Hitting the triple bottom line: widening the HCI approach to sustainability

Sustainable Development (SD) in its dimensions - environment, economy, and society - is a growing area of concern within the HCI community. This paper advances a systematic literature review on sustainability across the Sustainable Human-Computer Interaction (SHCI) body of work. The papers were classifed according to the Triple Bottom Line (TBL) framework to understand how the pillars of SD play into the HCI discourse on sustainability. The economic angle was identifed as a gap in SHCI literature. To meet the TBL of SD, however, a balance needs to be sought across all 'lines'. In this paper, we propose that HCI can advance the discussion and the understanding of the economic concepts around sustainability through taking a sociology perspective on the economic angle of the TBL. We sustain this claim by discussing economic concepts and the role that digital can play in redefning the established foundations of our economic system.