Shit! Towards an experimental multiple-perspective approach to human-microbiome relations

For HCI to move beyond human exceptionalism requires embracing more-than-humans, humans as parts of ecosystems, as multispecies assemblages and events. In short, decentering the human. Yet, human experience sits at the center of HCI. We report from Shit!, an experimental research inquiry into the relationship between people suffering intestinal dysbiosis and their gut microbiome. We discuss a series of Shitty workshops and the method’s suitability for fostering multiple-perspectives on human-microbiome relations. We reflect on the possibilities and challenges of conducting intimate, more-than-human design inquiries through workshops: carefully curated tasks undertaken collaboratively, in social settings, with facilitation. Our contribution is threefold: (1) we trace the lineage of workshops in HCI and Participatory Design; (2) we highlight and problematize human-microbiome relationships in sensitive participatory health-care contexts; (3) we deepen understanding of how workshops–as method–may be rearticulated in more-than-human design processes. We propose future directions in the work to extend and supplement the efficacy of the workshop with self-experimentation kits. Rather than developing design research methods anew, we argue the necessity of inquiring into and experimenting with the workshop as an established design method in HCI to prompt a re-articulation of situated knowledges and allow multiple voices, perspectives, and species to flourish.