This paper introduces ScDOS (Social-context Disk Operating System), an environmental design principle for consensus-building contexts where trust and ongoing relationships matter more than speed or optimization. While contemporary decision-support systems aim to reduce friction, latency, and ambiguity, such optimization often produces unintended consequences in local communities, including decision fatigue, responsibility avoidance, and erosion of trust. Based on an in-situ observational study conducted at a roadside station (michi-no-eki) in Japan, this work examines how intentionally preserving incompleteness, delay, and non-evaluative information environments can foster voluntary participation, cooperative intervention, and relational continuity. Rather than treating consensus as a problem to be solved, ScDOS reframes it as a relational process sustained through dwelling, re-interpretation, and spiral interaction patterns. The paper positions non-optimization as a rigorous environmental design principle for HCI and design research.
Hidetoshi Toyama (Tue,) studied this question.