home with IT Andy Sloane

Slide 1:@home with IT

Andy Sloane Professor of Telematics

Slide 2:The home computer

Slide 3:Is this a home computer?

Slide 4:Or this?

Slide 5:IT @ home - Outline

What is meant by �home� The effect of information technology The changes in IT from �personal� to �pervasive� The research problems of studying IT/ICT in the home environment IT= Information technology ICT= Information and communication technology

Slide 6:Using IT in the home

The last 10 years has seen a huge growth in home �computing� Internet access from home 2004 (UK Gov)

Slide 7:What is IT in the home?

Various concepts of the �home computer� Different contexts of use Individual use (e.g. homework) Collective and co-operative (e.g shopping) But mainly leisure and entertainment related

Slide 8:What is a home?

Slide 9:Home?

Difficulty in definition of the home. Where we live? Where we ARE? (Wise 2000) Aspects of home in all locations of choice Establishing a �milieu� Sounds, scents and smells, arranging objects/bodies, symbols�

Slide 10:Home?

House ? Home Especially with the embedding of ICT Languages/Cultures differ in their definition of home North/South Europe differences Not inanimate objects Presence, habits, effects of others May not need a place but other people

Slide 11:Research problem

We need to understand the dynamics of the home to be able to study the effects of the technology within it. Not a technical computing problem but Social Psychological Economic Cultural

Slide 12:Research for future systems

Need to analyse use and behaviour Assist design of future systems Improve interfaces Aid interaction and Increase usability Within the context and culture of the home

Slide 13:Technology in the home

�Our domesticity is shaped by social and technological changes associated with industrialisation� (Silverstone R 1993) ICTs fundamentally affect what we mean by home (changing the definition) ICTs have liberated our domesticity from dependence on physical location (extending the location)

Slide 14:Effects on home life

Home life now includes computing on a daily basis (changing the definition) As a mediator with Email between individuals Virtual communities File sharing Web cameras Allow home to be experienced from a distance (extending the location) Email and other ICT is location-independent

Slide 15:Families

Family � a range of sociologically disparate relations Families live in households � a �moral economy� Where the private meets the public 90% of British families with a computer experience arguments over who gets to use the household computer (Livingstone and Bober, 2004)

Slide 16:Conflict

ICTs can be used as markers of territory and power e.g. Young person�s use of mobile phones 43 per cent of parents of 9-17 year-olds impose rules on Internet use (Livingstone and Bober, 2004) ICTs are both products and producers of shifts in our domesticity

Slide 17:Problems of studying the home?

The home is not an office � even with teleworking! (Hindus 1999) But work and home are intertwined Consumers are not knowledge workers Different power structures exist Decisions are made differently Families are not organizations They are complex, dynamic structures and are all different

Slide 18:Consumer input

Need informed consent Easier in the workplace Non-standard �users� Homes can involve children and the aged Difficult to define the boundaries of a study Interviewers as guests or intruders?

Slide 19:Data gathering

How do we gather information about the home Any intrusion in the home will affect the results of the experiment (Hawthorne/Heisenberg effect) Questionnaires Interviews Logs Diaries

Slide 20:Methods used

Ethnography (even in limited forms) Long term, labour intensive Use of trial/experimental homes Special situation � not �home� Using the researcher�s own home Special sort of user Not easy to extrapolate

Slide 21:Future homes

Smart homes Many scenarios and examples Mainly automation Remote control lights, heating and ventilation Audio/Video networks Conspicuous and visible technology

Slide 22:Example systems

JDS technologies

Slide 23:Example � Home safety assistant

VHI Healthcare

Slide 24:Ubiquitous computing

Implicit, hidden and pervasive technology Meeting many needs Physical Social Psychological Emotional

Slide 25:New types of equipment

Interactive surfaces Everyday objects with intelligence Tables, chairs, walls, pictures Emotional communication devices Well-being monitors

Slide 26:Interactive Surface - Dynamo

Dynamo - a public multi-user interactive surface that supports the cooperative sharing and exchange of a wide range of media in a social setting

Slide 27:Intelligent table

Scenario - when a family member arrives at home and places their Orange mobile phone on the Intelligent Table, the table could recognise who owns that phone, and offer any of their favourite services � latest news, horoscopes, gig guide, sport alerts, weather etc� through the Message Cube, pre-programmed within existing Orange services through their web site � promoting Brand values and connectivity between Orange and the Home. Designed by Dominic Smith for Orange. http://www.intelligenttable.net/

Slide 28:Personal monitors

Picture frames � with emotional/well-being information Mynatt and Rowan, (2000)

Slide 29:New interactions

Affective computing Gesture and haptic interfaces Eye-tracking Usability and acceptability issues

Slide 30:Problems

Security Information Viruses, denial of service attacks, Privacy Need to control outside access to personal information Control Complex technology needs technical expertise Access Based on need or ability to pay? Ethical problem Need to question the development of technology when it may �harm� the user

Slide 31:HCI Issues

Development of new style guides and standards for new forms of human-computer interface Principles for accessing the same data and functions for multiple heterogeneous devices New techniques for understanding what people do and why Defining the equivalent of task in a leisure context Testing techniques for the home

Slide 32:Conclusions

It is difficult to define EXACTLY what a home is The home is a complex area to study ICT has a profound effect on the form and function of what we call home Accurate data gathering is still an active research topic

Slide 33:Conclusions

New paradigm � new problems Technical development alone is not enough Multi-disciplinary research is essential New devices will be invented But, only some of them will be useful.

Slide 34:Home computer?

Slide 35:Submarine console