Indiana University | eblevis@indiana.edu
Susan Coleman Morse
Indiana University | colemans@indiana.edua
[ 1] This edition of Sustainably Ours advances some themes uncovered in research by the permaculture research group of the Sustainable Interaction Design Research Group (SIDRG) at Indiana University-Bloomington, namely Susan Coleman Morse, Rajasee Rege, Xi Zhu, Feixing Tuang, Brandon Stephens, and Eli Blevis. .
March + April 2009
[ 2] Mollison, B.C. and D. Holmgren. (1978). Permaculture 1: A Perennial Agricultural System for Human Settlements. Hobart, Australia: Environmental Psychology, University of Tasmania.
Permaculture, urban farming, and locavorism—all are newly familiar terms that we define in this month’s forum and that are implicated in sustainable lifestyles. All denote opportunities for interaction designers [ 1]. By opportunities, we mean not only potential applications of interactive technologies to help where no interactive technologies have been previously applied, but also the potential use of interactive technologies to more broadly distribute the cherishable wisdom of those who practice simpler, more sustainable, more natural heirloom and traditional forms of food culture and land use.
Much has been made of the digital divide as a condition that groups us into IT haves and have-nots. High-profile projects such as One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and NIIT’s Hole-in-the-Wall (also known as minimally invasive education) are targeted at providing interactive information technologies to those who would otherwise be on the “wrong side” of the digital divide. Such projects are not only admirable but also controversial— perhaps the topic of another edition of this forum. Another, perhaps more thoughtful, conception of the digital divide is one that sees interactive technologies not so much as a treasure to be shared by affluent cultures with less fortunate ones, but as a two-way mediating and knowledge-sharing technology between the natural world treasured by certain cultures and the increasingly complex digital world of others. To put it another way, we in the industrialized world might be better off learning about conservationism and simple living than conceiving of social equity as something attainable only through the industrial-world consumption of digital technologies.
To be sure, not everyone who is poor lives simply and in harmony with nature. The global situation is much more complex than that. What we are advocating is the conception of interactive digital technologies as a means for sharing knowledge between cultures and as a multidirectional con-
duit. One thing worth sharing is knowledge of food and affinity for the natural world and its sustainable use and preservation. Such knowledge appears to be highly distributed and oftentimes rare.
The motivations for learning about and practicing sustainable food and land-use culture are manifold: ensuring a secure local food supply, living according to an ethos of sustainability, bridging the digital divide by developing an affinity for stewardship of the natural world rather than the export of digital materialism, and finding meaning outside of the world of material cultures.
Before we can delimit the opportunities for interaction designers, we should define a number of practices relateded to alternative land use and food culture.
Permaculture. The practice of designing land for sustainable, agricultural use–the idea of permaculture is not just about food, but also about sustainable use of the land. The permaculture movement appears to trace back to Australians Mollison and Holmgren [ 2].
Urban vegetable gardens and urban farming. It is nowadays not uncommon for people to transform their lawns and outdoor space into urban or suburban farms, whether to grow food for personal use, to sell in local markets, or both. Just as owning a hybrid electric car is more fashionable than owning an SUV in many circles, having a lawn full of vegetables may one day become more fashionable than having a manicured lawn.
Locavorism. A food ideology that denotes a preference for local foods over imported ones. The sustainability implications of consuming locally produced foods rather than those that travel to reach consumers are obvious.
Food co-ops. Food cooperatives are not a new phenomenon, but they represent a community-owned alternative to supermarket chains.
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