ASSIST
Achieving
Sustainability by using Substitutive
Information
Society Technologies
I.S.T.,
KAII, Action Line 2.1.1.
DELIVERABLE
D2:
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
PROJECT
DESCRIPTION
The Main
Goal of ASSIST
One of
the key challenges that the EU faced was changing people’s behaviour with
regard to living and consuming. The EU lifestyle is not sustainable in the long
term.[1]
The ASSIST study is
developing and expanding the potential for achieving sustainability by
encouraging the development of Information Society Technology based
alternatives to material consumption, and so reducing consumption of all kinds.
Most (perhaps 75% of
all) material consumption is unrelated to basic needs (nutrition, shelter, etc)
but is rather intended to satisfy some non-material need (place in society,
individuality, etc). Consumption
substitution by IST (virtualisation or immaterialisation) thus offers a
powerful route to global sustainability by reduction of unnecessary material
use.
The main goal of
ASSIST is to define very clearly those aspects of consumption that are
associated with perceptions of quality of life rather than with basic survival
to assist in defining how future IST products and services could offer
immaterial alternatives to the material satisfiers of today.
Key Issues to be Studied by ASSIST
The background issues
are the need to reduce material consumption globally; the potential in that respect offered by the immaterialisation of
consumption; our relatively immature understanding of the underlying
(socio-economic) reasons for consumption, and the specific ability of ISTs to
respond to the challenge of the immaterialisation of consumption.
Specific issues to be
addressed in ASSIST include :
·
Identifying
a taxonomy of consumption that would facilitate identification of the areas of
material consumption that are actively responding to needs whose satisfiers
could be immaterial substitutes.
·
Analysing
the existing known examples of immaterialisation in ISTs (e.g. by use of the Cycle of Cognition) and elsewhere
(e.g. looking at the theory of Brands)
to achieve a better understanding of their socio-economic implications
·
Testing
the general applicability of the taxonomy and analysis against specific human needs (e.g. by assessment against the
perceptions of IsdAC, the Information Society disAbilities Challenge); and
against the new advanced IST products and services (e.g. Intellirooms).
·
Further
testing the analysis against early examples of post-material, quality of life
related lifestyles (e.g. in e-work)
to support debate on generating aspirational change in society and make
linkages to e.g. the growth of the third sector and of no-monetised (but
monetarised) work.
·
The
ultimate challenge is to map out the potential configuration of post-modern lifestyles in which personal
extension and growth (ontological development) are achieved by IST substitutes,
rather than by material consumption.
Technical Approach
ASSIST will survey existing multi- and
cross-disciplinary work in relating consumption of goods and services to
non-material human needs, (using workshops and action groups to expand the
field of contributors), making recommendations for future work (particularly in
the 5th and 6th framework programmes) and proposing potential new parameters for
product and service design.
ASSIST is structured
into three particular task areas:
1.
Defining
accurately the state-of-the-art
2.
Making
recommendations on the future RTD agenda and on potential parameters for
product and service design.
3.
Supporting
wider policy debate on the contribution of
IST to sustainability.
Each of these three
task areas relates to two specific issues, firstly, the nature and taxonomy of
non-material needs and the means of their satisfaction, and secondly, the
extent to which IST may be able to provide non-material satisfiers for an
increasing fraction of non-material needs, e.g. using virtual community
technology to reinforce and complement existing communities, and identifying
which human needs (e.g. sensory or ontological) are not adequately satisfied by
such technologies.
Within each task area
there is a particular methodology :
1. State-of-art survey by expert
interviews; by targeted questionnaire; and by document search, including a
multi-disciplinary workshop to identify the extent and progress of related
work.
2. reasoned analysis and classification of
the state-of-art including mapping across the needs and satisfiers issues IST
issues that could potentially lead to IST enabled consumption substitution.
This task area will also include a multi-disciplinary workshop identifying
potentials for new RTD actions and potential new parameters for product and
service design.
3. the outcomes will be presented at a
conference making concrete recommendations for development of the FP5/FP6 and
specifically IST work programmes.
ASSIST will also support public debate as a further
contribution to the definition of future research programmes in promoting sustainability through IST.
Expected
Impact
ASSIST
will facilitate the adoption of
immaterialisation by clarifying the socio-economic factors that make
immaterialisation possible and to the relationship between immaterialisation
and Information Society Technologies. It will identify potentially fruitful
areas of future work to aid in design of the new IST products and services
required for the immaterialisation of consumption. By this means ASSIST will
provide a substantial impetus to the transformation to a Sustainable
Information Society in Europe.
The immediate impact
of ASSIST will be in clarifying the nature of those human needs that are best
satisfied by new IST services. The long term impact will be a new perspective
on the development of lifestyles that could contribute towards the next generation's
grasping immaterialisation as an improvement on material goods as well as a
substitute for them.
The Main Goal of
ASSIST
One
of the key challenges that the EU faced was changing people’s behaviour with
regard to living and consuming. The EU lifestyle is not sustainable in the long
term.[2]
The ASSIST study is developing and expanding the
potential for achieving sustainability by encouraging the development of
Information Society Technology based alternatives to material consumption, and
so reducing consumption of all kinds.
