ENSOULMENT AND SUSTAINABLE INTERACTION DESIGN

Abstract

This paper considers the concept of ensoulment in relation to the design principle of promoting quality & equality within Sustainable Interaction Design (SID). The design-theoretic origins and implications are discussed and the background needed to understand this concept and principle are stated. Appropriate design research methods are discussed. Parts of a completed survey are described and initial findings from an ongoing elicitation study for collecting personal inventories is also presented. The implications of the survey and elicitation study for larger scale design research are described, with an eye towards future research.

Full text

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ENSOULMENT AND SUSTAINABLE INTERACTION
DESIGN
Eli Blevis¹ and Erik Stolterman¹
¹School of Informatics, Indiana University at Bloomington, USA, estolter, eblevis@indiana.edu
ABSTRACT:
This paper considers the concept of ensoulment in relation to the design principle of promoting
quality & equality within Sustainable Interaction Design (SID). The design-theoretic origins and
implications are discussed and the background needed to understand this concept and principle
are stated. Appropriate design research methods are discussed. Parts of a completed survey are
described and initial findings from an ongoing elicitation study for collecting personal inventories is
also presented. The implications of the survey and elicitation study for larger scale design
research are described, with an eye towards future research.
1. INTRODUCTION
The emergent trend under study is the linking of concerns about sustainability—
environmental sustainability in particular—within the theory and practice of design with the

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materials of interactive, information technologies known as interaction design. Sustainability has
been a key issue in many design venues; nonetheless, its importance within the arena of
interaction design—also known as Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)—is a recent concern. This
paper focuses on the concept of ensoulment and the principle of promoting quality & equality as
catalysts to sustainable behaviors.
In Nelson & Stolterman (2003), the notion of “ensoulment” is introduced as a superlative to
notions of “quality” and “qualities” as metrics of design success. In Blevis (2006; 2007), a design
principle called “promoting quality & equality” is proposed as one of several principles targeted at
bringing notions of sustainability—environmental sustainability in particular—to the arena of
design in the context of human-computer interaction (HCI). In this paper, we consider the interplay
between notions of “ensoulment” and notions of “promoting quality & equality” in terms of the
material effects of design with the materials of information technologies, particularly in the context
of sustainable interaction design (SID).
The notion of “ensoulment” goes beyond the notion of quality to suggest a mechanism by which to
promote an aesthetic of well-loved designs in which “the meaning and value of a design is taken
in as a feeling of being deeply moved and as a consequence, a feeling of being significantly
changed” (Nelson & Stolterman, 2003:p.269). Ensoulment may be conceived not just as an
emergent quality of constituent qualities, but as part of an ethical imperative to promote
sustainable design.
The notion of “promoting quality & equality” goes beyond the notion of simple recycling and reuse
to suggest a mechanism
“(i) which includes the idea that the design of new objects or systems with embedded
materials of information technologies implies the need to consider quality as a construct of
affect and longevity, and quality in the sense of anticipating means of renewal and reuse,
thereby motivating the prolonged value of such objects or systems and providing equality
of experience to new owners of such objects and systems whenever ownership transfers,
and (ii) which includes the idea that things of poor quality invite disposal and are
unsuitable for bridging social divides; and that the aesthetics of disposability is a barrier to
sustainability and equality” (Blevis, 2007).

