What Are the Trends in Eco-Design Research when We Talk About Digital Technology? - A Five Year Analytical Dive into Research Data

The convergence of digital technology with eco-design offers an integrative approach, merging environmental sustainability with technological innovation in design. In the realm of eco-design, there is a growing emphasis on the application of digital technology. However, the focal areas and trends of eco-design studies utilizing digital technology remain underexplored. This leads to a deficiency in our deep understanding and prediction of the evolution and transformation of this domain. To comprehend the progression in this domain, we curated and scrutinized a dataset of 1,359 papers related to digital technology and eco-design presented at the CHI conference over the past five years. Through keywords analysis from the past half-decade, we pinpointed prevailing research areas in eco-design utilizing digital technology, such as virtual reality, sustainability, health, and human-computer interaction. We also gathered essential information about the papers for descriptive statistical analysis, including the count, authors’ nationalities and gender distribution, and the scale of the authorship teams. Coupled by the visual insights from keyword clouds, we discerned trends in eco-design research in the backdrop of digital technology. Our findings underscore that the eco-design domain, when integrated with digital technology, persistently captivates academic interest, with comparatively smaller teams often embarking on projects in this research sphere. Predominantly, researchers from the United States and male participants lead these endeavors. Moreover, there’s an escalating emphasis on people-centered design, striving to engineer solutions that harmonize environmental interactions with health promotions. This study’s outcomes furnish insights for a more profound exploration in the realm of digital technology and eco-design, offering recommendations to further propel sustainable progress and innovative design.