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Wiltse, Heather, Dr.ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0002-0566-2527
Publications (10 of 43) Show all publications
Wiltse, H. (2025). Designing for (alternative) platformed relations. Designing, 1, 32-37
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Designing for (alternative) platformed relations
2025 (English)In: Designing, ISSN 3049-7671, Vol. 1, p. 32-37Article in journal, Editorial material (Other academic) Published
Abstract [en]

Nearly all design is now interaction design. Contemporary design projects are shaped by ongoing processes of digitalization and the economic imperatives of a data-driven sociotechnical ecosystem. This position paper makes two connected points: (1) that in order to design effectively with the digital, it is necessary to develop an understanding of its character (ontology) – what it is and does – and corresponding design methods and approaches for handling platformed relations; and (2) that there is a pressing need for real innovation, imagination, and proposition of genuine alternatives – design as a practice of hope.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Sage Publications, 2025
National Category
Design
Research subject
design
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-247167 (URN)10.1177/30497671251392180 (DOI)
Available from: 2025-12-03 Created: 2025-12-03 Last updated: 2026-02-11Bibliographically approved
Yazirlıoğlu, L., Kohtala, C. & Wiltse, H. (2025). Healing through collective textile-making: crafting objects, places, and communities. In: E. Brandt; T. Markussen; E. Berglund; G. Julier; P. Linde (Ed.), Nordes 2025: Relational Design, 6-8 August, Oslo, Norway. Paper presented at Nordes 2025: Relational Design, Oslo, Norway, August 6-8, 2025. Design Research Society, Article ID 39.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Healing through collective textile-making: crafting objects, places, and communities
2025 (English)In: Nordes 2025: Relational Design, 6-8 August, Oslo, Norway / [ed] E. Brandt; T. Markussen; E. Berglund; G. Julier; P. Linde, Design Research Society, 2025, article id 39Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Intensifying social and environmental challenges demands restructuring sustainable design frameworks in which communities’ resilience and empowerment are at the forefront. This research draws insights into that by engaging with textile-making communities located across Northern Ireland and Umeå/Sweden to examine their role in creating and networking resistance. It contributes to recognizing social and collective dimensions of sustainability by exploring how textile-making practices foster agency and solidarity. To examine the textile communities’ making practices, the intersection of three key concepts is used: craftivism by Greer (2008), third places theorized by Oldenburg (1989), and communities of practice drawing on Wenger’s (1998) framework. These concepts create a unique lens to examine textile communities’ contributions to reframing sustainability that reflects on cultural and collective aspects. Discussions and empirical data gathered show that involvement in collective textile-making can heal the broken connections between production and consumption as well as increase the well-being of individuals and communities. The paper concludes by providing suggestions to reshape design practice that accommodates collectives as crucial actors of fashion production networks. By understanding the adaptiveness of the textile communities to uncertainties and complexities, design practice can embrace “dancing with complexity” and co-create alternative structures and relations.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Design Research Society, 2025
Series
Nordic design research conference, E-ISSN 1604-9705
Keywords
design, textile communities, alternative production, relational design
National Category
Design
Research subject
design; sustainability
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-242744 (URN)10.21606/nordes.2025.39 (DOI)978-1-912294-58-9 (ISBN)
Conference
Nordes 2025: Relational Design, Oslo, Norway, August 6-8, 2025
Available from: 2025-08-07 Created: 2025-08-07 Last updated: 2025-08-07Bibliographically approved
Redström, J. & Wiltse, H. (2025). On finding our place in a world. In: Andrea Krajewski; Iskander Smit (Ed.), ThingsCon report: the state of responsible technology 2025 (pp. 49-54). Amsterdam: Stichting ThingsCon
Open this publication in new window or tab >>On finding our place in a world
2025 (English)In: ThingsCon report: the state of responsible technology 2025 / [ed] Andrea Krajewski; Iskander Smit, Amsterdam: Stichting ThingsCon , 2025, p. 49-54Chapter in book (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Amsterdam: Stichting ThingsCon, 2025
Series
RIOT, The State of Responsible IoT Report ; 5
National Category
Design
Research subject
design
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-241843 (URN)
Available from: 2025-07-02 Created: 2025-07-02 Last updated: 2025-07-07Bibliographically approved
Özçetin, S. & Wiltse, H. (2025). Terms of entanglement: a posthumanist reading of Terms of Service. Human-Computer Interaction, 40(1-4), 171-194
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Terms of entanglement: a posthumanist reading of Terms of Service
2025 (English)In: Human-Computer Interaction, ISSN 0737-0024, E-ISSN 1532-7051, Vol. 40, no 1-4, p. 171-194Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Contemporary connected things entail ongoing relations between producers, end users, and other actors characterized by ongoing updates and production of data about and through use. These relations are currently governed by Terms of Service (ToS) and related policy documents, which are known to be mostly ignored beyond the required interaction of ticking a box to indicate consent. This seems to be a symptom of failure to design for effectively mediating ongoing relations among multiple stakeholders involving multiple forms of value generation. In this paper, we use ToS as an entrance point to explore design practices for democratic data governance. Drawing on posthuman perspectives, we make three posthuman design moves exploring entanglements, decentering, and co-performance in relation to Terms of Service. Through these explorations we begin to sketch a space for design to engage with democratic data governance through a practice of what we call revealing design that is aimed at meaningfully making visible these complex networked relations in actionable ways. This approach is meant to open alternative possible trajectories that could be explored for design to enable genuine democratic data governance.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Taylor & Francis, 2025
Keywords
Democratic data governance, Terms of Service, privacy policies, posthuman design, more-than-human design tactics
National Category
Human Computer Interaction
Research subject
design
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-217348 (URN)10.1080/07370024.2023.2281928 (DOI)001111370500001 ()2-s2.0-85178443458 (Scopus ID)
Funder
EU, Horizon Europe, 955990
Available from: 2023-11-30 Created: 2023-11-30 Last updated: 2025-01-13Bibliographically approved
Kempeneers, A. & Wiltse, H. (2024). Digital consent practices. In: Elisa Giaccardi; Roy Bendor (Ed.), Rethink design: a vocabulary for designing with AI (pp. 59-62). TU Delft
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Digital consent practices
2024 (English)In: Rethink design: a vocabulary for designing with AI / [ed] Elisa Giaccardi; Roy Bendor, TU Delft , 2024, p. 59-62Chapter in book (Refereed)
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
TU Delft, 2024
National Category
Design
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-236457 (URN)2-s2.0-85219747963 (Scopus ID)9789463669146 (ISBN)
Available from: 2025-03-20 Created: 2025-03-20 Last updated: 2025-03-20Bibliographically approved
Ben Allouch, S., Giaccardi, E., Yatskiv (Jackiva), I., Raijmakers, J., Redström, J., Shklovski, I., . . . Wiltse, H. (2024). Prototeams. In: Elisa Giaccardi; Roy Bendor (Ed.), Rethink design: a vocabulary for designing with AI (pp. 79-82). Delft: TU Delft OPEN Publishing
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Prototeams
Show others...
2024 (English)In: Rethink design: a vocabulary for designing with AI / [ed] Elisa Giaccardi; Roy Bendor, Delft: TU Delft OPEN Publishing , 2024, p. 79-82Chapter in book (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Prototeams are provisional or speculative teams prototyping and rehearsing future design practices.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Delft: TU Delft OPEN Publishing, 2024
National Category
Design Human Computer Interaction
Research subject
design; human-computer interaction
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-232045 (URN)2-s2.0-85219747779 (Scopus ID)978-94-6366-914-6 (ISBN)
Available from: 2024-11-22 Created: 2024-11-22 Last updated: 2025-03-18Bibliographically approved
Gil-Salas, P., Redström, J. & Wiltse, H. (2024). Public deliberation on data. In: Elisa Giaccardi; Roy Bendor (Ed.), Rethink design: a vocabulary for designing with AI (pp. 63-66). Delft: TU Delft OPEN Publishing
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Public deliberation on data
2024 (English)In: Rethink design: a vocabulary for designing with AI / [ed] Elisa Giaccardi; Roy Bendor, Delft: TU Delft OPEN Publishing , 2024, p. 63-66Chapter in book (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Public deliberation on data calls for a participatory design approach adapted to the complexities of data-driven systems.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Delft: TU Delft OPEN Publishing, 2024
National Category
Human Computer Interaction Design
Research subject
design; human-computer interaction
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-232044 (URN)2-s2.0-85219747923 (Scopus ID)978-94-6366-914-6 (ISBN)
Available from: 2024-11-22 Created: 2024-11-22 Last updated: 2025-12-19Bibliographically approved
Neidhardt-Mokoena, A. & Wiltse, H. (2024). Transforming design museums for redesigning design. In: C. Gray; E. Ciliotta Chehade; P. Hekkert; L. Forlano; P. Ciuccarelli; P. Lloyd (Ed.), DRS2024: Boston. Paper presented at Design Research Society Conference 2024, Boston, USA, June 23–28, 2024. London: Design Research Society, Article ID 203.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Transforming design museums for redesigning design
2024 (English)In: DRS2024: Boston / [ed] C. Gray; E. Ciliotta Chehade; P. Hekkert; L. Forlano; P. Ciuccarelli; P. Lloyd, London: Design Research Society, 2024, article id 203Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

