HCI is a multi-disciplinary field in which sustainability research is an emerging topic of interest. In this project, motivational theories and research through design processes are applied to understand, motivate, support and encourage sustainable behaviour. The focus is on two domains: Home (referring to resource consumption of electricity, gas and water in residences) and Transport (referring to travel and commuting behaviour). The key enabling technologies and methods that will be deployed in this project include social network analysis, advanced sensors and data processing algorithms, and interaction design. The overall goal of the work is to weave these threads together, to meld sensor technologies and human-computer interaction design with the motivating power of social networks in order to achieve significant changes in the consumption behaviour of communities.
The project is executed at Madeira-ITI and at the HCII in Pittsburgh. It is funded by FCT (Portuguese Ministry of Science and Higher Education) with a budget of 573 k€ for the Portuguese part of the project.