Repurposing Bits and Pieces of the Digital.

Repurposing refers to a broad set of practices, such as recycling or upcycling, all aiming to make better use of or give new life to physical materials and artifacts. While these practices have an obvious interest regarding sustainability issues, they also bring about unique aesthetics and values that may inspire design beyond sustainability concerns. What if we can harness these qualities in digital materials? We introduce Delete by Haiku, an application that transforms old mobile text messages into haiku poems. We elaborate on how the principles of repurposing -- working on a low budget, introducing chance and combining the original values with the new ones -- can inform interaction design in evoking some of these aesthetic values. This approach changes our views on what constitutes "digital materials" and the opportunities they offer. We also connect recent debates concerning ownership of data with discussions in the arts on the "Death of the Author."