Principles of Smart Home Control

FAMILY, CONTROLAND THE SMART HOME

Carnegie Mellon UniversityHCI Institute

School of Design

smarthome.cs.cmu.edu

Scott DavidoffMin Kyung LeeJohn ZimmermanAnind Dey

Family Control Smart Home

Scott Davidoff, Min Kyung Lee, John Zimmerman, Anind Dey | Carnegie Mellon


CURRENT RESEARCH

Smart home control

systems

provide control of

devices

Technical Perspective

DISCIPLINARY GAP



CURRENT RESEARCHDISCIPLINARY GAP

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

Jigsaw (Humble et al, 03)



Families are struggling

to gain control of their lives

CURRENT RESEARCH

Smart home control

systems

provide control of

devices

Anthropological PerspectiveTechnical Perspective

DISCIPLINARY GAP





CURRENT RESEARCH

Smart home control

systems

provide control of

devices


DISCIPLINARY GAP

How can smart home control systems help users

regain control of their devices





CURRENT RESEARCH

Smart home control

systems

provide control of

devices


DISCIPLINARY GAP

How can smart home control systems help users

regain control of their devices

families

lives



CONTRIBUTIONS

Recast the problem of smart home control

Suggest new evaluation metrics for smart home control

systems

Provide rich description of nuanced notion of control

Produce design principles to serve as signposts



Increased obligations

“Multi-contexting” across roles

A skill parents want to gracefully

master

Parents want to pass this skill on

Darrah 2000, 2002

RELATED WORK BUSYNESS AS A MORAL GOOD



A “house of cards”

“The rush hour of life”

Fear of the sick child

Beech 2004, Frissen 2000, Darrah 2002

RELATED WORK LESS THAN IDEAL CONTROL



Systems for family life control will have to co-exist with

busyness

RELATED WORK IMPLICATIONS



Goal: develop an opportunity map for technology to aid

families

12 dual-income families

Large audience, lots of needs, early adopters

FIELDWORK SUMMARY



“Wicked problem” of activity

management

Flexibility as a coping strategy

Relationship between control and

flexibility

Activities construct identity

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

* Rittel 1973



FINDINGS “WICKED” PROBLEM OF ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT



EXAMPLE GAME OR PRACTICE? HOME OR AWAY? WHAT TIME?



EXAMPLE WHO PICKS UP? WHO DROPS OFF? WHERE?



EXAMPLE SHIN GUARDS, KNEE PADS. CLEATS OR FLATS?



EXAMPLE PRACTICE UNIFORM? HOME OR AWAY UNIFORM?



EXAMPLE CLEAN CLOTHES THE NIGHT BEFORE



EXAMPLE JUICE BEFORE OR AFTER? ORANGES AT HALFTIME?



EXAMPLE LOST ON THE CALENDAR



BREAKDOWNS LAST MINUTE CARPOOL DECISIONS



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



Incremental precision

Improvisation

Technological infrastructure

Lifestyle choices

FINDINGS FLEXIBILITY AS A COPING STRATEGY



FINDINGS CONTROL AND FLEXIBILITY



FINDINGS ACTIVITIES CONSTRUCT FAMILY AND INDIVIDUAL IDENTITY

Activities mean more than the work

behind them

People derive meaning from their

participation



Now what?

RELATED WORK



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



PRINCIPLE ALLOW FOR THE ORGANIC EVOLUTION OF ROUTINES AND PLANS

Hard to specify a priori

Incremental precision

Many routines are “unremarkable”

* Tolmie 2002



PRINCIPLE PARTICIPATE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FAMILY IDENTITY

Some tasks are more than work

They constitute how we interpret who

we are



PRINCIPLE THE HOME IS MORE THAN A LOCATION

Opportunistic planning occurs in many

locations

A smart home is more than a physical

space

Also includes “information space”



PRINCIPLE UNDERSTAND PERIODIC CHANGES, EXCEPTIONS AND IMPROV

Routines are often not routine

Vary by season

Routines change with exceptions

Rigid model of routines would not fit

observation



CONCLUSIONS

Family is a place of busyness where identity

and life control collide

Opportunity for technology to improve

quality of family life

Design principles help address this space

Evaluate smart home technology in terms of

life control



FUTURE WORK

Develop an activity manager system

Evaluate system in terms of identity

and control

Develop end-user programming

method



smarthome.cs.cmu.edu

Scott DavidoffMin Kyung LeeJohn ZimmermanAnind Dey

PROJECT ON FAMILIES, CONTROLAND THE SMART HOME



PRINCIPLE EASILY CONSTRUCT AND MODIFY PLANS AND ROUTINES

Sheer frequency should merit attention

Input should be low-cost



PRINCIPLE DESIGN FOR BREAKDOWNS

Exceptions happen frequently

Complete solution is impossible



PRINCIPLE DESIGN FOR BREAKDOWNS



ACCOUNT FOR MULTIPLE, OVERLAPPING AND CONFLICTING GOALS

More than one person

May not agree on task performance

metrics

“Thermostat Predicament”

Support v. Independence

PRINCIPLE



METHOD

Directed storytelling

Shadowing

Artifact walkthrough

Role-playing: Fictitious school field trip

Predictable days

Predictable exceptions

Unpredictable days: miss-the-bus days

CONTEXTUAL FIELDWORK



METHOD

Stimuli questions

Free response text

Camera

Stressors and pleasures of waking up and arriving home

What makes parents feel like good parents

CULTURAL PROBES



METHOD

Stress and rush levels

Principal activities

Immediate needs

Preoccupations

ACTIVITY LOGS



RELATED WORK

iCAP

aCAPpella

CAMP

Jigsaw

Alfred

microCommander

Speakeasy

Dey et al 2006

Dey et al 2004

Truong et al 2004

Humble et al 2003

Gajos et al 2002

Jahnke et al 2002

Newman et al 2002

END-USER PROGRAMMING SYSTEMS



RELATED WORK

Comprehensive

Communication

Routines

Task

specialization

Refrigerator magnets

Meaning of place

ICT’S

Technology use

Darrah 2001Beech et al 2004

Crabtree +Rodden 2003

Tolmie et al 2002

Rode et al 2005

Taylor +Swan 2005

Elliott et al2005

Frissen 2000

Venkateshet al 2000

STUDIES OF HOME LIFE



ACCOUNT FOR MULTIPLE, OVERLAPPING AND CONFLICTING GOALSPRINCIPLE



ACCOUNT FOR MULTIPLE, OVERLAPPING AND CONFLICTING GOALSPRINCIPLE



PRINCIPLE ALLOW FOR THE ORGANIC EVOLUTION OF ROUTINES AND PLANS









PRINCIPLE UNDERSTAND PERIODIC CHANGES, EXCEPTIONS AND IMPROV



PRINCIPLE THE HOME IS MORE THAN A LOCATION

Date post:	28-May-2015
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