Can We Measure What We Ignore? Rethinking the Individual Dimension of Software Sustainability in Digital Health
Over a decade after the Karlskrona Manifesto for Sustainability Design broadened the scope of software sustainability, the individual dimension, encompassing human motivation, ethics, and well-being, remains conceptually acknowledged but poorly operationalized. Although sustainability research in software engineering has diversified, it still prioritizes environmental impact and technical efficiency, overlooking the cognitive and ethical conditions that sustain them. This position paper argues that this imbalance limits the ethical and epistemic depth of the field, particularly in digital health, where systems directly affect human cognition and professional integrity. Drawing on tertiary studies that reveal the limited stratification of sustainability dimensions, we propose repositioning the individual dimension as the foundation of sustainability-aware design. The SEEDS framework (Sustainability in Biomedical Software Engineering), developed at UFCSPA, is presented as a reflective construct that visualizes asymmetries among sustainability dimensions and bridges evaluation with ethical awareness. Revisiting the Goal–Question–Metric (GQM) paradigm and the growing influence of large language models (LLMs), the paper calls for a shift in consciousness: sustaining software ultimately requires sustaining the people who create and depend on it.
Tue 14 AprDisplayed time zone: Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil change
11:00 - 12:30 | GREENS 2026 - Pitch Session 2 / Group DiscussionsGREENS at Oceania VII Pitch Session 2 (5-minute pitch of each paper) followed by breakout group discussions | ||
11:00 10mTalk | The Impact of External Libraries on Software Energy Efficiency and Sustainability GREENS Nabihah Chaudhry LUT University, Salim Kamaludeen Lawal LUT University, Shola Oyedeji LUT University | ||
11:10 10mTalk | Integrating API Energy Profiling into Developer Workflows: The VerdeFlow Prototype GREENS Mbanyick B Joof LUT University, Muhammad Asif Khan LUT University, Shola Oyedeji LUT University , Jari Porras LUT University | ||
11:20 10mTalk | Operationalizing Sustainability through Non-Functional Requirements: A Domain-Oriented Model for Biomedical Software GREENS Livia dos Reis Edinger da Silva Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Maria Antônia Gómez de Oliveira Maia Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Juliana Silva Herbert UFCSPA - Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre | ||
11:30 10mTalk | Can We Measure What We Ignore? Rethinking the Individual Dimension of Software Sustainability in Digital Health GREENS Juliana Silva Herbert UFCSPA - Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre, Livia dos Reis Edinger da Silva Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Muriel Figueredo Franco Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Isabel Cristina Siqueira da Silva Federal University of Health Sciences of Porto Alegre (UFCSPA) | ||
11:40 10mTalk | METRION: A Framework for Accurate Software Energy Measurement GREENS Benjamin Weigell University of Augsburg, Simon Hornung University of Augsburg, Bernhard Bauer University of Augsburg | ||
11:50 10mTalk | Beyond Energy Consumption: Accurate Emission Factors for Production Sites GREENS | ||
12:00 10mTalk | Bridging the gap between industry and academia: sustainability in LLM-assisted software engineering GREENS Maja Kirkeby Roskilde University, Pepijn de Reus University of Amsterdam, Ana Oprescu University of Amsterdam, Kalle Pronk Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Qin Zhao Fontys University of Applied Science, Fernando Castor University of Twente, João Paulo Fernandes New York University, Abu Dhabi | ||
12:10 10mTalk | Graphical Interface Model for Empowering Web Application Users to Make Sustainable Choices: a Technology Acceptance Study GREENS Giuliano Marques Bonazzi Instituto Técnológico de Aeronáutica, Jacopo Ammendola Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Eduardo Guerra Free University of Bozen-Bolzano | ||
12:20 10mTalk | Software Library Energy Meter (SLEM) : An Automated Energy Measurement Tool for Software Libraries GREENS Akilesh P Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, Shivadharshan S Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, Rajrupa Chattaraj Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, India, Sridhar Chimalakonda Indian Institute of Technology Tirupati, Vibhu Saujanya Sharma Accenture Labs, Vikrant Kaulgud Accenture Labs, India | ||