Most (perhaps 75% of
all) material consumption is unrelated to basic needs (nutrition, shelter, etc)
but is rather intended to satisfy some non-material need (place in society,
individuality, etc). Consumption
substitution by IST (virtualisation or immaterialisation) thus offers a
powerful route to global sustainability by reduction of unnecessary material
use. However, in
order to achieve this, it will be necessary to define very clearly
those aspects of consumption that are associated with perceptions of quality of
life rather than with basic survival, and to propose ways
in which future IST products
and services can offer immaterial
alternatives to the material satisfiers of today. These will be the goals of the ASSIST
project.
Key
Issues to be Studied by ASSIST
The background issues are the need to reduce
material consumption globally; the
potential in that respect offered by the immaterialisation of consumption; our
relatively immature understanding of the underlying (socio-economic) reasons
for consumption, and the specific ability of ISTs to respond to the challenge
of the immaterialisation of consumption.
Specific issues to be addressed in ASSIST include :
·Identifying a taxonomy
of consumption that would facilitate identification of the areas of material
consumption that are actively responding to needs whose satisfiers
could be immaterial substitutes.
·Analysing the
existing known examples of immaterialisation in ISTs (e.g. by use of the Cycle of Cognition)
and elsewhere (e.g. looking at the theory of Brands) to achieve a better
understanding of their socio-economic implications
·Testing the general
applicability of the taxonomy and analysis against specific human needs (e.g.
by assessment against the perceptions of IsdAC, the Information Society
disAbilities Challenge); and against the new advanced IST products and services
(e.g. Intellirooms).
·Further testing the analysis
against early examples of post-material, quality of life related lifestyles
(e.g. in e-work)
to support debate on generating aspirational change in society and make
linkages to e.g. the growth of the third sector and of no-monetised (but
monetarised) work.
·The ultimate
challenge is to map out the potential configuration of post-modern
lifestyles in which personal extension and growth
(ontological development) are achieved by IST substitutes, rather than by
material consumption.
Technical
Approach
ASSIST
will survey existing multi- and cross-disciplinary work in defining
consumption related human needs, (using
workshops and action groups to expand the field of contributors), making
recommendations for future work (particularly in the 5th
and 6th framework
programmes) and proposing potential new
parameters for product and service design.
ASSIST is structured into three particular task
areas:
1.Defining accurately
the state-of-the-art
1.Making recommendations
on the future RTD agenda and on potential parameters for product and service
design.
1.Supporting wider
policy debate on the contribution of
IST to sustainability.
Each of these three task areas relates to two specific
issues, firstly, the nature and taxonomy of non-material needs and the means of
their satisfaction, and secondly, the extent to which IST may be able to
provide non-material satisfiers for non-material needs, e.g. using virtual
community technology to reinforce existing communities, and identifying which
human needs (e.g. sensory or ontological) are not adequately satisfied by such
technologies.
Within each task area there is a particular
methodology :
1. State-of-art survey by expert interviews; by
targeted questionnaire; and by document search, including a multi-disciplinary
workshop to identify the extent and progress of related work.
2. reasoned analysis and classification of the
state-of-art including mapping across the needs and satisfiers issues IST
issues that could potentially lead to IST enabled consumption substitution.
This task area will also include a multi-disciplinary workshop identifying
potentials for new RTD actions and potential new parameters for product and
service design.
3. the outcomes will be presented at a conference
making concrete recommendations for development of the FP5/FP6 and specifically
IST work programmes.
ASSIST will
also support public debate as a further contribution to the definition of
future research programmes in promoting
sustainability through IST.
Expected
Impact
ASSIST will facilitate
the acceleration of immaterialisation by providing a sound factual
basis for understanding the socio-economic
factors that make immaterialisation possible and by expounding their
relationship to Information Society
Technologies. It will identify
potentially fruitful areas of future work to aid in design of the new IST
products and services required for the immaterialisation of consumption. By
this means ASSIST will provide a substantial impetus to the transformation to a
Sustainable Information
Society in Europe.
Participants in the ASSIST
Study are as follows:-
|
Penzance,
Cornwall TR20 8QW |
UK |
|
|
BARCO N.V. |
Kortryk
B-8500 |
Belgium |
|
Gent
B-9000 |
Belgium |
|
|
University
of Surrey GU2 7XH |
UK |
|
|
Paris
F-75006 |
France |
|
|
Zonhoven
B-3520 |
Belgium |
|
|
London
NW3 7AU |
UK |
Cost of the
Study
The total cost of the study is 540,000 EURO. This is 100% funded by the E.C.
Technical
Co-ordinator Contact Details
Stephen Simmons
Addico Cornix Ltd
Tregannick, Sancreed
Penzance, Cornwall,
TR20 8QW
Phone: +44
1736 332736
Fax: +44 1736 334702
Email: srs@cornix.co.uk