Higher seminar in Media Technology: Problematizing sustainable ICT

Bio

Per Fors is a post-doc at the department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Uppsala University. His teaching and research focus is on the intersection between sustainability, ethics and ICT.

Topic

How should we understand the relationship between ICT and sustainability? Generally, it is assumed that while ICT products contribute to many environmental and social problems as they are produced and disposed of, the potential of using smart, ICT-based solutions to achieve a more sustainable society is immense. However, despite the fact that such a discourse is favored not only in the industrial but also in the political and academic spheres, we have yet to see this presumed sustainability-related potential of ICT fully exploited.

In my thesis, which was defended in mid-March this year and will be presented in this talk, I suggested that assumptions and understandings underlying sustainable ICT research and practice contribute to an overly optimistic discourse of sustainable ICT, which favors certain research approaches and practical applications. In my research, I have unveiled and challenged these assumptions and understandings, and suggested new vistas for research and practice aiming to promote sustainability through the development and use of ICT.