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Every interaction with an AI-powered device invokes a vast planetary network. Operating on temporal and geographical scales that go beyond humans, Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems pose various societal and environmental challenges. These challenges encompass issues such as the extraction of both human and nonhuman resources and knowledge, and the reproduction of inequalities. To tackle these concerns, scholars in Design and Human-Computer-Interaction emphasize the urgency for designers to cultivate non-anthropocentric approaches. In the pursuit of establishing a non-anthropocentric design practice for AI, this paper adopts a more-than-human orientation in the design of conversational agents (CAs). We start by presenting a series of design experiments, including workshops, videos and performances, that shed light on the anthropocentric biases ingrained in CA interactions. These experiments unveil how CAs are designed to recognize and address only specific human voices and concerns. Building upon these insights, we introduce two outcomes that chart an alternative path – the first involves a collection of interactive prototypes for CAs that are capable of listening and responding to more-than-human “voices” while the second entails a tool to support designers in noticing more-than-human entanglements, in the form of a podcast. We conclude by reflecting on how the knowledge gained from our design inquiry can illuminate future design practices and contribute to AI research as a whole.

Over the last half century, design education has diversified and developed considerably, in part in the arts academies, and increasingly in universities and vocational technical education. The TU Delft design program was founded in 1969, and has since grown quickly into a large, university-based, technology-aligned set of programs presently housing 2000 students and 100 academic staff. In the 50 years the Delft program changed due to: (1) changes in societal demand (from products, via services, to the systemic level of societal challenges), (2) the maturing of design as an academic discipline between science and engineering, and (3) international developments of the educational system (e.g., the Bologna agreement). In this paper we describe the development of this program within the broader disciplinary context of TU Delft, and how it brought together engineering, social sciences, and business studies in project-based education. We draw lessons from a unique position, made possible by this large scale and positioning next to engineering sciences. This position supported a large pool of in-house expertise; it fostered an intertwining of education, research, and practices in the industrial and wider societal context. And it also posed challenges of making design education work at a large scale. Keywords: Design education, Integrated design, PhD in design, Design and society

What can design do to address adverse life events like childhood cancer? Cancer is not just a health matter—it strains family relationships and profoundly disrupts the stability of everyday routines. In this article, we introduce a socio-ecological perspective that untangles the systemic complexity of the challenges families face when confronted with childhood cancer. We use this lens to identify potential design opportunities for reconfiguring a “new normal” in their lives. We present and discuss the results of a participant observation of childhood cancer survivors at a large support group conference. These findings we analyze and organize into five themes corresponding to specific coping strategies: accepting the transformation of one’s body, avoiding avoidance, maintaining interest in social activities, retaining a sense of belonging to one’s social networks, and dealing with social stigma. These themes reveal opportunities for design innovation in sensitive settings that traverse the fields of interaction design, developmental psychology, and pediatric oncology. Keywords: Childhood cancer, Family life, Disruptive life events, New normal, Design innovation, Sensitive settings