s. 101-132
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Book chapter (other academic/artistic)abstract
- 'Telltale' is a piece of furniture that collects traces of energy (mis)use. Connected remotely to a household’s electricity meter, it responds to increases or decreases in energy consumption. Increases cause its internal structure to become less robust and, when used in weakened states, its textile surface becomes prone to flaking, crackling and wrinkling. Telltale decomposes more or less quickly — users participate in the (de)formation of an object that tells them about themselves, others and the cumulative effect of local actions. A prototype has been built and studied within two households — alterations in household actions as well as family interactions were prompted by Telltale, evolving as the object changed over time in use.
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