Watching Myself Watching Birds: Abjection, Ecological Thinking, and Posthuman Design

Title of the Paper

Watching Myself Watching Birds: Abjection, Ecological Thinking, and Posthuman Design

Paper Information

• Subject Area: Human-Computer Interaction and Sustainable Design
• Keywords: Decentralized Design, Human-Nonhuman Interaction, Abjection Theory, Bird Watching, Autoethnography, Practice-Based Research, Sustainable HCI (SHCI), Posthumanism

Research Background and Problem

• Identified Problems or Challenges:
  • In the current geological epoch of the "Anthropocene," human activities are the primary drivers of climate and geological changes. Design research must question how to break away from human-centered design ideologies and promote collaboration and symbiosis between humans and nonhumans.
  • How can theoretical concepts be translated into practical methods in design to foster ecological awareness among the public and emphasize care for other species and the environment?
• Significance:
  • The ongoing intensification of climate change and ecosystem degradation has heightened the design community's focus on sustainability and ecological thinking. Decentering humans and supporting more equitable perspectives is not only a design practice issue but also an urgent global survival need.
• Research Motivation and Related Work:
  • Drawing on posthuman philosophy and the concept of "arts of noticing" as a design method to explore ecological posthuman design.
  • The HCI field has begun to propose a reconfiguration of human-nonhuman relationships in design, such as designing for co-living, symbiotic experiences in agriculture, and incorporating nonhuman elements in participatory design.

Solution

• Proposed Methods and Solutions:
  • Using autoethnographic practices, the author explores human-bird interactions through bird watching from a posthumanist perspective, investigating how to decenter humans in design.
  • Introducing abjection theory as a psychological framework for understanding and interpreting human-nonhuman interactions, exploring psychological resistance and gradual ecological internalization during the process of boundary blurring through personal experiences.
• Innovations:
  • Proposing the use of "deep listening" and cross-sensory experiences to cultivate ecological awareness and establish profound connections between humans and birds.
  • Through writing and creative practices, providing pathways for HCI to understand posthuman design on both emotional and practical levels.
• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:
  • Autoethnographic research encompassing bird watching, field recordings, and the generation of audio and video as tools for self-exploration.
  • Combining theoretical analysis with personal experiences to deconstruct psychological boundaries, while using design tools as mediators for perceiving the "nonhuman."

Research Outcomes

• Specific Findings:
  1. Through bird watching, the author overcame initial psychological aversion, gradually establishing resonance between humans and nonhumans (birds) and cultivating ecological sensitivity.
  2. Proposed understanding the psychological process of decentering humans in design through abjection theory, expanding the posthuman perspective with concepts like "dreaming" and "whole-brain perception."
  3. Explored the potential of "deep listening" as a pathway to ecological experiences and proposed developing new technologies to stimulate users' perception of nonhumans.
• Advantages:
  • Compared to existing solutions, this research integrates theory and methods into a practice-oriented exploration, emphasizing the reconfiguration of human-nonhuman interactions starting from the designer's subjective experience.
  • Created novel research approaches involving cross-sensory experiences, such as reimagining through the combination of sound and vision.
• Experimental and Evaluation Results:
  • During the study, the author observed moments of ecological "internalization" when the boundaries between birds and humans blurred, leading to new understandings of ecological interaction.
  • Using recording devices as sensory mediators gradually helped the researcher reconstruct their understanding of the auditory world.
• Limitations and Future Directions:
  • The research is limited by its focus on personal experiences and has not yet been extended to broader practical applications.
  • Future work should develop technologies that can extend to a wider audience and assist them in perceiving posthuman networks, further exploring the potential of design for ecosystems.

Discussion and Conclusion

• The author emphasizes that decentering humans is not merely a matter of theory or method but a personal journey involving emotional and psychological labor. This journey challenges the designer's sense of self-awareness while simultaneously promoting the reconfiguration of human-nonhuman boundaries.
• Through autoethnography and creative practices in design, the study proposes a personalized pathway for posthumanist design: cultivating ecological awareness through listening and open perception. This provides new directions and perspectives for constructing human-nonhuman relationships in design.