In this section
@inproceedings{Binyamini:2025:10.1145/3715336.3735689,
author = {Binyamini, Ben-Meir N and Healy, PGT and Deterding, S},
doi = {10.1145/3715336.3735689},
publisher = {ACM},
title = {Domestic cultures of plant care: a moss terrarium probe},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3715336.3735689},
year = {2025}
}
TY - CPAPER
AB - Houseplants are increasingly being used as part of interactive sys- tems that aim to foster pro-environmental concern and awareness of more-than-human life. Yet such interventions rely on conflicting and untested assumptions about how people relate to houseplants. We therefore studied domestic plant care in 11 purposefully sampled households, applying a sensor-equipped moss terrarium as a living ‘thing ethnography’ probe, supplemented with semi-structured in- terviews. We find that social and intergenerational cultures of plant care inform people’s individual concern and accountability through constituents and mechanisms like gift-giving, signalling, knowledge transfer, or joint practical care. We identify five domestic cultures of plant care in our sample, each of which frames plants differently and leads to different practical approaches to plant care. We propose design considerations that emphasise enculturation and shared care over individual behaviour change and reframe houseplants from decorative objects into living household members.
AU - Binyamini,Ben-Meir N
AU - Healy,PGT
AU - Deterding,S
DO - 10.1145/3715336.3735689
PB - ACM
PY - 2025///
TI - Domestic cultures of plant care: a moss terrarium probe
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/3715336.3735689
ER -
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