Charlie Gullström (KTH, Architecture)

Title

Presence Design: Mediated Spaces Extending Architecture

Published in

Doctoral thesis,KTH, School of Architecture and the Built Environment (ABE), Architecture, Stockholm 2010.
TRITA – ARK Akademisk avhandling 2010:3
ISSN 1402-7461
ISRN KTH/ARK AA—10:03—SE
ISBN 978-91-7415-719-2

Abstract

This thesis is a contribution to design-led research and addresses a readership in the fields of architecture as well as in media and communications. In juxtaposing the tools of the designer (e.g. drafting, prototyping, visual/textual/spatial forms of montage) with those of architectural theory, this thesis seeks to extend the disciplinary boundaries of architecture by observing its assimilation of other media practices. Its primary contribution is to architectural design and theory, and its aims are twofold:

Firstly, this thesis applies the concepts of virtual and mediated space to architecture, proposing an extended architectural practice that assimilates the concept of remote presence. Through realized design examples as well as through the history and theory of related concepts, the thesis explores what designing mediated spaces and designing for presence entails for the practicing architect.

As a fusion of architecture and media technology, video-mediated spaces facilitate collaborative practices across spatial extensions while simultaneously fostering novel and environmentally sustainable modes of communication. The impact of presence design on workplace design is examined. As an extended practice also calls for an extended discourse, a preliminary conceptual toolbox is proposed. Concepts are adapted from related visual practices and tested on design prototypes, which arise from the author’s extensive experience in designing work and learning spaces.

Secondly, this thesis outlines presence design as a transdisciplinary aesthetic practice and discusses the potential contribution of architects to a currently heterogeneous research field, which spans media space research, cognitive science, (tele)presence research, interaction design, ubiquitous computing, second-order cybernetics, and computer-supported collaborative work. In spite of such diversity, design and artistic practices are insufficiently represented in the field. This thesis argues that presence research and its discourse is characterised by sharp disciplinary boundaries and thereby identifies a conceptual gap: presence research typically fails to integrate aesthetic concepts that can be drawn from architecture and related visual practices. It is an important purpose of this thesis to synthesize such concepts into a coherent discourse.

Finally, the thesis argues that remote presence through the proposed synthesis of architectural and technical design creates a significantly expanded potential for knowledge sharing across time and space, with potential to expand the practice and theory of architecture itself. The author’s design-led research shows that mediated spaces can provide sufficient audiovisual information about the remote space(s) and other person(s), allowing the subtleties of nonverbal communication to inform the interaction. Further, in designing for presence, certain spatial features have an effect on the user’s ability to experience a mediated spatial extension, which in turn, facilitates mediated presence. These spatial features play an important role in the process through which trust is negotiated, and hence has an impact on knowledge sharing. Mediated presence cannot be ensured by design, but by acknowledging the role of spatial design in mediated spaces, the presence designer can monitor and, in effect, seek to reduce the ‘friction’ that otherwise may inhibit the experience of mediated presence. The notion of ‘friction’ is borrowed from a context of knowledge sharing in collaborative work practices. My expanded use of the term ‘design friction’ is used to identify spatial design features which, unaddressed, may be said to impose friction and thus inhibit and impact negatively on the experience of presence. A conceptual tool-box for presence design is proposed, consisting of the following design concepts: mediated gaze, spatial montage, active spectatorship, mutual gaze, shared mediated space, offscreen space, lateral and peripheral awareness, framing and transparency. With their origins in related visual practices these emerge from the evolution of the concept of presence across a range of visual cultures, illuminating the centrality of presence design in design practice, be it in the construction of virtual pictorial space in Renaissance art or the generative design experiments of prototypical presence designers, such as Cedric Price, Gordon Pask and numerous researchers at MIT Media Lab, Stanford Institute and Xerox PARC.

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Moberg, Åsa

Title

Assessment of media and communication from a sustainability perspective

Published in

PhD dissertation
Environmental Strategies Research – fms, Department of Urban Planning and Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm 2010.
TRITA-SoM 2010-05
ISSN 1653-6126
ISRN KTH/SoM/10-05/SE
ISBN 978-97-7415-636-2

Abstract

This thesis aims to assess potential environmental impacts of media and communication and to contribute to the development of methods for sustainability assessment. Although the main focus is on printed and electronic media products and environmental impacts, a broader sector analysis is also included and social aspects are discussed. The thesis provides a review of different environmental assessment tools in order to better understand their relationships and the appropriateness of different tools in different situations. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is used to assess printed and electronic versions of newspapers, books and invoices. Results of the screening LCAs of newspapers and books indicate that when comparing printed and electronic versions there are benefits and drawbacks for both. For news and books read on e-reading devices with energy efficient e-ink screens, the main environmental impacts in the studies stemmed from the production of the device and partly from disposal, with the latter having the potential to reduce some environmental impacts through recycling of materials. However, there are data gaps regarding the production of the e-reading devices, most notably for the e-ink screen and the waste management of obsolete e-reading devices. Existing data on internet energy use are uncertain. The potential impacts from a hypothetical total change from paper invoices to electronic invoices in Sweden were assessed through a screening consequential LCA regarding greenhouse gas emissions and cumulative energy demand.