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The notion of sustainability is familiar in many design practices. Nonetheless, this notion is
relatively novel in the arena of HCI and design. In what follows, we claim that notions like
“ensoulment” and “promoting quality & equality” are essential parts of an ethical and sound
foundation for understanding the sustainability effects of design with the materials of information
technologies.
Even though this relationship has been studied in diverse fields with a broad set of methodologies,
there are very few studies that, from a design perspective, try to unfold what make designs
ensouled and care for by their owners, especially in a way that is useful for designers. One
assumption in this paper is that such knowledge could inform designers to better consider
sustainable design options not easily imagined or envisioned.
Also in what follows, we provide background and theory which make the case for our approach
and delimit the theoretical foundations and concepts that support our undertaking. We then
introduce two studies we have conducted and are conducting which are targeted at framing some
of the aspects that we see as central to our argument. We conclude the paper with a future
oriented discussion in which we explore the value of advancing research directions for sustainable
interaction design (SID) especially with respect to notions of promoting the longevity of artifacts.
2. BACKGROUND: SUSTAINABLE INTERACTION DESIGN
Sustainability as an issue of environmental and other concerns is now commonplace, even in
popular media. Nonetheless, sustainability as an issue of the design, use, and reuse of artifice
built with the materials of information technologies—what is commonly referred to as interaction
design or human-computer interaction (HCI)—is a very recent concern.
The notion of sustainable interaction design (SID) is first presented in (Blevis, 2006; 2007), where
the perspective of sustainability in the context of the materials of information technologies is
traced especially to writings by (Alexander, 2002; Fry, 1999; Heidegger, 1954; Willis, 2006;
Winograd & Flores, 1986). A special interest group meeting at the 2007 ACM CHI conference in
San Jose was organized by Mankoff and others (Mankoff et al., 2007). A number of other authors
have dealt with issues related to a values-rich interpretation of interaction design, including
(Dourish, 2006; Fallman, 2003; Friedman, et al. 2006; Friedman, 1977; Lowgren & Stolterman,
2004; Makelberge, 2003; Nardi, 1999). Several other authors have embedded concerns for

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sustainability and interaction design within their work, including (Makelberge, 2003; Stegall, 2006;
Reed et al., 2005; Thackara, 2005; Woolley, 2003). Finally, several authors have described the
notion of design as a critical reflective practice, primarily (Schön, 1983) and also (Cross, 2001;
Fallman, 2003; Lowgren & Stolterman, 2004; Norman, 1998; 2002; Papanek, 1985; Zimmerman
et al., 2007) and others. This conceptualization of design as a reflective practice motivates much
of the methodology described in this paper.
In (Blevis, 2006), a rubric of material effects for understanding interaction design is presented and
illustrated. The effects of the rubric are disposal, salvage, recycling, remanufacturing for reuse,
reuse as is, achieving longevity of use, sharing for maximal use, achieving heirloom status, finding
wholesome alternatives to use, and active repair of misuse. The material effects of
remanufacturing for reuse, reuse as is, achieving longevity of use, sharing for maximal use, and
achieving heirloom status all relate to the notion of ensoulment. The design principle of promoting
quality & equality is introduced in (Blevis, 2007) along with several other design principles relating
to sustainability in the context of interaction design and the notion of ensoulment is introduced in
(Nelson & Stolterman, 2003).
3. THEORY: ENSOULMENT
In (Nelson & Stolterman, 2003), the notion of ensoulment is postulated as a concept about
designed artifice that is not exclusively nor even explicitly tied to notions of sustainability.
Nonetheless, the implications of the notion of ensoulment for sustainable behaviors are apparent.
Ensouled things imply well-cared for things, looked-after things, durable and enduring things.
Such things lend themselves to sustainable behaviors more than things that are frequently
disposed.
The notion of ensoulment by Nelson & Stolterman is not defined as a separate quality of an
artifact. Instead ensoulment can be seen as an emergent overall “quality”. In daily language we
say that we need to “put our souls” into something. Such expressions reveal that there is a belief
that if we put a lot of effort, focus, energy, carefulness in details, and so forth into the design and
production of an artifact, we can “ensoul” the artifact. One of the aimed-for “effects” of ensoulment
is based on the assumption that if an artifact is ensouled, the “user” or owner will recognize it and
see the artifact as more valuable. This is way of thinking about designed objects that has been
argued in other writings (Alexander,1979; Hillman, 1992). Even though Alexander uses a different

