Embodied Unmaking of Electronic Waste : An Inquiry into Embodied Encounter with the Lifecycle and Afterlife of Consumer Electronics

Sammanfattning

Electronic waste (e-waste) is one of the fastest-growing waste streams globally, yet awareness of the problem rarely translates into changedbehaviour. Informational approaches have had limited success in shifting public engagement. This thesis investigates an alternative: howthe design of an interactive installation using embodied unmaking (physically engaging with a device's disassembly and lifecycle) shapesthe relational, affective, and reflective experiences of museum visitors without formal expertise in electronics repair. The study wasconducted using a Research through Design methodology across three iterative design prototypes, evaluated through semi-structuredinterviews and observation, with screen states controlled by a facilitator via a Wizard of Oz setup to preserve responsive pacing. Interviewtranscripts and observation notes were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings suggests that embodied unmaking did notchange participants' stated intentions but it did change how they engaged with the issue, shifting from simply being aware of e-waste tofeeling personally implicated in it. Relationally, when participants traced the lifecycle of a device and physically took it apart, they beganto see it as more than a product, developing a grounded understanding of its materials and origins. Responses to this varied, with somefeeling appreciation, others grief, and some a sense of devaluation. Affectively, the physical repeated nature of the interaction producedfeelings of moral discomfort somatically rather than through information alone, while the synchronized audio moved participants fromretrospective reflection to present-tense embodied encounter. Reflectively, participants arrived at system-level interpretations such asplanned obsolescence and corporate responsibility on their own, without being prompted, though this did not translate into readiness toact differently. The study concludes that embodied unmaking offers a way to make e-waste feel both materially real and morallysignificant, extending what informational approaches alone can offer, while also revealing that design has limits when structural barriersto action remain. These findings contribute empirically grounded knowledge to the fields of sustainable HCI and tangible interactionresearch.