Smart Homes 2

Evolution of Buildings

• Follows up on idea of accidentally smart home

• Examines how homes change over time

• Outlines some design guidelines

How Do We Understand Homes Today?

• Ethnographic studies– Observing people in situ

• Longitudinal studies– Long-term studies

• Design-based methods– Cultural probes

Different Kinds of Devices for Homes

• Information Appliances– Internet fridge

• Interactive Household Objects– Smart cups, Picture frames

• Augmented Furniture– Smart tables, smart cupboards, smart garden furniture

Different Kinds of Devices for Homes

Kinds of Smart Home Research

• New forms of context sensing– Detection of activity, to help “aging in place”

Some Aware Home Applications

MIT’s House_n

• House instrumented to make it easy to run experiments– http://architecture.mit.edu/house_n/placelab.html

Stewart Brand’s Framework

Stewart Brand’s Framework

Stewart Brand’s Framework

• Stuff owned by individuals• Space plan managed by familes• Services managed by landlord• Skin interacted with by public• Structure and site influenced by community

Stewart Brand’s Framework

Discussion

• Is the 6 S’s useful for thinking about ubicomp apps?– Who manages? Lifespan? What kinds of things might be

supported?

– Stuff - Smart gadgets, tv, smart pictures

– Space plan - Sensors, smart floors

– Service - Wireless, security, aging, awareness

• Most ubicomp has so far focused on stuff, space plan, and service. Thoughts on site, structure, skin?

Discussion

• Think bigger: what about design patterns– Organized by geographic scale

• Countries• Cities and Towns• Communities

– Public transit

• Neighborhoods• Clusters• Buildings• Rooms• Spaces

Mapping Current Research

Broken Expectations

• Making existing digital devices work together is hard– Overhead is called “problem-time”

– Examined problem-time for various situations

Broken Expectations

• Nine participants– Lots of them were tech savvy

• Wide range of needs– Voice over IP setup

– Media center setup

• Encountered lots of problems

Broken Expectations

• Lots of small, independent components that don’t play well with each other– Lots of potential dependencies and connections

• Out-of-box usability test wouldn’t find many of these problems– Not sure if I agree here, depends on how test is set up

– Lab test vs follow home and observe set up

Broken Expectations

• People’s expectations didn’t match tech capabilities– Lots of assumptions, expectations of tech

– Specific OS, specific kind of encryption, where it expected to be connected, etc

• Authors claim this is broken expectations on user side– Not sure if I agree here either

– I’d argue more for not-well-designed

• Possible solutions?

Broken Expectations

• People’s expectations didn’t match tech capabilities– Lots of assumptions, expectations of tech

– Specific OS, specific kind of encryption, where it expected to be connected, etc

• Authors claim this is broken expectations on user side– Not sure if I agree here either

– I’d argue more for not-well-designed

• Possible solutions?– Published collections of stuff that works together

– I have x and y, what should I buy next?

– Follow the leader (like the EMACS configuration files)

Principles of Smart Home Control

• Lots of research on controlling devices, end-user programming

• Tries to refocus the issue: helping people control their lives

• Presents a study of families and the problems they face

• Presents design principles to help families maintain control

Research in End-User Programming

• CAMP (Truong et al, 04) • microCommander (Jahnke et al, 02) • Speakeasy (Newman et al, 02)

• Jigsaw (Humble et al, 03)

Anthropological Perspective• Families are struggling to

gain control of their lives

CURRENT RESEARCH

Technical Perspective• Smart home control

systems provide control of devices

How can smart home control systems help user regain control of their devices

Anthropological Perspective• Families are struggling to

gain control of their lives

CURRENT RESEARCH

Technical Perspective• Smart home control

systems provide control of devices

How can smart home control systems help user regain control of their devices

families lives

FINDINGS“WICKED” PROBLEM OF ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT

EXAMPLEGAME OR PRACTICE? HOME OR AWAY? WHAT TIME?

EXAMPLEWHO PICKS UP? WHO DROPS OFF? WHERE?

EXAMPLESHIN GUARDS, KNEE PADS. CLEATS OR FLATS?

EXAMPLEPRACTICE UNIFORM? HOME OR AWAY UNIFORM?

EXAMPLECLEAN CLOTHES THE NIGHT BEFORE

EXAMPLEJUICE BEFORE OR AFTER? ORANGES AT HALFTIME?

BREAKDOWNS LOST ON THE CALENDAR

BREAKDOWNS LAST MINUTE CARPOOL DECISIONS

BREAKDOWNS MOM’S OUT OF TOWN SO DAD’S IN CHARGE

BREAKDOWNS MOM’S OUT OF TOWN SO DAD’S IN CHARGE

BREAKDOWNS MOM’S OUT OF TOWN SO DAD’S IN CHARGE

BREAKDOWNS CREEPING RESPONSIBILITY

BREAKDOWNS CREEPING RESPONSIBILITY

BREAKDOWNS UNPREDICTABLE ORANGES

BREAKDOWNS SICK CHILD

BREAKDOWNS CASCADE EFFECTS

Design Principles

• Allow for the organic evolution of routines and plans• Participate in the construction of family identity• The home is more than a location • Understand periodic changes, exceptions and

improvisation• Design for breakdowns• Easily construct new plans and routines, and modify

existing ones• Account for multiple, overlapping and occasionally

conflicting goals

Design Principles

• Organic evolution of routines and plans– Possibly have ubicomp system be aware of routine,

but not force people into that routine either

• Allow creation and modification of new behaviors– Make it easy for people to specify new behaviors / routines

– Support improvisation, breakdowns, exceptions

• Understand changes, exceptions, improv– Seasonal changes, surprises

Design Principles

• Design for breakdowns– Even if family is on schedule, world might not be

– You get carpool there, but other family is off-schedule

• Multiple, overlapping, sometimes conflicting goals– Mom does laundry on Monday, Dad on Tuesday

Design Principles

• House is more than a location– Mobile, at work, school, car

– Multiple places for information: calendars, school flyers, sports schedules

• Construction of family identity– Act of preparing food makes Mom feel like “Mom”

– Automating grocery list supports this role