In recent years, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) expanded and increasingly incorporates more-than-human perspectives. Concerns about sustainability and ecology first emerged in subfields such as Sustainable HCI (SHCI), Post-Human Computer Interaction (PHCI) among others. While sustainability remains a key focus, recent developments have expanded the conversation beyond environmental impact to also address the non-anthropocentric ways in which we, as humans, perceive and interact with the world. The more-than-human approach points to the limitations of traditional user-centered design, which often reinforces an anthropocentric view.
More-than-human as a concept was introduced by philosopher and ecologist David Abram in The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World (1996). Abram’s ideas draw on phenomenology, ecology, and indigenous worldviews to argue that humans should not consider themselves as separate from the environment but as participants in a world where all beings, human and non-human, possess agency. This conceptual perspective challenges traditional human-centered paradigm, encouraging a more inclusive perspective that acknowledges the agency of non-human entities.
The term became more popular in HCI design and academia because of scholars like Ron Wakkary. In his book Things We Could Design: For More Than Human-Centered Worlds Wakkary suggests that human-centered design contributes to the anthropocentric problem by placing humans at the center of thought and action. Although posthumanist approaches already offer a framework for rethinking design in ways that decenter the human, emphasizing the participation of non-human entities, Wakkary calls for a commitment to designing with, rather than for, more-than-human actors. The meaning of more-than-human shifts slightly when moving from Abram, who uses it to refer to the living world, such as plants, animals, weather, and landscapes, to Wakkary, who expands it to include technological, artificial elements and overall things.
Taking inspiration from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass we could push the concept even further to embrace stories, myths, folklore, and indigenous ways of knowing. This way more-than-human allows to conceptualize a tree not merely as a tree, but as a food provider for mycorrhizae or as an essential part of the forest ecosystem, acknowledging its interconnected role in a larger system.