Today there is a wealth of data available detailing the climate impact of our actions, including the CO2 emissions from academic flying. Despite this, such data is hard to engage with in the abstract, leading to little practical action. In this paper, we investigate how to support processes of collectively working through and making sense of environmental data about academic flying through data physicalisation. Drawing on the results from a series of workshops with stakeholders at our own university, in which we have designed and deployed a data physicalisation of flight data, we describe this process and discuss lessons learned with a focus on material, engagement with data and ethics.

The importance of providing mechanisms and tools that effectively support the transition from implicit to explicit representations of Learning Design has been emphasised by previous research in the field of Technology-Enhanced Learning (TEL). In addition, the benefits of Game-based learning approaches have been long documented in the educational research literature. The paper presents the design, implementation and evaluation of a card game that aims to support the design process of TEL activities in higher education. The game was tested by a group of 36 students and tutors (n = 36) in higher education during an interactive workshop. Feedback was asked by the participants using an anonymous survey. The results reveal that the participants a) are satisfied with the game process, b) appreciate the groupwork and interaction taking place, and c) believe that they used their communication and collaboration skills. The paper includes the description of the outputs of a group (i.e., the cards selected for their TEL scenario and their actual TEL scenario) to exemplify that it is possible to use the game in order to elicit or diagnose existing LD knowledge from the game participants. The paper concludes on the usefulness of the approach suggested, limitations, and plans for future work.

To support sketching in soma design processes, we built the Soma Bits. These simple technology pieces enable one bit actuation like vibration, heat or shape-changing behaviors. After using them for three years, we ask how well they support soma design processes and what designs they spur? Through analyzing nine soma design projects, we note how they contributes to forming subtle, intimate, body awareness designs, as well as fast, uncomfortable, sensory misaligned, somaesthetic designs or skill training. More importantly, experiencing actuation in the early sketching phases helps the design team to articulate joint somatic understanding and direction. During past design sessions, we noticed that the Soma Bits lack support for the overall orchestration: looping, tweaking, or arranging sequences of interactions, and coupling sensing to actuation. Hence, we present a novel Soma Bits toolkit concept for sketching, composing, documenting, and sharing somatic experience.

CO2 emissions from aviation have been predicted to increase over the coming decades. Within the academic world, flying is often perceived to be a necessary prerequisite to being a successful researcher. Many Swedish universities have ambitious climate goals, but are simultaneously among the top emitters in the public sector. Reaching stated climate goals could feasibly be met through a combination of measures, including decreased flying. One way to address the challenge is to support behavioural interventions with the help of interactive visualizations of CO2 emissions from flying. Those few examples that exist in the research literature are generally directed towards management and are less applicable to universities, given the large autonomy researchers enjoy and their discretionary control of research project funds. This paper uses a design-oriented research approach to present an analysis of the problem space at the intersection of interactive visualizations using air travel data to reduce CO2 emissions from business air travel at our own university, KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Through a number of design experiments, evaluations and investigations, we have unearthed needs, challenges and opportunities for the creation of visualization tools to support more sustainable travel practices at universities and in other knowledge-intensive organisations.

In society in general and within computing in particular, there has, and continues to be, a focus on faster, cheaper, better etc. Such perspectives clash with the fact that impeding climate change and the need for radically decreased CO2 emissions (c.f. the Paris Agreement) will have fundamental and far-reaching ramification for computing and for all other sectors of society during the coming decades. In the call for the first Computing within Limits workshop, it was stated that "A goal of this community is to impact society through the design and development of computing systems in the abundant present for use in a future of limits and/or scarcity."There have since been several contributions to Computing within Limits that have accepted the challenge of discussing and imagining what such systems as well as what "a future of limits and/or scarcity"could look like. Despite this, there is currently no consensus about what exactly such a future entails and the community can consequently only offer hazy ideas about exactly what systems we should strive to design and develop. The basic problem can be summed up as follows: we know that fundamental changes are necessary and will come, but we still struggle with envisioning what a post-growth/decarbonising society looks like and what computing systems need to be designed and developed for use in such futures, or, to support that transition. In this paper we argue that the work of imagining an actionable "future of limits"could benefit from using the "carbon law"as a starting point. The carbon law is based on work in the environmental sciences and we exemplify how it can be used to generate requirements that can guide the development of computing systems for a future of limits. While these lessons are general, we exemplify by describing a research project that aims to support the KTH Royal Institute of Technology's goal of-in line with the carbon law-radically reducing CO2 emissions from academic flying over the next decade. We give examples of how computing can aid in this task, including by presenting visualisation tools that we have developed to support the KTH carbon abatement goals. We also discuss the role of computer science in general and of Computing within Limits in particular in supporting the transition to a more sustainable (or at least a less unsustainable) future.

