Reopening, Repetition and Resetting: HCI and the Method of Hope

This paper attempts to (re)theorize the nature and role of hope in collaborative and interventionist CSCW and HCI projects. Drawing on work in anthropology, STS, CSCW and HCI, and extended reflection on the 3Dprintability project (a multinational collaboration dedicated to the 3D printing of prosthetics in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia), it advocates for a more pluralistic and action-oriented practice of hope built around moments of collaborative reopening, repetition and resetting. It then argues for a more robust HCI method of hope that can change the way interventionist projects are conceived, documented, evaluated, and communicated, both in the HCI literature and more public-facing project accounts.