The results indicate that emissions and energy demand could decrease as a result of a change. The screening LCAs performed indicate that users’ practices could substantially influence the environmental impacts. Key factors which can influence results and comparisons of printed and electronic media products are total use of electronic devices, total use of printed media, amount and type of paper, energy use of electronic devices, potential printing of electronic media, electricity mix, and the system boundaries set for the assessments.

To get a wider perspective, a sector study of the ICT sector and media sector concerning global greenhouse gas emissions and operational electricity use was performed. It was estimated that the contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions in 2007 was roughly 1-2 % for each sector. To assess media and communication products from a sustainability perspective, social aspects should also be covered. The author participated in an international project group on social aspects and LCA, one outcome from which was guidelines for social LCA (S-LCA). In addition to providing guidance for S-LCA, another important role of the guidelines is to facilitate discussions, criticism and proposals for improvement and development of the methodology being developed.

The LCA and sector studies in this thesis are limited to direct and to some extent indirect environmental impacts. Further studies of the environmental impacts of more long-term changes in practices and potential structural changes, as well as potential social impacts, could provide important additional insights. This could increase the possibility of facilitating sustainable practices related to ICT and media.

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List of papers

Paper I
Finnveden G. and Moberg Å. (2005). Environmental systems
analysis methods – an overview. Journal of Cleaner Production 13:1165-
1173.

Paper II
Moberg Å., Johansson M., Finnveden G. and Jonsson A. (2010).
Printed and tablet e-paper newspaper from an environmental
perspective- a screening life cycle assessment. Environmental Impact
Assessment Review 30:3:177-191.

Paper III
Borggren C., Moberg Å. and Finnveden G. Books from an
environmental perspective – Part 1: Environmental impacts of paper
books sold in traditional and internet bookshops. Submitted to
International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

Paper IV
Moberg Å., Borggren C. and Finnveden G. Books from an
environmental perspective – Part 2: e-books as an alternative to
paper books. Submitted to International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

Paper V
Moberg Å., Borggren C., Finnveden G. and Tyskeng S.
Environmental impacts of electronic invoicing. Accepted with
minor revisions by Progress in Industrial Ecology.

Paper VI
Malmodin J, Moberg Å, Lundén D, Finnveden G. and Lövehagen
N. Greenhouse gas emissions and operational electricity use in the
ICT and entertainment & media sectors. Submitted to Journal of
Industrial Ecology.

Paper VII
Benoit C., Norris G.A., Valdivia S., Ciroth A., Moberg Å., Bos U.,
Prakash S., Ugaya C. and Beck T. (2010). The Guidelines for Social
Life Cycle Assessment of products: Just in time! International Journal
of Life Cycle Assessment, Volume 15, Number 2.

Contact asa.moberg@abe.kth.se if you want to order a paper copy of the thesis!

Kjelkerud, David

Title

Lost in the supermarket: Mobile applications for sustainable food consumption

Published in

Master Degree Project at KTH, Media Technology (CSC), Stockholm, 2010.

Abstract

Food production and consumption has a major impact on the environment. In the last years the awareness of this issue has been growing both in the media and among consumers. Research shows that 25% of Swedes’ greenhouse gas emissions come from food consumption. This thesis is concerned with how mobile technology can help individuals to change to sustainable eating habits, specifically through persuasive applications. The research is focused around two prototypes: Fisk.cc, a seafood buying guide and Green Recipes, a mobile cookbook with sustainable recipes. The applications were developed and tested during the research. The thesis discusses the design of mobile applications for sustainable eating from three aspects: Social interaction design in persuasive applications, Motivating users to change behavior and Need for environmental data. The report concludes with four questions that serve as guidelines for development.

The study was undertaken for the Persuasive Services Project. David Kjelkerud was supervised by Marko Turpeinen and Jorge Zapico.

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Gröna recept

Video demonstration of Gröna recept (In swedish)

Fisk.cc

Donovan, Craig

Title

Twenty thousand leagues under the sea: A life cycle assessment of fibre optic submarine cable systems.

Published in

Degree Project at KTH, Department of Urban Planning and Environment, Division of Environmental Strategies Research (fms), Stockholm, 2009.

Abstract

Submarine cables carry the vast majority of transcontinental voice and data traffic. The high capacity and bandwidth of these cables make it possible to transfer large amounts of data around the globe almost instantaneously. Yet, little is known about the potential environmental impacts of a submarine cable from a life cycle perspective. This study applies Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology to collect and analyse the potential environmental impacts of a submarine cable system within a single consistent framework. The system boundary is drawn at the limits of the terminal station where the signal is transferred to, or from, the terrestrial network. All significant components and processes within the system boundary have been modelled to account for the flow of resources, energy, wastes and emissions. Data quality analysis is performed on certain variables to evaluate the effect of data uncertainties, data gaps and methodological choices. The results highlight those activities in the life cycle of a submarine cable that have the largest potential environmental impact; namely, electricity use at the terminal station and cable maintenance by purpose-built ship. For example, the results show that 7 grams of carbon dioxide equivalents (CO2 eq.) are potentially released for every ten thousand gigabit kilometres (10,000Gb/km), given current estimations of used capacity. The potential environmental impacts are directly linked to capacity and system usage, thus, increasing data traffic improves the environmental performance of the submarine cable system per unit of data. A focus area for further improvements is the emissions from ships, where the greatest gains in environmental performance are likely to be made through reduced emissions. This study is perhaps the first tentative step in linking together research into the environmental impact of terrestrial ICT networks.

