Surviving the Narrative Collapse: Sustainability and Justice in Computing Within Limits

TL;DR

This paper introduces Fictomorphosis, a creative storytelling method that helps sustainability-focused computing research navigate ideological challenges and maintain impact amid misinformation and social polarization.

Contribution

It presents a novel narrative transformation approach to reframe contested topics, aiding sustainability research in adapting and persisting in polarized sociopolitical environments.

Findings

Fictomorphosis facilitates new perspectives on sustainability issues.

Narrative reframing can influence perceptions of computing research.

Creative storytelling helps sustain impact in polarized contexts.

Abstract

Sustainability-driven computing research - encompassing equity, diversity, climate change, and social justice - is increasingly dismissed as woke or even dangerous in many sociopolitical contexts. As misinformation, ideological polarisation, deliberate ignorance and reactionary narratives gain ground, how can sustainability research in computing continue to exist and make an impact? This paper explores these tensions through Fictomorphosis, a creative story retelling method that reframes contested topics through different genres and perspectives. By engaging computing researchers in structured narrative transformations, we investigate how sustainability-oriented computing research is perceived, contested, and can adapt in a post-truth world.