Human-Nature Interaction

A research area within human-computer interaction concerned with how people perceive, access, and engage with natural environments, and how technology can mediate that relationship. HNI draws on environmental psychology, biophilia, and posthumanist design to study experiences ranging from outdoor navigation and citizen science to nature soundscapes, virtual nature, and immersive simulations. Most HNI work has assumed sighted users; accessibility-focused HNI examines how blind, low vision, deaf, and motor-disabled users construct meaning through non-visual or non-normative sensory channels and what assistive systems can do to support autonomous, emotionally rich nature engagement.