Designing and evaluating smart domestic technologies which use infrequent interaction
John V.H. Bonner, Andol X Li, Shane S. Robinson · University of Huddersfield Repository (University of Huddersfield) · 2009
In the last decade research into ubiquitous computing has begun to examine the home environment both commercially and academically such as MIT, Samsung and Microsoft [Taylor et al 2007] although, as yet, smart homes have yet to move into significant reality [Davidoff et al, 2006b] due to old housing stock [Edwards & Grinter, 2001] which will require these new technologies to be integrated into a wide variety of legacy environments [Tolmi, 2007]. One of the reasons why the home has become important is simply due to the number of household computer-based systems available [Wray, 2007] making it a commercially valid exercise [Hindus, 1999] todate this has been primarily driven by technical innovation with user needs considered as a secondary issue [Hemmings et al. 2002; Haines et al. 2007]. However, domestic situations do not have the same focus on efficiency nor the same sense of shared objective as found in the workplace [Crabtree & Rodden, 2004] and must therefore be addressed differently to identify suitable technological solutions and social needs. Designers must understand routines, functions and social restraints within the home [Bernhaupt et al. 2008, Edwards & Grinter, 2001], in both the development of product concept [Gaver et al. 1999, Davidoff et al. 2006b] and the physical integration [Haines et al. 2006, Crabtree & Rodden 2004] to deliver useful and marketable domestic technologies. Many of the products used and proposed in these studies above place little emphasis on the potential frequency of their real-world use and how this might relate to behaviour and acceptance; therefore, in this study, we have begun to investigate whether or not intermittent use requires special attention in the design and evaluation process and whether this can be successfully anticipated and measured within a controlled laboratory environment.