The Eerie Machine's Metabolism: A More-than-Human Critical Design Inquiry into the Sonification of Computational Activity

Sammanfattning

Within the HCI research field, there is a growing urgency to critically rethink dominant human-centred approaches through posthumanist perspectives in order to reframe responsibility within human-technology relations. Such approaches have been argued to conceal the agential complexity of technological systems; however, posthumanist perspectives often remain distant from broader societal discourses. This study investigates how a speculative sonification of computational processes can shape people's perception and recognition of more-than-human agency in technological artefacts. The research adopts a Research through Design methodology, developing and publicly exhibiting Contingent Flows, a Critical Design installation, evaluated through observation and interviews with 19 participants. The findings indicate that perceptions of computational more-than-human agency are mediated by factors such as physical and contextual setting, participants’ professional background, pre-existing assumptions about computational objects and specific design choices. The discussion engages with current critical perspectives on seamless design and its implications, the role of human specificity in recognising more-than-human agency and the limitations of the study, while suggesting directions for future research. The thesis contributes to the HCI research field by translating posthumanist perspectives into design practices, offering a speculative mode of engagement with computational systems’ more-than-human agency, and evaluating this design approach through the production of empirical and situated knowledge.