The study was undertaken at Ericsson Research in Kista. Craig Donovan was suvervised by Åsa Moberg (Centre for Sustainable Communications) and Fredrik Jonsson (Ericsson).

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Henriksson, Greger

Title

Stockholmarnas resvanor – mellan trängselskatt och klimatdebatt (in Swedish only)

Published in

Doctoral dissertation at Lund University (partly funded by the Centre).
KTH Centre for Sustainable Communications, Stockholm 2008.
TRITA-SUS 2008:2.
ISSN 1654-479X

Abstract

Travel habits of Stockholmers – congestion charging and climate debate.

This thesis examines the concept of travel habits, public responses to large-scale traffic congestion regulations and how travel patterns of urban dwellers can be made environmentally sustainable in the long term. It also examines the interrelationships of different scientific disciplines dealing with urban travel. The main conclusions relate to the scientific concept of habit. This concept and the associated behaviours are not well-studied in the social and cultural sciences. Indeed, in some contexts the concept is bereft of meaning, e.g. when the notion of travel habits is used to represent the travel patterns of an entire population. This study demonstrated the (traffic and environmental policy) significance of non-habitual travel, but also showed habitual travel to have inherent resistance to change, i.e. with habits acting as a buffer between experience and response. Case studies revealed travel habits to be a cultural phenomenon, since acceptable travel habits are expressed in a restricted local and social context. People develop their (travel) habits in mutual and only partly conscious interactions with each other and their material surroundings. The case studies also showed how changes occurring during critical points in the course of a life (primarily as regards housing, employment and household composition) brought about particularly clear changes in individual travel habits. Stability and sustainability in urban travel patterns could be achieved through the promotion and gradual spread (geographical, between age classes, etc.) of certain types of travel habits that are already in use at the individual level. Thus habits should be regarded less as an obstacle and more as an opportunity for sustainable development. A case study of the Stockholm congestion charge trial showed wide variation and ingenuity in how Stockholmers dealt with this new feature of their daily lives. For example, many stopped many stopped driving into the charging zone in order to demonstrate, to themselves and others, their disagreement with the charge and the political circumstances surrounding its introduction. Interestingly (and paradoxically), this probably contributed to the overall major reduction in traffic, perceived at a societal level as evidence of the success of congestion charging. However, regarding the scope for sustainable development of urban travel, the conclusion from this appraisal of the Stockholm trial was that environmental, congestion-reducing and possibly traffic-controlling political measures appear to be in public demand. Efforts in this thesis to interrelate the scientific perspectives of the different disciplines studying the various levels of urban travel (e.g. sociology, human geography and ethnology in relation to transport economics and psychology) indicated that further collaboration is required. As with the concept of travel habits, there are numerous concepts that could benefit from being developed and tested through interdisciplinary collaboration.

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Palmgren, Emma & Zapico, Jorge Luis

Title

Mobile applications for a sustainable urban lifestyle

Published in

Master Thesis at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in collaboration with Ericsson, Stockholm 2008.

Abstract

The starting points for this thesis are three contemporary societal trends. One is that information and communica­tion technologies (ICT) and especially mobile phones are widespread and in use all around the world through all societal layers. At the same time, urbanization in the world is increasing, with already half of the world’s popu­lation living in cities. Finally, with an increasing popula­tion, resource depletion, climate change and other envi­ronmental problems, a sustainability approach is needed.

This report explores the possibilities that existing ICT can bring for sustainability in the urban context. Focus is on end-users, identifying applications for increasing personal environmental awareness and for dematerial­ization of products and services. The applications were then put into the context of our chosen target group; ur­ban China and Latin America, studying their potential. Personas and scenarios were used to acquire a better understanding of our target group and the usability of our applications.

Our work resulted in a catalogue consisting of 35 applica­tions in the areas of transportation, housing, consump­tion and urban exploration. Placing these in context with our target group, we realized that different applications were suitable for different levels of environmental aware­ness. Our target group was characterized by a decoupling between their lifestyle choices and climate change. This brings both possibilities for improvement, but also re­quires an approach tailored for these users characteris­tics.

Through this report we have seen that information and communication technologies have a potential to trans­form society, changing the way we interact, work and consume. Applications as virtual presence, tele-working and dematerialization of products, can provide opportu­nities to decouple economic activity from environmen­tal impacts. Providing more information and increasing awareness about the impacts of our actions can also help to live a more sustainable lifestyle. Technology alone is not going to help towards a sustainable society, but its ap­plications and what these are designed for, are the ones that can have a positive impact.

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