Philip Engelbutzeder, Alan Borning, Anton Ballmaier, Volker Wulf (2025): Small is Still Beautiful – Towards a Reorientation of HCI and Computing. In Markus Rohde, Volkmar Pipek (Eds.), International Reports on Socio-Informatics (IRSI)(Vol. 22, Iss. 4, pp. 3-45) (pdf)
Abstract. The IT industry’s dominant paradigm prioritizes growth, scalability, and profit,
often at the expense of social equity, ecological sustainability, and user empowerment.
Drawing on Schumacher’s 1973 book Small is Beautiful and post-growth HCI, this paper
critiques the current trajectory of mainstream computing and explores alternative sociotechnical
practices that emphasize sufficiency, resilience, and cooperative governance
over perpetual expansion. We argue for a reorientation of computing and HCI toward
localization, participatory governance, and long-term sustainability over efficiency and
scale. Two case studies illustrate how decentralized, community-driven platforms can
challenge surveillance capitalism and centralized control. This shift requires participatory
and co-design methodologies to ensure responsive, adaptable, and socially embedded
infrastructures while reimagining infrastructural choices by promoting decentralized,
federated, and open-source alternatives that resist corporate enclosure and data
exploitation. Embracing Pluriversal Design, End-User Development, and Grounded
Design, we propose a transformative agenda for computing toward smaller-scale, ethically
grounded, and ecologically responsible futures.