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concept, his argumentation is similar. The notion he uses is “timelessness”. Coming from
architecture, he addresses the question of why certain buildings become timeless and others do
not. In architecture it is well known that when a building is commonly understood as “ensouled” or
“timeless” it will be taken care of—in some cases in the human sense of forever. Hillman uses the
notion of “soul” to describe the quality we can find in places and things that has been designed
and made by the careful attention to details (“notitia”) of the maker.
In (Verbeek, 2005), Verbeek argues for a philosophy of technology that is not focused on the
preconditions of technology or the technology as a societal “force” or “system”. Instead he argues
that we have in our analysis of technology to focus on the things themselves. He refers to a Dutch
organization called "Eternally Yours" (www.eternally-yours.nl), organized by industrial designers.
The purpose of this group’s approach is to focus on lengthening what they call a product's
"psychological lifetime". Verbeek writes
"Most products are thrown away long before they are broken or obsolete, usually because
of changing tastes and fashions. Eternally Yours attempts to combat this tendency of
products to wind up prematurely in the landfill by designing products that invite people to
become attached to them. Eternally Yours strives to achieve what the Italian designer
Enzio Manzini calls "caring for objects". Products must be allowed the possibility to "grow
old in a dignified way", and so to break out of our implicit cultural assumption that artifacts
only have a limited lifetime and instrumental value. In order to stimulate this kind of
attachment, as I show, one first has to analyze the relations between human beings and
artifacts. The post-phenomenological perspective can make important contributions in
precisely this area."
In a review of the book by the philosopher of technology, Albert Borgmann (Borgmann, 2005) the
book is praised, but Borgmann adds the essential query
"What's the aggregate effect of all the devices at people's disposal? This is an empirical
rather than transcendental question."
Verbeek further writes
"First of all, it has become clear that an approach to technology in terms of concrete
technological artifacts is essential in the philosophy of technology."

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Stated otherwise, we may say that we need to move away from the notion that the consequences
of use are to be found in the Technology with a capital “T,” instead the consequences of use may
be found in the "things" themselves, the artifacts themselves.
Verbeek still further writes:
"Things—and in our current culture especially technological artifacts—mediate how human
beings are present in their world and how the world is present to them; they shape both
subjectivity and objectivity."
and
"The design of technology thereby becomes no longer an internal technological affair, but
appears to be a moral matter as well."
and
"Technologies are not merely functional objects that also have dimensions of style and
meaning; they mediate the relations between human beings and their world, and thereby
shape human experiences and existence. Technologies help to determine how people act,
so that it is not only people but also things who answers to the classical moral question,
"How to live?". It is time that we take the contributions of technology seriously and
combine our forces to provide new answers to this ancient question that still applies to the
technological world in which we live."
We are making a great deal of Verbeek’s philosophical reasoning, and it is because we believe
that it is a philosophical argumentation that makes the case that it is a good idea to do studies in
the way we describe in the next section—that is by surveying people about their attitudes towards
particular things and by constructing personal inventories of things and attitudes for particular
people. We are looking at "things" and how they mediate between people and the world, and in
that mediation is part of the answer to the question of how to act more sustainably. Things "force"
us to behave in certain ways, but they do so differently in different contexts.
We also accept the comment from Borgmann that if we accept this perspective of the importance
of the particular technological artifacts, the way to understand how that “aggregates” is through
empirical studies that stay close to the broader understanding of technology that Verbeek
proposes. Taken together this gives us the methodological underpinning for a study on ensouled

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artifacts and what kind of qualities and characteristics they have that make people into good
caretakers.
4. RESEARCH
The aesthetics of disposability. From the points of view of ensoulment, quality & equality, and
sustainability, the Apple iPod is one of the most enigmatic devices. Even in our initial interviews, it
appears to be an “ensouled” design—people are very fond of it, it has brand-caché above and
beyond any of its competitors, and it is made of apparently very high quality materials and
assembly. Nonetheless, in contrast to many portable music devices from the past which may have
been intended to be heirloom quality artifacts, some iPods are marketed in airport vending
machines as shown in Fig. 1. This use of vending machines appears to relate more to an
aesthetics of disposability than to any sense of an ensouled, high quality, enduring device. Are
iPods ever sold or handed down from one person to another? And even it they are not, can they
still be said to be ensouled?
Figure 1. The Aesthetics of Disposability
The iPod example serves only to show how complex the world has become. In earnest, we claim
that it is important to study how people use and regard the things they have in the particular cases
in addition to average ones, especially things made with the materials of interactive technologies.
For this reason, we have conducted a survey of a large undergraduate freshmen class at our mid-
western US university to understand how they think about interactive technologies (IU-IRB #06-
11332) and we have also begun an ongoing elicitation study (IU-IRB #07-12036) to inform the
design of a scalable instrument for describing individual personal inventories of interactive and
other technologies in a systematic way.

