Periodic Reporting for period 3 - iDODDLE (The impacts of digitalised daily life on climate change)
Berichtszeitraum: 2023-07-01 bis 2024-12-31
Tackling climate change requires changes to daily life to reduce energy use and emissions associated with how we shop, move around, manage our homes, socialise, and entertain ourselves. At the same time, digitalisation is a 'mega-trend' shaping daily life across all these activities and more. The digitalisation of daily life and its impact on energy and emissions has not been studied systematically.
This is important for society because digital technologies (like smartphones), digital applications (like artificial intelligence), and digital services (like carsharing platforms) have large and uncertain impacts on climate change - both for better and for worse, depending on how they are implemented and how they are used by individuals and households. Understanding these impacts means looking across domains at generalisable mechanisms, enabling conditions, and steering strategies, so digitalisation helps not hinders climate action.
To this end, the iDODDLE project will:
(1) understand the ways in which digitalised daily life impacts climate change, including by substituting physical for digital, by accessing services instead of owning goods, and by integrating households into supply networks;
(2) determine the conditions under which digitalised daily life has beneficial or adverse impacts on climate change, including through access to infrastructure, trust and power, and low-carbon lifestyles;
(3) develop an evidence-based programme of action for ensuring digitalised daily life helps tackle climate change, including quantitative systems analysis of energy and material flows.
This is important for society because digital technologies (like smartphones), digital applications (like artificial intelligence), and digital services (like carsharing platforms) have large and uncertain impacts on climate change - both for better and for worse, depending on how they are implemented and how they are used by individuals and households. Understanding these impacts means looking across domains at generalisable mechanisms, enabling conditions, and steering strategies, so digitalisation helps not hinders climate action.
To this end, the iDODDLE project will:
(1) understand the ways in which digitalised daily life impacts climate change, including by substituting physical for digital, by accessing services instead of owning goods, and by integrating households into supply networks;
(2) determine the conditions under which digitalised daily life has beneficial or adverse impacts on climate change, including through access to infrastructure, trust and power, and low-carbon lifestyles;
(3) develop an evidence-based programme of action for ensuring digitalised daily life helps tackle climate change, including quantitative systems analysis of energy and material flows.
Research on digitalised daily life and climate change in the iDODDLE project is organised in three Work Packages: on people (WP1), systems (WP2) and action (WP3).
WP1 asks 'How does the ongoing digitalisation of daily life impact climate change?' through research activities at the micro-level (individuals, households). This draws primarily on new data collected through a sample of 60 'living lab' households and a nationally-representative sample of 2000 people in an online survey panel. With the living lab households, the iDODDLE team has been establishing baseline data, conducting trials, interviewing and observing digital behaviour, and analysing how digital technologies are used, domesticated, and substituted, and with what implications for activity, energy and emissions. With the online survey panel, the iDODDLE team has been analysing the importance of different attitudes, perceived risks, social influences, trust, and lifestyles on intentions and behaviours towards digital technologies in daily life.
WP2 asks, 'What conditions determine whether digitalised daily life has adverse or beneficial impacts on climate change?' through research activities at the systems level. This draws primarily on data analysis of national and other statistical datasets (e.g. on low-carbon lifestyles) as well as data collected through expert workshop and symposia (e.g. on social tipping points).
WP3 asks, 'How can the digitalisation of daily life be steered towards tackling climate change?' by translating the evidence base from WP1 & WP2 into a programme of action for policymakers and households. Research in WP3 is planned for the second half of the project.
A summary of work performed in the reporting period is:
(1) establishment of project visual identity, logo, website (idoddle.org) social media channels;
(2) recruitment of the full project team of 2 post-doctoral researchers (Vrain, Gaytan) and 3 PhD students (Amanta, Kumar, Seger) in addition to the PI (Wilson);
(3) establishment of the living lab household data infrastructure (n=60 households in the Oxford area), and implementation of related WP1 & WP2 research activities on control & prosumerism, digital domestication, and user ship;
(4) initial wave of the nationally-representative household panel survey (n=2000 UK households), and implementation of related WP1 & WP2 research activities on digital infrastructure, trust & power;
(5) collaborative outputs, including peer-reviewed publications, an international symposium, a journal special issue, conference sessions, and public lectures.
