Presentation to IAT 801 (graduate class) by Johnny Rodgers.

1. Supporting sustainable
decision-making in the home
Johnny Rodgers
IAT 801 • Feb. 2nd, 2010
johnny.hcssl.iat.sfu.ca
thenegawatt.tumblr.com

2. Introduction
• My research seeks to enable awareness of the consumption of
residential resources through information visualization in order to
support informed decision-making and achieve sustainability.
•
residential resources: utilities such as electrical energy, water, and gas used
in a residential context. This does not extend to supplemental residential
resources such as food, clothing, etc.
• information visualization: graphical displays of data, both interactive and
non-interactive, on a variety of platforms and displays and using a variety of
approaches.
• informed decision-making: tactical and strategic decisions about resource
consumption informed by reliable data.

3. Keywords
• Sustainability
• “In our every deliberation we must consider the impacts of our
decisions on the next seven generations.” (Great Law of the Iroquois
Confederacy)
• Take into account “all children of all species, for all time.” (William
McDonough)
• The present generation meeting its needs without prejudicing the
ability of future generations meeting theirs.
• The characteristic of being able to coexist with another system
indefinitely, without either system being damaged.

4. Inspiration

5. Many Possible Approaches
• Information Visualization
• Interaction Design
• Distributed/Ubiquitous Computing
• Informative Art
• Mobile computing
• combine to create...
➡ An information and visualization ecosystem

6. Analytical Monitoring

7. Distributed Feedback

8. Feedback at point of consumption

9. Informative Art

10. Supporting Sustainability in the Home
Concept Map
Community
Resource Production
Resource Use
Information and Visualization Ecosystem
Feedback
Sustainability
Embodied Awareness
Knowledge
Habit-Forming Attitude Change
Behaviour Change

11. Literatures

12. Research Problem
• Existing research on information visualization of resource consumption
has not yet systematically identified the elements of information
display – what information to present and in what form – that can be
directly linked to a reduction in residential resource use.
• Existing research has not united an understanding of the psychological
and social factors at play in motivating resource conservation with
design solutions that leverage these factors to be effective.
• Antecedents (information and feedback), consequences (incentives and
disincentives), social influences (commitments, norms)

13. Goals
• Map the dimensions of resource consumption visualization techniques
• Apply the motivational factors for resource conservation to the design of
feedback systems
• Determine guidelines for establishing meaningful resource use baselines
for different individuals and different contexts
• Explore the design and implementation of information/visualization
ecosystems to support sustainable decision-making

14. Projects (Worldview)
• Assumption of “learn by doing”
• Desire to develop practical skills
• Importance of real-world context

15. Projects: North House

16. Projects: West House

17. Question(s)
• How does resource consumption in the home relate to the feedback
types available to residents?
• How do residents describe their attitudes toward resource consumption
and what tools do residents use to monitor their use?
• How much time do residents spend monitoring and adjusting their
resource consumption?
• How can information visualization help residents make effective tactical
and strategic decisions for resource conservation?
• What baseline should resource consumption be measured against (net-
zero, past average, one earth footprint, community average, etc)?

18. Method
• Mixed Methods approach
• only way to answer the question...
• QUANT: system monitoring and instrumentation
• QUAL: journaling, interviews
• Still lots to work out here...

19. Contribution & Relevance
• Make the world a better place...this matters to everyone
• Make my city a better place
• Enable other designers/researchers to reliably implement
effective feedback strategies
• Explore (define?) (some of) the parameters of an information
visualization ecosystem

20. Questions?