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The Survey
The survey was conducted of a large undergraduate freshmen class with 435 respondents. The
purpose of the study was to understand how the students think about interactive technologies and
other objects in their lives when it comes to possession, disposal, renewal, and what objects they
consider to be worth saving and caring for.
Figure 2. Summary of responses to three questions from a survey of 435 students in an undergraduate freshman class.
Cell Phones, Shoes, & Watches. In the survey, we asked the mostly freshman student
participants about the numbers of cell phones, shoes, and watches they own (Figure 2). The data
indicates that the number of cell phones owned by these young people is incredibly high, nearly

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approaching the number of shoes owned. The number of watches owned was quite small,
possibly because many young people use their cell phones as a kind of pocket watch, eliminating
the need for wristwatches. From a sustainability perspective, we see that the proliferation of “un-
ensouled” cell phones is a problem. See (Nardi et al., 2003) for example.
Figure 3. Summary of responses to a question from a survey of 435 students in an undergraduate freshman class.
Frequency of acquisition. Also in the survey, we asked how often participants would replace
certain kinds of things, if money were not an object (Figure 3). Approximately from most frequently
replaced to least, the items were clothes, shoes and pens, cell phones, mp3 players, watches,
kitchen appliances, laptop computers, cameras, cars, and houses. Frequency of acquisition is
only one metric which does not necessarily imply ensoulment or lack of ensoulment. Another
explanation for ordering of the list may be the relative cost of these things, even though the
question specifically asks respondents not to consider cost. As an issue of sustainability,
ensoulment, and quality, one wishes that the perceived durability and longevity—the
psychological lifetime in the terms of the Eternally Yours group mentioned above—of interactive

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devices like cell phones, mp3 players, and computers would be longer than the response data
indicate.
Size of a home. Another interesting finding from the survey is the responses to a question about
the ideal size of a home (Figure 4). The trend towards replacing homes with larger and larger
homes in the US is a trend that runs in opposition to sustainability ideals of passing a homestead
from one generation to another. That 84.5% of the respondents think that a home of more than
2000 square feet is ideal for a family of four may be surprising to many readers.
Figure 4. Summary of responses to a question from a survey of 435 students in an undergraduate freshman class
What kinds of things are ensouled? In the survey, we asked participants which things they own
or expect to own which they expect that they would pass from one generation to another (Figure
5A-5C). This data is enormously interesting and we have reproduced all of the non-blank
responses in the figure. Some of the most often mentioned things are family heirlooms passed
down from parents or grandparents including jewellery, furniture, antiques, watches, and
photographs. Aside from family heirlooms, cars were frequently mentioned, as was jewellery,
furniture, antiques, clothes, pictures and photographs. Some interesting items not as common
include guns, bibles, toys, and musical instruments. Some respondents listed collections, such as
sports memorabilia, shoe collections, movies, paintings, and artwork. Some respondents
mentioned non-tangibles such as knowledge and values. Conspicuously absent or seldom
mentioned are interactive devices, including computers, video games and video game hardware,
cell phones, GPS devices, PDAs and so forth.

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Figure 5A: Non-blank responses to the question “Do you own any things or expect to be given some things that you think you
will pass along to your own children or other family members? What are these things?” [total of “no” or blank responses 435 –
315 = 120]

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Figure 5B: Non-blank responses to the question “Do you own any things or expect to be given some things that you think you
will pass along to your own children or other family members? What are these things?” [total of “no” or blank responses 435 –
315 = 120]

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Figure 5C: Non-blank responses to the question “Do you own any things or expect to be given some things that you think you
will pass along to your own children or other family members? What are these things?” [total of “no” or blank responses 435 –
315 = 120]

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The Elicitation Study
We are at the moment conducting an elicitation study. The purpose of this study is to support the
design of a scalable instrument for describing individual personal inventories of interactive and
other technologies in a systematic way.
Figure 6. Electronic game center from a personal inventory.
The ultimate game room. From one of the personal inventories (P12) we have conducted,
Figure 6 shows one of the most elaborate game rooms imaginable. There are no fewer than
seven sets of different video game controllers, including the latest Nintendo Wii device. Many
different kinds of dedicated video game hardware systems complete the scene. Here we may
postulate that the entire installation is in a sense ensouled, even if no particular component

