We were joined by 10 online participants and equally many participants in the room, when ARJUN held his 50% seminar. Loove Broms was the discussant, and admirably guided Arjun through possibilities for his continuing phd-work. Below is Arjun’s title and abstract for his 50% text. Hurray and congratulations Arjun!

Frame Shifting - designing with frames

The way in which people think about different issues colour their responses and reactions to said issues. Erving Goffman calls these schema with which people organise their experiences as  ‘frames’, a concept which has been deployed to scrutinise, generate, and interpret communication, particularly within the realms of mass communication and media effects. I posit that designed objects and experiences fundamentally operate as a mode of communication and thus serve as a rich medium to evoke and unpack the frames with which people think about various issues, particularly those relating to sustainability. Through the design and analysis of created artefacts and experiences, I unpack the concept of Frame Shifting in the context of interaction design research and sustainability to show its generative aspects. I offer three new frames of sustainability to challenge dominant discourse on the topic, to foster reflection and allow people to rethink their relations with sustainability issues.