[23.03.2026]

READING 1: “Rosén, A. et al. 2022. "Towards More-Than-Human-Centred Design: Learning from Gardening". In International Journal of Design.”

The experience of noticing and noticing as a concept. Noticing is not only shaped by sensory perception but “preconceptions” [f.e. prior knowloedge, cultural background, experience]. Through learned context, people can develop a “pre-understanding”, which helps them perceive nuances they could not before. As an experience, noticing requires active effort and selectivity [like our experience at Beckihof]. It also involves a certain interpretation for a deeper understanding [patterns and/or connections like ecology, culture, politics].

Designing for more-than-human systems involves creating open-ended conditions where humans and other organisms co-create environments, rather than tightly controlling outcomes.

Addressing climate change and ecological challenges requires HCI to adopt a more-than-human-centred approach, using “noticing” to understand interdependencies between organisms and design interventions that balance and support these shared systems in sustainable ways.

READING 2: “D. van der Linden. 2023. Animal-centered design needs dignity: a critical essay on ACI’s core concept. In Proceedings of CHI’22”

ACI = Animal-Computer-Interaction is often used vaguely and needs to be grounded in the concept of animal dignity. ACI is also not clearly defined. HCI is distinct from user centered design because it focuses on human values and dignity instead of just usability and ergonomics. ACI lost this distinction. The animal dignity that we impose onto them can cause the problem, that the way we act disturbs the natural behaviour of animals and in succesion the design suffers.

Spectrum of design, that includes the interest of the animal. Aknowledging: Animals are noted as part of a use case, but human interests are prioritized. Animal Focused: Systems are built to support human-animal relationships and respect animal welfare. Animal Centered: “highest” level, technology empowers animal.

If ACI is to fulfill its manifesto's goal of giving animals a voice, it must address these fundamental issues of dignity rather than just providing technological "fixes" for human-animal relationship problems.

*READING 3: “*Nova, N. 2014. "Design Ethnography?" & "Field Research". In Beyond Ethnography. How Designers Practice Ethnographic Research. pp 29-55. SHS [Berlin] & HEAD Genève.”

Design ethnography has evolved through three intellectual waves: anthropometric, cognitive, and phenomenological. Shifting the focus from physical ergonomics to understanding how human action is situated and context-dependent [going back to text1]. The field differs design ethnography as an inductive approach that observes people in their natural environments to inspire and frame projects, rather thatn just optimizing user-interface efficiency.

Significant challenges identified include the "black box" of how observations translate into design outputs and the tendency to use ethnography instrumentally as a simple list of requirements rather than a way to reframe questions. Designers are motivated to conduct this field research primarily for inspiration, to evaluate concepts against real-life behaviors, and to build a knowledge base for future innovation.

[30.03.2026]

TEXT_1: K. Song & E. Paulos. 2021. “Unmaking: Enabling and Celebrating the Creative Material of Failure, Destruction, Decay, and Deformation.” CHI 2021

“[…] allowing artists and spectators to form more intimate relationships with the materiality and temporality of the art.” can easily be translated to prototypes, especially why we need them.

“[…] unmaking as a collaborative process between a designer and owner of an object that continuously creates new, personalized value in an object as it destructs and returns back to the earth, reducing the reliance on energy-intensive industrial recycling processes and potentially eliminating the concept of disposal altogether.” killing two birds with one stone: sustainability and growing the spectrum of possible prototyping

One big aspect that surprised me, was the “unmaking”, as well as “unlearning” our behaviours/processes/ways of thinking. Especially using different materials, with their own affordances and ways of deteriorating, to purposely design a way prototypes can/should age. This can also force us to take a step back/change our position from solely designing, to designing and observing.