Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37593439›Full record

ArticleAnnales des telecommunications2023

Digital sufficiency: conceptual considerations for ICTs on a finite planet.

Tilman Santarius, Jan C T Bieser, Vivian Frick, Mattias Höjer, Maike Gossen, Lorenz M Hilty, Eva Kern, Johanna Pohl, Friederike Rohde, Steffen Lange

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Annales des telecommunications, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
7.2field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 82 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors at 6 institutions in 3 countries.

Tilman SantariusDepartment for Social Transformation and Sustainable Digitalization, Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-6026-3019
Jan C T BieserDepartment of Informatics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Vivian FrickInstitute for Ecological Economy Research, Berlin, Germany.
Mattias HöjerDepartment of Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
Maike GossenDepartment for Social Transformation and Sustainable Digitalization, Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Lorenz M HiltyDepartment of Informatics, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Eva KernEnvironmental Campus Birkenfeld, Birkenfeld, Germany.
Johanna PohlDepartment for Social Transformation and Sustainable Digitalization, Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Friederike RohdeDepartment for Social Transformation and Sustainable Digitalization, Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Steffen LangeDepartment for Social Transformation and Sustainable Digitalization, Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Einstein Center Digital Future · DEInstitute for Ecological Economy Research · DEUniversity of Zurich · CHHumboldt-Universität zu Berlin · DEKTH Royal Institute of Technology · SETechnische Universität Berlin · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

ICT hold significant potential to increase resource and energy efficiencies and contribute to a circular economy. Yet unresolved is whether the aggregated net effect of ICT overall mitigates or aggravates environmental burdens. While the savings potentials have been explored, drivers that prevent these and possible counter measures have not been researched thoroughly. The concept digital sufficiency constitutes a basis to understand how ICT can become part of the essential environmental transformation. Digital sufficiency consists of four dimensions, each suggesting a set of strategies and policy proposals: (a) hardware sufficiency, which aims for fewer devices needing to be produced and their absolute energy demand being kept to the lowest level possible to perform the desired tasks; (b) software sufficiency, which covers ensuring that data traffic and hardware utilization during application are kept as low as possible; (c) user sufficiency, which strives for users applying digital devices frugally and using ICT in a way that promotes sustainable lifestyles; and (d) economic sufficiency, which aspires to digitalization supporting a transition to an economy characterized not by economic growth as the primary goal but by sufficient production and consumption within planetary boundaries. The policies for hardware and software sufficiency are relatively easily conceivable and executable. Policies for user and economic sufficiency are politically more difficult to implement and relate strongly to policies for environmental transformation in general. This article argues for comprehensive policies for digital sufficiency, which are indispensible if ICT are to play a beneficial role in overall environmental transformation.

Indexed as

DegrowthEconomic growthGreen ITICT for sustainabilityRebound effectsSustainable production and consumptionSustainable software

Identifiers

PMID37593439
PMCPMC10427517
OpenAlexW4280490099

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.