There is a need for spaces that can support reflecting on and reimagining design, and redirecting it toward sustainment and justice. Such spaces would necessarily operate with the understanding that design is ontological and has political consequences. We might think of such spaces as metabolic design museums. In this paper, we imagine how metabolic museums might help to redesign design through keeping process at their heart and critically unpacking design’s involvement in urgencies as well as possibilities to envision and move towards more just futures. To do this, we build on intersectional feminist analysis of existing design museums through museum visits and participatory workshops, as well as inspiration from activist spaces; and we speculate about how feminist tactics applied by para-museums could catalyze transformational processes. If those processes were successful, a design museum would then enter into a state of continuous metabolization and become able to contribute to transforming design.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
London: Design Research Society, 2024
Keywords
design museums, design justice, feminist tactics, transformation
National Category
Design Gender Studies
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-228091 (URN)10.21606/drs.2024.734 (DOI)2-s2.0-105027567754 (Scopus ID)
Conference
Design Research Society Conference 2024, Boston, USA, June 23–28, 2024
Available from: 2024-07-29 Created: 2024-07-29 Last updated: 2026-02-05Bibliographically approved
Neidhardt-Mokoena, A. & Wiltse, H. (2023). Generous crowdedness: cultivating space(s) for care at alternative design museums. In: S. Holmlid; V. Rodrigues; C. Westin; P. G. Krogh; M. Mäkelä; D. Svanaes; Å. Wikberg-Nilsson (Ed.), Nordes 2023: Exploratory papers. Paper presented at Nordes 2023, The 10th Nordic Design Research Society (Nordes) Conference: This Space Intentionally Left Blank, Norrköping, Sweden, June 12-14, 2023. , Article ID 6.
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Generous crowdedness: cultivating space(s) for care at alternative design museums
2023 (English)In: Nordes 2023: Exploratory papers / [ed] S. Holmlid; V. Rodrigues; C. Westin; P. G. Krogh; M. Mäkelä; D. Svanaes; Å. Wikberg-Nilsson, 2023, article id 6Conference paper, Published paper (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

