Designing Interactions to Counter Threats to Human Survival

Abstract

This article proposes a new framework for interaction design that contends explicitly with the challenges of implementing sustainable development in the real world. It first examines the interactions between and among the Four Systems—nature, human, cyber, and artificial—which impact every single aspect of human existence. Human activity in pursuit of perpetual economic growth has become a threat to human survival. Redressing the balance among the Four Systems will require a radical shift in human ways of living, both individual and collective. However, there are many, mostly human-related factors preventing people from taking effective action at either level. These factors can be categorized as visibility, motivation, collaboration, and adherence issues. To better face these challenges, this article argues that Sustainable Social Interaction Design—a new design agenda—should be encouraged. It involves designing and managing a sustainable human world using the ideas, methods, and tools of interaction design to stimulate and maintain positive interactions within the Four Systems. The cyber system, which involves interactive systems that function at the societal level, offers novel possibilities to facilitate such an agenda. This article further argues that Interactive Hybrid Communities, which combine the virtual and the real worlds together, can contribute significantly to incubating sustainable interactions, as they can intensify communication, include multiple levels of actors, consolidate connections, reinforce feedback, and facilitate consensus. Keywords: The Four Systems, Human-computer interaction, DesignX, Sustainable social interaction design, Community building