Casablanca: Designing Social Communication Devices for the Home

Debby Hindus, Scott D. Mainwaring, Nicole Leduc, Anna Elisabeth Hagstrom and Oliver BayleyInterval Research Corporation

Project Goal

Incorporate media space concepts into domestic environments

Influences

Previous work in computer-mediated communication (e.g. awareness, audio-related media spaces)

Home technologies (e.g. HomeNet)

Early Prototypes

CommuteBoard NeighborNet KitchenNet

Poor video performance over ISDN

CommuteBoard

Handwriting and audio sensing Helping carpool participants arrange their

rides more effectively

Feedback: pros: useful, fun, casual interface.

Cons: audio not informative, handwriting hard to read, space limited

CommuteBoard

Conclusions on home-based technology Use simple, expressive means to

communicate Aesthetics are important Video and audio: need high-speed to be

effective

Themes

Household as displays Household as sanctuary Family life is household priority Women are household communicators Telephone not adequate

Design implications: focus on aesthetics, family life and adult women

Concepts

Awareness-related In Touch- “thinking of you” tokens Presence Light – linked objects showing activity

Audio Space-related RoomLink connects rooms in 2 households via

high quality audio Note and Picture Sharing

MessageBoard- a way for collocated individuals to share notes, photos etc on the same space

Feedback

RoomLink widely regarded as useful Appreciated sound quality

MessageBoard- valued for group coordination, artifact sharing abilities

In Touch – fun but not very practical Presence Light- perceived as a privacy threat

Prototypes

Intentional Presence Light- share a user’s presence only when activated by user Curtain /lampshade devices Users choose icons to represent them

ScanBoard- similar to messageboard using existing technology Post messages Scan pictures move/hide notes Automatically updated through shared database

Prototypes-Results

IPL valued for Intentionality and aesthetics ScanBoard valued for scanning and sharing Both valued for Expressiveness and

simplicity

Conclusions

Domestic domains are distinct from workplace environments, with different goals and priorities

Media space in homes will span a wide range Social communication is a valuable research area Let users express themselves, but keep it simple Don’t make users feel obligated to keep in touch

Questions

Isn’t focus group data fundamentally flawed? Most of these applications only work if other

people you know had them also. How will that affect popularity? (curse of the videophone)

Are these applications appealing to men also?

What happens when things malfunction?

At Home with Ubiquitous Computing: Seven ChallengesW. Keith Edwards and Rebecca E.

GrinterComputer science laboratory, Xerox Palo Alto Research Center

Smart Homes

Definition: Domestic environments in which we are surrounded by interconnected technologies that are responsive to our presence and actions.

Aware Home Research Initiative (AHRI) Interdisciplinary work at Georgia Tech Uses both location-aware and context aware

technologies Challenges in both developing the technology

and addressing privacy concerns

AwareHome

Design for people: improve communication, create memory aids, home assistants- especially good for elderly and homebound

Examples: Dude’s Magic Box

Gesture Pendant

Seven Challenges

The Accidentally Smart Home Impromptu Interoperability No Systems Administrator Designing for Domestic Use Social Implications of Aware Home

Technologies Reliability Inference in the Presence of Ambiguity

The Accidentally Smart Home Existing homes do not have infrastructure in place Technology will most likely be added piecemeal Result: Unintended communication btw devices How will people understand how to fix problems as

they arise? Design Challenge: Provide ways to help users

understand the capabilities of the technology and how to control it

Impromptu Interoperability

The ability to interconnect without advance planning How do we solve Issues with incompatible

device/software? Challenge: every device must be programmed to

understand every device it may ever encounter or need to connect with

Standards may help devices connect with a class of devices but not every individual one

Need new models of connectivity (e.g. CoolTown, Speakeasy)

No Systems Administrator

Computers in home = users become system administrators

Home networks add increased workload and complexity to admin tasks

Challenge: don’t require “expert level” knowledge to use system

How can small devices provide rich interaction without sacrificing simplicity?

How do we design for remote diagnosis and support while preventing unwanted parties from using it?

Designing for Domestic Use

Vendors and users find it hard to predict in what context people will use technology

Most home devices “shared”, rules dictate use

Best technology are the most flexible Smart technology will be disruptive in

domestic environment Challenge: Designing Technology that can

adapt to domestic routines

Social Implications of Aware Home Technologies Labor saving devices really labor-changing:

reduce work time initially, but increases expectations

Good parenting- discussion of “values” regarding technology use can lead to broader debates( e.g. V chip)

Privacy issues

Reliability

Existing domestic technology very reliable Different development culture- wary of bugs, hard to

implement patches, upgrades Different technological approaches – bulk of functionality

placed on network, not device utility approach) Different market expectations-appliances so reliable, not

seen as complex systems Different regulations- safety, service standards in place

Challenge: Achieving expected level of reliability – need adequate time and resources

Inference in the Presence of Ambiguity Technology that assists/predicts human behavior,

not well received How smart does a smart home need to be to be

useful and successful? Machine inference- greater possibility of error If inference is required, models of actions and

preferences must be built Challenge: Ensure ambiguity is not hidden from

users or parts of system that need to access it Inference needs to be predictable and recoverable

Conclusion

Homes not currently designed to be smart Need a balance between reliability and

Interoperability Social impact of technology hard to predict Big question: How smart does the smart

home need to be? “Smartness” makes it disruptive to users, unpredictable

Questions

How will these technologies affect the “home as sanctuary” belief?

How expensive would these systems be to set up, even if they were built in to a new house?

Will there ever be enough demand to warrant standards in connectivity?

How will Smart homes change communication within families?

Because routines are so personal and unique, how do we design a system to adapt seamlessly?