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present or yet to be acquired is necessarily ensouled. The experiences associated with time spent
with this installation are perhaps the ensouled thing. The installation is in fact a backwards
compatible provider of access to a life long collection of game media by someone who can only
be described as an avid collector of computer games. There is nothing of particularly high quality
or durability about the hardware pictured. The sustainability issues abound—the frequent
perceived need to add another game supporting device appears to be enormously and
unnecessarily resource intensive.
Personal inventories – What?. Figure 7 summarizes personal inventories from four participants
in the ongoing personal inventories study. Unlike the survey which targeted 18-21 year old
freshmen, the participants in the personal inventories study tabled ranged in age from 60’s (P3) to
early 40’s (P12), late 30’s (P6), and early 30’s (P7). In contrast to the survey, many of the loved
things included interactive devices embedding the materials of information technologies, such as
digital cameras, iPods, Apple computers, and a “smart” rice cooker. Some of the things that
turned out to be unloved include iPods, a portable playstation, the Nintendo Wii, a Mac mini, a
PDA, and other things. The number of computers in the households of the participants is higher
than for any other interactive device. The number of iPods for two of the participants is equally
impressive. As for things that are long lived, computers and interactive devices do not number in
the list. Interestingly, some older technologies are kept around, including a VHS tape player, older
video game consoles, and older cameras. The newest acquisitions reported by the participants
were in fact all interactive devices. Music media, cell phones, and computer storage devices
number among the most frequently acquired things. The reasons for replacement of things are
important and include repair, upgrades to newer technologies, battery life, and new services. The
amount of interactive things that all of the participants have make certain our premise that
understanding the role of interactive technologies in terms of sustainable behaviors is a pressing
issue.
Personal inventories – Why?. Figure 8 summarizes the reasons participants gave for some of
their responses to the “what” questions above. Characterizing the reasons participants gave for
loving the things they do speaks to one of the central points of our paper:
• items that bring pleasure
• items of visual appeal, especially art collections
• items that are used as tools of creativity, memory, and experience, such as cameras
• high quality media, in terms of resolution and bandwidth
• origins as a gift
• items which induce particular feelings or reflect identity

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P3 P12
P6
P7
What things do you have
that you love?
pontoon boat
jacuzzi
collection of art work
digital SLR camera
film SLR (old)
bicycle
books
iPods
apple G5
Sony PS3
blue ray movies
books
laptop (apple)
digital camera p&s
neuro-fuzzy rice
cooker
black laptop (apple)
What things do you have
that you thought you
would love but don’t?
iPod PSP (portable
playstation)
Nintendo Wii
cell
phone (Samsung) mac mini
Sony PDA
tablet PC
TV multi-media
connections box
What things do you have
that you didn’t expect to
love, but do?
palm pilot 12” laptop (Mac, for
watching movies on
an airplane)
apple computers black laptop (apple)
What things do you have
more than one of
(household)?
2 computers
4 radios
4 televisions
collections (dolls, art
work, masks, …)
4 laptops (1 windows,
3 apple)
iMac (music server)
2 apple G5
Dell XPS game server
4 iPods
2 televisions
3
apple computers
4 iPods
2 televisions
4 computers
2 mp3 players
2 cell phones
What are the oldest things
you have that you still use?
car (10 years)
dishes
furniture
clocks (> 30 years)
t
elevision (10-15
years)
rice cooker (not
neuro-fuzzy, 15 years,
gift from mother)
television (12 years)
What are the oldest things
you have that you don’t
still use, but would not
discard?
Nintendo game
interactive video game
glove (15 years)
Polaroid camera (20
years)
V
HS tape playe
r
cell phones
video games (Sega)
materials for cross
stitching
iMac (9 years, first
computer)
Nikon F2 camera (20
years)
What are the newest
things you have?
digital SLR (canon
rebel)
Sony PS3
computer monito
r
Nintendo Wii
black laptop (apple)
What things do you
acquire most frequently?
cell phone (every 2
years)
iTunes store music
computers (every 2-3
years)
computer upgrades
(video cards and hard
drive capacity)
g
ames
music (iTunes)
videos
hard drives
computers
video cards
cell phones
What prompts you to
acquire new things?
replace broken
t
hings
upgrades to newer
technologies (i.e.
digital camera)
g
ame performance
upgrades (graphics)
performance (mostly
for second life games)
storage
battery dies
new services
new technologies
Figure 7. Personal Inventories from 4 Participants Part A.
It is important to note that this interpretation is taken from only 4 personal inventories shown in the
table and that we expect the list above to grow as we continue this study. Nonetheless, the
emphasis on qualities of ensoulment owing to context of use and experiences by this group rather

