to store and access their data in a virtually distributed way—that is to say, to free people of the requirement to maintain their own local, physical storage devices. The trend toward cloud computing has huge implications for interaction design and human mental models of interactivity. As Terrenghi and her colleagues noted in their 2010 CHI Work-in-Progress paper, “As resources are no longer physically stored on a specific device, it becomes clear that cloud computing influences the user mental model and experience with digital artifacts, especially in terms of organization and retrieval of information.” [ 2] Cloud computing creates both the desire and holds the potential to prompt a consistent interface that fits situations at hand and yields a consistent cognitive mapping across a multiplicity of access devices.

Interaction design includes two fields: interface design, including physical device and software interactivity—which pertains to human interactivity with computer devices and networks—and service design—which pertains to intangible products consisting of objects, people, networks, and brands. With respect to cloud computing, where the interface or device is a point of access to the data stored in different, amorphous “clouds,” service design is an essential framing of the design of interconnectedness of these points of access [ 3].

To date, there are not a lot of
examples of interaction design
targeted at cloud comput-
ing. Terrenghi et al.’s design for
Cloudroom is based on smart-
phones. Their idea is to provide an
interactive application for visual-
ization and management of sources
in the cloud-computing paradigm—
in their words, “an ubiquitous
access point to private and shared
data.” They have conducted some
limited user studies. Some other
examples are arguably outside of
HCI and interaction design, but
include studies by Guo et al. and
Keahey et al. [ 4].

and services of cloud service providers. The idea of product labeling in the service of sustainability awareness has been taken up by Bonanni et al. and some others [ 5]. There is an opportunity to apply some of this work in the context of cloud computing.

implications of the Energy Star Program in the Context of Cloud Computing

The Energy Star Program (www. energystar.gov) is not specifically associated with HCI literature, but it is nonetheless an important mechanism of awareness for people to understand the relative effects of certain systems compared to certain other systems. The Energy Star Program uses consumer labeling and even tax incentives to promote the reduction of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Energy Star Program sets
an example for the HCI and design
fields and other sustainability-
related fields to address motivating
questions such as:
• How can design raise aware-
ness among general populations
about the negative effects of
greenhouse-gas emissions on the
environment?

• How can design induce companies and industrial segments to direct resources toward energy efficiency?

• How can design promote an understanding among consumers about the link between what they buy and the environment, and how can consumer demand promote green corporate practices?

In considering the Energy Star Program with respect to cloud computing and HCI and design, we need to ask if similar forms of product labeling for environmentally conscious consumers can be created for the virtual products

inventory of issues

In addition to mapping, we record
the following list of issues that
frame the implications of cloud
computing and sustainability in the
perspective of HCI and design:
• What are the factors that
affect energy use as consumers
and enterprise shift to cloud
computing?

• Does cloud computing induce sustainable or unsustainable behaviors?

• What is the role of HCI and interaction design in promoting sustainable practices in a cloud-based computing world?

• How does cloud computing
relate to similar notions in HCI and
pervasive computing, such as to
Weiser’s notions of dynamic owner-
ship of computing devices? [ 6]
• Does cloud computing hold the
possibility of inducing less dispos-
ability and increased durability of
personal digital devices, or is the
opposite more likely?

• What are the trade-offs in potential energy use between the widespread advent of cloud computing, compared with the continued use of widely distributed personal-computing resources, and is there a middle ground between these possibilities?

• Who can affect the kind of
energy sources that are used to
implement cloud computing
apropos of sustainable energy
choices? [ 1]
• Can cloud efficiencies and
interactivity reduce energy use? [ 1]

January + February 2011