WP1 asks 'How does the ongoing digitalisation of daily life impact climate change?' through research activities at the micro-level (individuals, households). This draws primarily on new data collected through a sample of 60 'living lab' households and a nationally-representative sample of 2000 people in an online survey panel. With the living lab households, the iDODDLE team has been establishing baseline data, conducting trials, interviewing and observing digital behaviour, and analysing how digital technologies are used, domesticated, and substituted, and with what implications for activity, energy and emissions. With the online survey panel, the iDODDLE team has been analysing the importance of different attitudes, perceived risks, social influences, trust, and lifestyles on intentions and behaviours towards digital technologies in daily life.
WP2 asks, 'What conditions determine whether digitalised daily life has adverse or beneficial impacts on climate change?' through research activities at the systems level. This draws primarily on data analysis of national and other statistical datasets (e.g. on low-carbon lifestyles) as well as data collected through expert workshop and symposia (e.g. on social tipping points).
WP3 asks, 'How can the digitalisation of daily life be steered towards tackling climate change?' by translating the evidence base from WP1 & WP2 into a programme of action for policymakers and households. Research in WP3 is planned for the second half of the project.
A summary of work performed in the reporting period is:
(1) establishment of project visual identity, logo, website (idoddle.org) social media channels;
(2) recruitment of the full project team of 2 post-doctoral researchers (Vrain, Gaytan) and 3 PhD students (Amanta, Kumar, Seger) in addition to the PI (Wilson);
(3) establishment of the living lab household data infrastructure (n=60 households in the Oxford area), and implementation of related WP1 & WP2 research activities on control & prosumerism, digital domestication, and user ship;
(4) initial wave of the nationally-representative household panel survey (n=2000 UK households), and implementation of related WP1 & WP2 research activities on digital infrastructure, trust & power;
(5) collaborative outputs, including peer-reviewed publications, an international symposium, a journal special issue, conference sessions, and public lectures.
The IDODDLE project uses a diverse set of theories, approaches, and methods drawn from different fields including human-computer interaction, sociology, systems analysis, and consumer behaviour. iDODDLE progresses beyond the state of the art by combining these approaches to examine digitalisation in daily life from multiple dimensions, framed by a concern to understand the impacts on climate change.
Examples of this progress in the first half of the iDODDLE project include
- a journal special issue on 'technology and global change' with contributions on the historical, current, and possible future relationships between digitalisation, energy and greenhouse gas emissions.
- gamified living lab methodologies for sustaining productive engagement with households for in vivo research on digitalisation.
Expected results until the end of the iDODDLE project include:
- a global quantitative assessment of how digitalisation in daily life impacts energy and emissions under both best case and worst case assumptions.
- visualisations and meta-analysis of digitalisation impact mechanisms on energy and emissions.
- analysis of how digitalisation and automation tasks can spill over from one domain or activity (e.g. meal planning) to another domain (e.g. domestic chores).
- understanding how on-demand digital services are ratcheting up consumer expectations for need fulfilment.
- comparative cross-national analysis of trust, skills, and infrastructure as enablers of digitalised daily life.
Examples of this progress in the first half of the iDODDLE project include
- a journal special issue on 'technology and global change' with contributions on the historical, current, and possible future relationships between digitalisation, energy and greenhouse gas emissions.
- gamified living lab methodologies for sustaining productive engagement with households for in vivo research on digitalisation.
Expected results until the end of the iDODDLE project include:
- a global quantitative assessment of how digitalisation in daily life impacts energy and emissions under both best case and worst case assumptions.
- visualisations and meta-analysis of digitalisation impact mechanisms on energy and emissions.
- analysis of how digitalisation and automation tasks can spill over from one domain or activity (e.g. meal planning) to another domain (e.g. domestic chores).
- understanding how on-demand digital services are ratcheting up consumer expectations for need fulfilment.
- comparative cross-national analysis of trust, skills, and infrastructure as enablers of digitalised daily life.