Redesigning from a more-than-human perspective

Summary

This teaching activity builds further on the teaching activity Ecosystems and entanglement. In this teaching activity students apply the insights from the embodied activity to their own projects by making a tangible ecosystem web (from popsicle sticks and yarn). This contextual ecosystem web supports understanding the specific ecosystem involved around the design at the start of a project and promotes consideration of the more-than-human world. In a later stage, it allows students to assess how their design impacts this ecosystem and supports them in defining concrete design requirements to improve more-than-human inclusivity. Students document positive and negative impacts elicited by design on more-than-human actors, noting the design elements causing these impacts and their intensity. In turn, this will spark a collaborative brainstorm on redesign suggestions to mitigate negative impacts. This exercise concludes with a reflection on the use of this method.

Motivation

This teaching activity enables students to recognize the broader implications of their designs and encourages responsible, sustainable practices. Additionally, it prompts students to consider the needs of and impacts on more-than-human actors.

The hands-on, reflective nature of the exercise ensures that students can apply this method of analysing both positive and negative impacts and brainstorming redesign solutions for their projects, making the learning experience practical and relevant. Collaborative learning is also emphasized, as working in groups and discussing insights promotes the sharing of diverse perspectives and enriches the overall learning experience.

Learning outcomes

After the teaching activity students should be able to:

• Identify the impact of a design in an ecosystem.
• Construct a dynamic web of the ecosystem affected by the design, identifying relationships and opportunities for redesign from a more-than-human perspective.
• Reflect on and discuss the insights gained from the activity and propose ways to apply this method in future projects.
• Reflect on their role and responsibilities as designers within the more-than-human world.

Teacher guidance

Preparations:

• Gather the necessary materials:
  • Instruction sheet
  • Flat popsicle sticks (±30 pcs.)
  • Pens
  • Impact worksheets (printed) (3x, reuse unused ones)
  • Redesign worksheets (printed) (1x, reuse unused ones)
  • Bright coloured yarn (± 5m)
  • (fabric) scissors
  • (masking)tape
  • Mini clothespins (±30 pcs.)
• Assess the availability of a natural environment that represents the context of the product to be redesigned.
• Consider how various locations, with their unique local materials, can offer varied activity experiences.
• Plan for weather conditions, especially for on-site activities, to ensure a smooth execution.
• Consider possibilities of using natural materials in and from the context as substitutes for the material list provided in this teaching pattern, and/or how to reuse or recycle others.
• Reflect on how the type of materials used in the activity can influence the types of discussions and reflections.
• Evaluate the group’s knowledge level on ecosystems and more-than-human design to determine the necessary amount of pre-introduction. Adjust the provided PowerPoint slides accordingly.
• Remember that seasonality is important, as environmental circumstances can significantly change the observed ecosystem, leading to different outcomes. Therefore, the time of year will affect the activity.
• Positive rewards (pieces of fruit) are defined for representing positive impacts caused by the design. However, you may consider substitutes like the following:
  • Something found on-site (e.g., feathers, leaves, pinecone)
  • Backpack decoration (e.g., ribbon, button)

Step 1: Lecture and Exercise, Group size: All and Project groups, Time: 60 min 

1. The teacher explains to the students what they are going to do in the activity, shows an example and shortly reminds them of the concepts discussed in the teaching activity about Experiencing Ecosystems and Entanglement. The students all have a project that they are working on or want to adapt.  
2. Consider the (potential) context of the design (e.g., production area, use area, after-life area). Visit this place to execute the activity. Respect the more-than-humans encountered during this activity.
3. Which more-than-human actors may be impacted by the design…
   • …during the production process
   • …during the product use
   • …during the afterlife

Try to ideate different types of actors. Make sure you represent both abiotic (e.g., sun) and biotic factors. The latter should consist of different trophic structure layers: primary producers (plants), consumers (e.g., animals, bacteria), detrivores (e.g., worms), and decomposers (fungi).

Put masking tape over the edge of a popsicle stick (see instruction sheet) to create space for writing on both sides and take this off after the activity for reusability of the sticks. Write each actor name on both sides of the sticks on the tape.

First ideate individually on possible actors. Look around you, what actors do you notice? To dive into more detail, use an identification app such as ObsIdentify to distinguish species and learn about their specific traits. 

• In case having defined more actors than available popsicle sticks, search for actors that may be ambassadors of others. For example, ‘bird’ could be an ambassador of ‘crow’, ‘dove’ and ‘sparrow’.

Step 2: Exercise, Group size: Project groups, Time: 90 min

1. Consider the interrelations between all defined actors. How are they related to one another? Reveal the more-than-human ecosystem web and its relationships by connecting the popsicle sticks with yarn (see instruction sheet). Consider the following relationships, but try to find more:
   • Habitat
   • Nutrients
   • Fertilization
   • Food, etc. 
2. Consider how the design impacts the more-than-human actors and their relationships positively or negatively for the entire product life span:
   • …during the production process
   • …during the product use
   • …during the afterlife
   • For each phase of the life span, write negative or positive impacts down on the provided impact-worksheets by answering the questions. 
   • Tip: look up all materials used in the design and their impact on ecosystems.
   • Observe how the impact ripples through the ecosystem by carefully wiggling the actor popsicle sticks of the most intensely impacted actors back and forth. Identify where the impact is the largest. In case there are multiple actors impacted most, create a separate worksheet for each actor. 
3. Design opportunities are presented through defining negative impacts on the more-than-human actors. How could the negative impacts be decreased? Consider which actors are impacted most severely by negative impacts in the ecosystem and prioritize them. 
4. Ideate redesign suggestions for each impact worksheet by filling in a redesign worksheet and attaching this to the impact worksheets by tape. Prioritize the impacts with the highest severity. Together, the worksheets will serve as the ultimate redesign recipe. 
   • Use the worksheets as a to-do list to inform the next steps in your design process, further investigating and implementing the redesign suggestions.
5. After brainstorming all redesign solutions, clean up the activity by gathering all the materials used. Make sure no materials are left behind in the ecosystem.

Step 3: Discussion, Group size: All, Time: 30 min
Share the insights of the activity with other groups and discuss differences in the mappings/actors included.

Questions for assessment

• How did your approach differ from that of a fellow student? 
• What are the pros and cons of using this method in the design process?
• How would you apply this to other projects?
• How would you adapt this method to fit your own project?

Recommended readings

De Roo, B., & Ganzevles, G. A. (2023). The umwelt-sketch as more-than-human design methodology. Designing Interactive Systems Conference. https://doi.org/10.1145/3563703.3596628

Use this paper as inspiration and comparison material for students to reflect on or to assess them, considering the method.