The work presented in this paper is a preliminary study in a larger project that aims to design the sound of the future through our understanding of the soundscapes of the present, and through methods of documentary filmmaking, sound computing and HCI. This work is part of a project that will complement and run parallel to Erik Gandini’s research project ”The Future through the Present”, which explores how a documentary narrative can create a projection into the future, and develop a cinematic documentary aesthetics that releases documentary film from the constraints of dealing with the present or the past. The point of departure is our relationship to labour at a time when Robotics, VR/AR and AI applied to Big Data outweigh and augment our physical and cognitive capabilities, with automation expected to replace humans on a large scale within most professional fields. From an existential perspective this poses the question: what will we do when we don’t have to work? And challenges us to formulate a new idea of work beyond its historical role. If the concept of work ethics changes, how would that redefine soundscapes? Will new sounds develop? Will sounds from the past resurface? In the context of this paper we try to tackle these questions by first applying the Design Fiction method. In a workshop with twenty-three participants predicted both positive and negative future scenarios, including both lo-fi and hi-fi soundscapes, and in which people will be able to control and personalize soundscapes. Results are presented, summarized and discussed.

In order to fulfill the Paris agreement, we need to drastically reduce carbon emissions globally. 2020 is a pivotal year in this endeavour as many projections indicate that emissions need to decrease significantly before 2030. This challenge pertains to all parts of society, including (computer science) researchers. This however clashes with the fact that flying to a large extent has become built-in to the everyday practices of research and of academic life. It is feasible to imagine that computer scientists could fly less than other academics since we ought to be innovators and early adopters of computer-mediated alternatives such as video-conferencing and other forms of digital meeting technologies. It is however also possible that we fly more because conferences might be a more dominant outlet for publications in our field in comparison to other research fields. At KTH Royal Institute of Technology, the researchers at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) fly the most. In this paper, we present initial qualitative results from a survey regarding travel that was answered by computer scientists at EECS. We are in particular analysing the free text answers in order to understand how computer scientists1 reason about their own flying and about the alternatives. It will be hard to fulfil the Paris agreement without decreasing flying significantly, but this requires us to rethink how we do research, and how we travel (or not) within academia. This paper contributes with knowledge about the perceived barriers and drivers for computer scientists to decrease their flying.

In today’s era of digitalization of education, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning is becoming increasingly important in higher education. This type of learning has been frequently associated in the recent research literature with student regulation, feedback from peers and a student assessment schema which can incorporate both formative and summative assessment strategies. This work-in-progress paper presents the CLASS system which caters for all these aspects. Furthermore, the system supports mechanisms for the prevention of the free riding phenomenon, which has been reported in the literature as one of the most important disadvantages in group student work. The paper discusses the higher education context in which the CLASS system was developed and used, along with its design affordances and how these affordances can facilitate CSCL. The paper can be useful to designers and developers of CSCL systems as well as to practitioners that are interested in how they can exploit CSCL with their students working in groups.

This report begins with a summary of ways in which technology has been used to attempt to increase learning opportunities and support for self-directed learners at Kanda University of International Studies (KUIS) with limited success. A collaboration between KUIS and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden has highlighted the need for a more thorough needs analysis and evaluation of the learning environment before any technological designs are implemented. In addition, such implementation should be done in collaboration with the end users. The second part of the paper provides preliminary results related to an initial needs analysis conducted with end users at KUIS that will form the basis of ongoing collaboration with the aim of creating a platform and/or series of tools that will enhance self-directed language learning.