Propinquity

An Eco-Visualization for Promoting Resource Conservation in College Dorms

Team
James Pierce
Jason de Ruña

Submission
CHI Student Design Competition

Overview
The Energy Pledge concept builds off the work of David Roedl, Will Odom, and James Pierce involving the design and implementation of an eco-visualization for the Energy Challenge, a student competition to conserve water and electricity in the Indiana University Bloomington dormitories. The Energy Pledge allows individuals to pledge conservation actions and be publicly acknowledged for their commitments. We have been working with the Indiana University (IU) Sustainability Task Force to develop the Energy Pledge for the IU Energy Challenge 2009. Our team entered this idea for the CHI 2009 Student Design Competition.

Design
Framework

Our Proposal
There are 3 components to our system:

1) Consumption Kiosks

Interactive kiosks are situated in public spaces. To alleviate environmental and financial costs, the kiosks are made of repurposed surplus university PCs or plasma lobby displays.

2) Student Pledge Form

Allows students to pledge specific conservation actions and view the cost savings. Students may post their pledges publicly as well as receive reminders and updates.

3) Student Pledge Wall

By displaying pledges publicly, the hope is that students will reflect more thoughtfully on the relationships between individual and collective actions.