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Technological progress has often been measured by the extent to which it shields and protects us from the harshness of nature. At the same time, it has long been recognised that our resulting disengagement from nature negatively affects our wellbeing, and impedes the awareness of our vital dependence on natural environments. To understand how HCI has considered the possibilities that digital technology offers for engaging with nature, we conducted a scoping review encompassing more than 20 years of HCI research on nature engagement. We compare the orientations, motivations, and methodologies of different threads within this growing body of work. We show how HCI research has enabled varied forms of direct and indirect engagement with nature, and we develop a typology of the roles proposed for technology in this work. We highlight promising and under-utilised approaches to designing for nature engagement, and discuss directions for future research

Human leukocyte antigen (HLA) molecular mismatch is a powerful biomarker of rejection. Few studies have explored its use in assessing rejection risk in heart transplant recipients. We tested the hypothesis that a combination of HLA Epitope Mismatch Algorithm (HLA-EMMA) and Predicted Indirectly Recognizable HLA Epitopes (PIRCHE-II) algorithms can improve risk stratification of pediatric heart transplant recipients. Class I and II HLA genotyping were performed by next-generation sequencing on 274 recipient/donor pairs enrolled in the Clinical Trials in Organ Transplantation in Children (CTOTC). Using high-resolution genotypes, we performed HLA molecular mismatch analysis with HLA-EMMA and PIRCHE-II, and correlated these findings with clinical outcomes. Patients without pre-formed donor specific antibody (DSA) (n=100) were used for correlations with post-transplant DSA and antibody mediated rejection (ABMR). Risk cut-offs were determined for DSA and ABMR using both algorithms. HLA-EMMA cut-offs alone predict the risk of DSA and ABMR; however, if used in combination with PIRCHE-II, the population could be further stratified into low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups. The combination of HLA-EMMA and PIRCHE-II enables more granular immunological risk stratification. Intermediate-risk cases, like low-risk cases, are at a lower risk of DSA and ABMR. This new way of risk evaluation may facilitate individualized immunosuppression and surveillance.

Despite geographical critiques of the financialisation of climate governance, the realities of deteriorating environmental conditions, entrenched market logics, and the concentration of capital in the hands of financiers demand new strategies to contend with climate finance. We envision routes to better futures by surveying “financialised” responses to climate catastrophe that might be harnessed towards more reparative and decommodified ends. We combine ideas of “repair” and “capital switching” to evaluate financial tools for “reparative climate infrastructures” in five cases centred on energy, land, and water in the United States, Australia, Indonesia, and Brazil. Through these cases, we identify three key themes—governance, scale, and the state—that illuminate the socioecological, material, and political dimensions of reparative capital switching. The cases are each hopeful and cautionary. Together they offer a window into the contested terrain of climate finance in the present and highlight the need for critical attention to its strategic possibilities.

Emotion has been studied in HCI for two decades, with specific traditions interested in sensing, expressing, transmitting, modelling, experiencing, visualizing, understanding, constructing, regulating, manipulating or adapting to emotion in human-human and human-computer interactions. This CHI 2022 workshop on the Future of Emotion in Human-Computer Interaction brings together interested researchers to take stock of research on emotion in HCI to-date and to explore possible futures. Through group discussion and collaborative speculation we will address questions such as: What are the relationships between digital technology and human emotion? What roles does emotion play in HCI research? How should HCI researchers conceptualize emotion? When should HCI researchers use interdisciplinary theories of emotion or create new theory? Can specific emotions be designed for, and where is this knowledge likely to be applied? What are the implications of emotion research for design, ethics and wellbeing? What is the future of emotion in human-computer interaction?

Emotion has been studied in HCI for two decades, with specific traditions interested in sensing, expressing, transmitting, modelling, experiencing, visualizing, understanding, constructing, regulating, manipulating or adapting to emotion in human-human and human-computer interactions. This CHI 2022 workshop on the Future of Emotion in Human-Computer Interaction brings together interested researchers to take stock of research on emotion in HCI to-date and to explore possible futures. Through group discussion and collaborative speculation we will address questions such as: What are the relationships between digital technology and human emotion? What roles does emotion play in HCI research? How should HCI researchers conceptualize emotion? When should HCI researchers use interdisciplinary theories of emotion or create new theory? Can specific emotions be designed for, and where is this knowledge likely to be applied? What are the implications of emotion research for design, ethics and wellbeing? What is the future of emotion in human-computer interaction?, QC 20220906Part of proceedings: ISBN 978-145039156-6