The design discipline is implicated in thetrajectories that have led us to an unsustainable present. There is an urgency to re-direct the design discipline, so that it can become able to not onlystay with past and present trouble, but also to develop other futures. To see how design museums might support change rather than preservation, welook to the example of protest archives. Based onan analysis of relational space, we suggest that therelative crowdedness of protest archives emerges out of matters of care, and allows for the development of alternative ways of being and creating. We thus identify a set of qualities that might be used to inform development of alternative spaces for care in design that aim to become able to respond to urgencies and to open up more just futures.

Keywords
relational space, design museums, protest archives, matters of care
National Category
Design Gender Studies
Research subject
design
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-210253 (URN)10.21606/nordes.2023.72 (DOI)
Conference
Nordes 2023, The 10th Nordic Design Research Society (Nordes) Conference: This Space Intentionally Left Blank, Norrköping, Sweden, June 12-14, 2023
Available from: 2023-06-20 Created: 2023-06-20 Last updated: 2025-02-24Bibliographically approved
Hauser, S., Redström, J. & Wiltse, H. (2023). The widening rift between aesthetics and ethics in the design of computational things. AI & Society: Knowledge, Culture and Communication, 38, 227-243
Open this publication in new window or tab >>The widening rift between aesthetics and ethics in the design of computational things
2023 (English)In: AI & Society: Knowledge, Culture and Communication, ISSN 0951-5666, E-ISSN 1435-5655, Vol. 38, p. 227-243Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In the face of massively increased technological complexity, it is striking that so many of today’s computational and net- worked things follow design ideals honed decades ago in a much different context. These strong ideals prescribe a presenta- tion of things as useful tools through design and a withdrawal of aspects of their functionality and complexity. Beginning in the mid-twentieth century, we trace this ‘withdrawal program’ as it has persisted in the face of increasing computational complexity. Currently, design is in a dilemma where computational products can be seen as brilliantly designed and engag- ing to use yet can also be considered very problematic in how they support hidden agendas and often seem less than trust- worthy. In this article, we analyse factors shaping this emergent ethical dilemma and reveal the concept of a widening rift between what computational things actually are and do and the ways in which they are presented as things for use. Against this backdrop, we argue that there is a need for a new orientation in design programs to adequately address this deepening rupture between the aesthetics and ethics in the design of computational things. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Springer-Verlag New York, 2023
Keywords
Artificial Intelligence, Human-Computer Interaction, Philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, industrial design, interaction design, design theory
National Category
Design
Research subject
design
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-188341 (URN)10.1007/s00146-021-01279-w (DOI)000698535100001 ()2-s2.0-85115645264 (Scopus ID)
Projects
Design Philosophy for Things That Change
Funder
Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation, MMW 2017.0058
Available from: 2021-10-06 Created: 2021-10-06 Last updated: 2025-12-01Bibliographically approved
Projects
Relating to Things that Relate to Us [F17-1365:1_RJ]; Umeå University; Publications
Wiltse, H. (2020). Introduction: relating to things that relate to us. In: Heather Wiltse (Ed.), Relating to things: design, technology and the artificial (pp. 1-12). Bloomsbury AcademicWiltse, H. (Ed.). (2020). Relating to things: design, technology and the artificial. Bloomsbury AcademicWiltse, H. (2020). Revealing relations of fluid assemblages. In: Heather Wiltse (Ed.), Relating to things: design, technology and the artificial (pp. 239-255). Bloomsbury Academic
Organisations
Identifiers
ORCID iD: ORCID iD iconorcid.org/0000-0002-0566-2527

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