Noticing the Environment – A Design Ethnography of Urban Farming

Abstract

Sustainable HCI attempts to shift focus beyond humans, to care for both ourselves and our environment. In this paper, we build on this growing interest and contribute with a design ethnography of urban farming. We focus on practices of observing and gathering data about the environment which we frame as ‘noticing’. In our analysis, three approaches to noticing the environment were identified, and design suggestions were developed for each approach: Green Thumbs (control-oriented), Dirty Nails (sensibility-oriented) and BeeNoculars (appreciation-oriented). The design suggestions, presented as posters, focus on ways to improve the alignment of the acquisition and display of data with the identified approaches. We discuss two themes: the noticing and balancing of systemic relations and needs, and sensory-rich experiences of the environment. The paper contributes to a broader discussion in HCI of how technologies could create a different understanding of and relationship to the environment.