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than on such things as quality of materials or currency of fashion is interesting. Some of the
reasons participants gave for not liking things they expected to like related mostly to difficulty in
use. The accounts of why more than one of the same thing was needed in a household included
multiple users, multiple locations, collections, cross-platform compatibility issues, professional and
personal contexts of use, and feeling bad about disposal. The reasons given for preferring some
old things to new ones included familiarity of use, and uniqueness of some old things. The
reasons for preferring new things to old ones included utility, increased capacity, versatility,
performance, functionality, and looks.
P3 P12
P6
P7
Why do you love the
things you do?
bring pleasure
sometimes visual (art
collections)
sometimes tools
(camera)
quality of media
(mostly in terms of
resolution and
bandwidth for gaming)
looks (visual form)
old rice cooker (gift
from mother)
induces particular
feelings: “feels like
me” or “never bored”
or “I am smart”
Why do you not love the
things you don’t?
iPod
–
don’t listen to
music that much and
it’s easier to turn on
the cable television
music channels
PSP
–
proprietary disk
format, lower quality
than DVD, games not
good
Nintendo Wii –
shallow (just another
controller in use)
cell phone
–
difficult
to use, relegated to
use as an emergency
phone only
PDA
–
dark display,
hard to use
tablet PC – does not
feel natural to use
TV box – poor
performance
Why do have more than
one of some things?
multiple users in
household, multiple
locations in
household,
parts of collections
t
o resolve cross
platform compatibility
issues (especially with
regional video codes
and other media)
some things are for
work, some for home,
some are portable,
some are stationary
but better support
gaming, the nature of
the work varies (and
so do the things
needed to support
same)
feel bad about
throwing away old
things
Why do you keep things
you don’t use?
to sell them on ebay
or craigslist
maybe will be able to
give it away
maybe will be able to
use it later, or give it
away to someone else
sometimes feel guilty
about throwing them
away,
sometimes need the
data stored on them
Why do you prefer some
old things to new ones?
don’t already know how to
use them. familiarity
know how to use old
things
some things are
unique, difficult to
replace
Why do you prefer some
new things to old ones?
nostalgia, utility
(would like a new van
because P3 had a van
once before)
utility (camping
equipment, cameras,
computers)
iPods
–
g
reater
storage capacity
does more things
versatility (modern
rice cooker)
performance
functionality
looks
Figure 8. Personal Inventories from 4 Participants Part B.

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Neuro-fuzzy and a family heirloom. Figure 9 shows a much loved “Neuro-fuzzy” rice cooker
from one of the participants (P6) in the personal inventories study. Also pictured is an older rice
cooker which was a gift from the participant’s mother and therefore an “ensouled” object. The
neuro-fuzzy uses sensors to adjust its cooking to match different kinds of rice. The participant
loves the technology-enabled function of the more modern rice cooker, while also loving the older
model for sentimental reasons. While this particular example shows how ensoulment helps to
prevent the disposal of the old as a consequence of the acquisition of the new, it is unclear how
as a general design principle of sustainability new technology-enabled products can be made not
to cause the disposal of old ones, or even better, how new technologies can be added to old ones
as a means of renewal rather than requiring the acquisition of a completely new device. Moreover,
such clarity will also need to account for fashion and desire as much as technological innovation.
Figure 9. Much loved “Neuro fuzzy” rice cooker and Family heirloom rice cooker (P3).
A cloth-covered projector. Figure10 shows a collection of multimedia equipment which serves
as a living room home theater for one of the personal inventory participants (P7). To the left are
dangling connectors used to hook up a laptop computer for use with the projector system both as
an auxiliary monitor and also to circumvent the area encodings on some DVDs. The dangling
connectors origin in a “TV multimedia connections box” (not pictured) which manages the
connections between these different devices. The projector-based multimedia setup is often
abandoned in favor of a CRT television that is about 12 years old. The projector is covered with a
cloth when not in use, both to keep the dust off and also because its owner believes it to be ugly.

