Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at potential ways for reconsidering and reconceptualising human agency that emerge at the intersection of environmental considerations and digital practices.

Paper long abstract:

The role of human action in digital anthropology research differs considerably from the ways in which social scientists of sustainability account for human agency in their work. While in the former body of literature human decisions over, for example, what types, or combinations, of technologies to use in specific situations or acts of communication are central to epistemological inquiries, scholarship in the social sciences of sustainability field displays a troubled relationship with the concept of human agency. This is partly due to a recent de-centring of the human subject in order to emphasize the flat ontologies of networks, affect, and practices.

This paper looks at potential ways for reconsidering and reconceptualising human agency that emerge at the intersection of environmental considerations and digital practices. I will focus, specifically, on actions of spontaneity that emerge in relation to the affordances of digital technologies for simultaneity and ubiquity. I will then discuss the ways in which actions of spontaneity articulate specific orientations towards one's environment, as well as wider considerations of human-environmental relations.

The paper will discuss findings that emerged from my research as part of a wider interdisciplinary project that looked at domestic energy consumption and digital practices of UK families with the aim of proposing digital interventions for reducing energy demand.