In relation to the theme of the Material Ecologies of Design, I take the entry point thinking “the digital” as a material. In this seminar, I will present ongoing research into a project called Florence, which was conducted at a hospital here in Oslo in the 1980s. That project came about as computers were beginning to be introduced into workplaces. In Florence, the aim was to explore how to develop methods and approaches for designing computer-based tools for skilled healthcare workers. Focus was on developing design methods that actively brought designers and nurses together in the design process, exploring and exchanging knowledge in figuring out how, and what, to design with computational technologies. 

The trajectory of today’s immense expansion of the design and use of digital things, services and products can in part be traced to the values and stances guiding the early explorations of participatory design in projects such as Florence. In the early design work carried out to develop and negotiate material and systemic design of new digital tools, workplace democracy and work environment issues were foregrounded in terms of impact on work environment and future livelihoods. However, the potential and future environmental ecological impacts of massive digitalisation -- eg. rampant energy consumption and consequences of rare mineral extraction that we see today -- seems to not have been visible at all from the perspective of the 1980s.Unpacking the historicity of designing in in relation to “digital materials” thus can open up conceptual spaces for rethinking what, why, how and for whom we design.