This issue is a quiet call to arms. Each of the articles are this time subtle, and solid, and focused. These articles don't make demands, but instead insist that the call to arms is personal. The authors of these pieces recognize that the work we do on a daily basis must make incremental steps towards value, and positive cultural and social change. Perhaps you can think of this as a quiet issue, one that underscores a sense of Big Stick Diplomacy for undertaking creative efforts in corporations and consultancies alike...

Click to continue reading "interactions: A Quiet Call to Arms".

While discussion of sustainability now permeates our culture, few offer pragmatic insights into the problem: too often, the conversation is held at an accusatory level, creating a monologue of noise with little actionable results. In our cover story, we are proud to introduce James Pierce and David Roedl, who offer a detailed, insightful, and actionable critique on sustainable interactions. Pierce and Roedl examine and reflect on six interactive designs which actively promote more sustainable interactions with respect to energy usage in the home; as they describe, "a new mental model is needed, and interaction designers can and should play a role in bringing this change... it is daily interactions with the ecology of energy-consuming products which help construct our underlying conception of and relationship to energy in general".

James and David are both master's students in the human-computer interaction / design program at Indiana University and members of the Sustainable Interaction Design Research Group. James is presently investigating the areas of sustainable interaction design and interaction criticism, while David's research extends into the design of interactive data visualizations as a means to motivate environmental responsibility.

We hope you enjoy this important story, as well as the other important pieces offered in this issue. Click here to continue exploring "Changing Energy Use Through Design".