Digital technologies offer new ways to ensure that animals can lead a good life in managed settings. As interactive enrichment and smart environments appear in zoos, farms, shelters, kennels and vet facilities, it is essential that the design of such technologies be guided by clear, scientifically-grounded understandings of what animals need and want, to be successful in improving their wellbeing. The field of Animal-Computer Interaction proposes that this can be achieved by centering animals as stakeholders in technology design, but there remains a need for robust methods to support interdisciplinary teams in placing animals' interests at the heart of design projects. Responding to this gap, we present the Welfare through Competence framework, which is grounded in contemporary animal welfare science, established technology design practices and applied expertise in animal-centered design. The framework brings together the "Five Domains of Animal Welfare" model and the "Coe Individual Competence" model, and provides a structured approach to defining animal-centric objectives and refining them through the course of a design project. In this paper, we demonstrate how design teams can use this framework to promote positive animal welfare in a range of managed settings. These much-needed methodological advances contribute a new theoretical foundation to debates around the possibility of animal-centered design, and offer a practical agenda for creating technologies that support a good life for animals.

OBJECTIVE: Digital technologies can support reminiscence and lifestyle enrichment in residential aged care. This study explores potential benefits and risks of virtual visits using digital maps, tablet computers and virtual reality technologies. METHODS: Reminiscence sessions were conducted with metropolitan aged care facility residents (n = 7), using digital mapping applications to 'visit' places of personal significance. Residents and family members (n = 4) were interviewed. RESULTS: Some older adults found virtual visits valuable and all reminisced in various ways about personal, family and social experiences. Family members felt that virtual visits would be enriching for loved ones and that they supported sharing of life stories. Our results also highlight that VR usability improvements are needed to better suit older people. CONCLUSION: Virtual visits could offer valuable opportunities for positive reminiscence for some older adults in residential aged care. Digital technologies need to provide better support for older users and people who assist them.

Digital technologies are increasingly being incorporated into the provision of enrichment for captive primates, ranging from the ad-hoc use of iPads to specifically designed hardware installed in the design of new exhibits. In this article, we present a digital enrichment system that utilizes a novel approach with interactive projections, installed in the orangutan exhibit at Melbourne Zoo. While previous research into orangutan enrichment has involved reinforcement using food rewards, this study is the first investigation of digital enrichment for orangutans that does not involve food rewards. Rather, the interactive projections were designed to provide intrinsically rewarding environmental enrichment, instead of a cheaper or more variable way of delivering food. Our observations of orangutans' use of the system supports the approach of using interactive projections, finding that it is more responsive than capacitance or resistive based touch-screen technologies to the variety of ways that orangutans "touch": with whole hands, feet, faces, and with objects. We also present the results from a preliminary study into the effect of this enrichment into orangutan behavior which found presence or use of the device did not affect time spent engaged in the majority of behaviors of the individuals studied.

Many studies of animal–computer interaction (ACI), including those for enrichment, have found that animals’ initial responses to a technological intervention are followed by lower levels of usage as the product ceases to be new. The ’novelty effect’ has been identified and discussed in human–computer interaction research. The related concept of ’habituation’ is described in the literature on animal behaviour and enrichment. However, the field of ACI has yet to engage with the novelty effect and habituation as phenomena that have important implications for ACI design and evaluation. In this paper, we examine three ACI interventions that illustrate how the novelty effect can manifest in ACI studies. We provide an overview of current knowledge on the novelty effect and habituation, and we discuss how this knowledge can guide the deployment and evaluation of ACI interventions. These considerations will strengthen ACI methods and contribute to designing technology that has enduring applicability and interactional value for animal users.

This paper examines how digital technologies might be used to improve ethical attitudes towards nonhuman animals, by exploring the case study of nonhuman apes kept in modern zoos. The paper describes and employs a socio-ethical framework for undermining anti-ape prejudice advanced by philosopher Edouard Machery which draws on classic anti-racism strategies from the social sciences. We also discuss how digital technologies might be designed and deployed to enable and enhance rather than impede the three anti-prejudice strategies of contact and interaction, enlightenment, and individualization. In doing so, the paper illuminates the broad potential and limitations of digital technology to both harm and benefit animals via its effects on human ethical attitudes. This examination provides guidance for future projects and empirical work on using digital technologies to promote moral respect for a range of nonhuman animals in different settings.