Workshop Agenda

We propose an in-person, full-afternoon workshop that will span across two 90-minute sessions, with a short break in between. The workshop will lean on research through design methodology, to foster a hands-on discussion interwoven with critical reflection. We will create a safe space for participants to share relevant lived experiences and expertise with each other, afford opportunities for hands-on ideation and prototyping, and facilitate reflexive group discussions aimed at synthesis. To manage an optimal flow of such a hands-on workshop, and make sure everyone gets space in the conversation, we will limit the workshop to a maximum of 25 participants (organizers included).

Below we provide an overview and breakdown of workshop activities:

Introduction (15’): We will welcome participants, introduce the workshop aims and agenda, and give an overview of the activities for the afternoon.

Sharing forest stories (60’): We will invite participants (ourselves included) to share with the group a personal story of a forest-related lived experience they think is relevant to the questions of what technology could, should, and/or should not do in human-forest interactions. To present their story, participants will be asked to bring a boundary object (in the form of a forest material, an artifact, a photo, a drawing, or such) that embodies the story. To make the collection of stories tangible, we will metaphorically craft a “shared forest” by placing the boundary objects on display on an impromptu exhibition space we will carefully curate in advance.

From stories to design (15’): We will invite participants to take some time to informally reflect, either individually or in smaller groups, on the body of forest stories collected in the previous activity, and pick one or more that they would like to work with. While they do that, we will prompt them to start thinking about how their knowledge(s) in HCI might be useful to design for scenarios similar to the stories that resonated with them.

Break: There will be a break for participants to freshen up and engage in informal conversations. During the break, participants will be encouraged (but not required) to casually begin speculating about ideas in anticipation of the following prototyping activity.

Speculative prototyping (45’): Individually (or in small groups formed organically by affinity), participants will speculate how technology might contribute to the story they chose to work with. They will come up with a design idea and develop a lo-fi prototype using a range of materials we will provide (e.g., paper, markers, simple craft supplies, upcycled objects, foraged forest materials…).

Presentations (20’): Participants will briefly introduce their prototypes in relation to the stories they chose to work with, making the connection visible by placing them right where they belong in the exhibition space (i.e. the metaphorical forest). As they witness each other’s presentations, if participants can think of items from their HCI expertise(s) that could be relevant to the design directions the prototypes begin to carve, they will be encouraged to annotate the exhibition with post-its, noting existing concepts, methods, or works that might offer guidance to tackle the emerging design directions.

Reflection and synthesis (20’): We will facilitate a discussion around the interesting design directions emerging across the interwoven forest stories and speculative prototypes, aiming to identify promising areas for future HCI design/research. We will also reflect on how a diverse range of HCI knowledge(s) might be helpful to guide those developments, trying to build bridges between the different subcommunities concerned with forests within HCI.

Farewell (5’): We will wrap up the discussion and share our plans for extending the conversation (described in detail below), including how participants will be invited to stay engaged beyond the workshop.