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None of the items in the photograph, nor the entire system itself are ensouled in any sense,
despite the participant’s love of movies. The media is loved, but the delivery platform is unloved.
Figure 10. Projection TV setup showing dangling computer connections, Projector covered with cloth.
Figure 11. Interconnections allow selective upgrades at the expense of clutter

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Figure 12. Scenes from a desk: Two ensouled objects and a disappointing one.
Wires everywhere. Figure 11 shows the wiring of an elaborate home computer setup from one
of the personal inventories (P12) which includes a much loved iPod in the foreground. In addition
to hard drives and audio speakers, the picture includes monitors for an Apple computer and a
Windows-based one. The morass of interconnections are in a sense sustainable, because they
allow selective upgrades to made to the system without discarding all components. On the other
hand, the clutter they create is a possible impediment to the ensoulment of such systems.
Wires in a row. Figure 12 shows a scene from a desk from one of the personal inventories (P7).
The scene depicts two much loved devices—a black Apple laptop and an iPod, as well as one
device that disappointed its owner—a Dell tablet PC. On this desk, papers, books, and other non-
computer embedded more traditional desk items share a space with these three interactive
devices. Notice the careful ordering of the cables which link the Apple laptop to power and
peripherals which provides a contrast to the image of Figure 11.

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5. CONCLUSIONS
The basic assumption in this paper is that there is a need for a conscious and intentional
approach to sustainable design within the field of interaction design. Based on our studies so far,
there is considerable support for our initial notion that a focus on concepts such as ensoulment
and quality opens up a way to further foster sustainable interaction design. We argue that the
theoretical support is present, even though not enough developed, and what is needed is a
continued substantial effort in empirical investigations in order to explore a deeper understanding
of what this means in the practical way people treat artifacts.
At this stage of research into these issues we are convinced that we need an open and
explorative methodological approach. Verbeek (2005) argues that there is a highly complex and
reciprocal relationship between things and people. Even though this relationship has been studied
in diverse fields with a broad set of methodologies, there are very few studies that, from a design
perspective, try to unfold what make designs ensouled and care for by their owners, especially in
a way that is useful for designers. One assumption in this paper is that such knowledge could
inform designers to better consider sustainable design options not easily imagined or envisioned.
We have provided some ideas on how such studies can be further carried out and what to look for.
We also believe that our studies have shown that it is not easy to guess how people treat their
artifacts. Ensoulment and quality do not seem to be nor did we expect them to be the only factors
affecting longevity of use. It seems that the relationship between people and things, particularly
interactive things, is a highly complex one in which ensoulment in one case does not necessarily
imply ensoulment in another case. This creates methodological and maybe even theoretical
challenges which underscore the need for qualitative methods focused on particular cases. There
is a need for more studies that in a dialectical way build on empirical investigations while at the
same time refines the theoretical concepts. We are only at the beginning of this process and
expect to refine the personal inventories instrument especially so that it can be more widely
applied.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We gratefully acknowledge David Roedl who helped run the survey described in this text, as well
as several of many colleagues whose conversations and support of our work have helped us

22
better understand these issues, namely Youn-kyung Lim, Arvind Ashok, Jeff Bardzell, Shaowen
Bardzell, Christian Beck, Thomas Duffy, Kristin Hanks, Kevin Makice, Will Odom, Christine Ogan,
Marty Siegel, Yvonne Rogers, as well as Alan Borning, Batya Friedman, Tony Fry, Elaine Huang,
Jennifer Mankoff, Rob Mori, Carl Myhill, Bonnie Nardi, Lisa Nathan, Don Norman, Karen Theisen,
John C. Thomas, Anne Marie Willis, and Terry Winograd.
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