Smart grids, smart users? The role of the user in demand side management

Smart grids are a key feature of future energy scenarios, with the overarching goal of better aligning energy generation and demand. The work presented here considers the role of the user in such systems, and the contexts in which such roles might emerge. The data used is drawn from focus groups with 72 participants, using novel scenario techniques to contextualise smart grid technologies in domestic settings. Two contrasting visions of the smart grid are presented, a centralised system based on current institutional arrangements, and an alternative system in which decentralisation of generation and control is pursued. Using the concepts of ‘energy consumer’ and ‘energy citizen’, the paper considers what forms of engagement are likely to be generated by the two visions. We propose that smart grid designs must look beyond simply the technology and recognise that a smart user who is actively engaged with energy is critical to much of what is proposed by demand side management. We conclude that the energy citizen holds out most promise in this regard. The implications of this for policy makers are discussed

Slow, Unaware Things Beyond Interaction

In this chapter we provide an overview of concepts and methods that have become part of our approach to gain a broader and deeper understanding of the relations between humans and technology. Over the years, our efforts have been to move past the field of interaction design’s dominant focus on human interaction with technology to develop a design-oriented understanding of human relations with technology. In our view, this begins by looking at technology beyond its functional, utilitarian, or instrumental value toward a broader set of perceptions and meanings. This theme is emblematic of a broader shift in interaction design and HCI. The first edition of this book contributed significantly to a trajectory in which designers and researchers see technology as a matter of experiences that are fun (Blythe and Hassenzahl in The semantics of fun: differentiating enjoyable experiences, 91–100, 2003), rich (Overbeeke et al. in Let’s make things engaging, 7–17, 2003), embodied (Dourish in Where the action is: the foundations of embodied interaction. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2004), somaesthetic (Höök et al. in Proceedings of the 2016 CHI conference on human factors in computing systems. ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2016), spatio-temporal (McCarthy and Wright in Technology as experience. The MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass, 2004), hedonic (Hassenzahl in The thing and i: understanding the relationship between user and product. 31–42, 2003), reflective (Sengers and Gaver in Proceedings of the 6th conference on designing interactive systems. ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp 99–108, 2006), and ludic (Gaver et al. in CHI’04 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM, New York, NY, USA, pp 885–900, 2004). However, understanding technology through more than solely a functional lens is only one part of more deeply viewing and inquiring into human-technology relations. We believe it is necessary to also understand people’s relations to technology beyond interaction and engineered experiences of technology. In the context of funology, we aim to critically and generatively contribute to the investigations of the experiences of technology to go beyond both instrumentalism and interaction. In many respects, interaction, like functionality, is too narrow of a lens for both understanding and influencing people’s experiences and relations to technology through design. Interaction is only one form of technology relations that happens explicitly, in present time, and consciously (Verbeek in What things do: philosophical reflections on technology, agency, and design. Pennsylvania State Univ. Press, University Park, Pa, 2015). What about relations to technology that manifest over time, incrementally, knowingly and unknowingly (or somewhere in between) that become part of our everyday lives

"Bibliocircuitry and the Design of the Alien Everyday"

Curatorial note from Digital Pedagogy in the Humanities: “Bibliocircuitry and the Design of the Alien Everyday” details student exploration of the concept of reflective design through projects that investigate the book as interface. This activity perfectly highlights the way that exposure to and emphasis on process leads to unforeseen insight. These student authors also emphasize that digital work requires consideration of hardware and physical and tactile design. Instructors inspired by this article might select a particular type of object and ask students to devise ways to alter or enhance users’ interaction with it. Students would demonstrate learning not only through their work in designing and redesigning objects but also through oral or written presentations of them (much as the student authors of this journal article have done)

Practical, appropriate, empirically-validated guidelines for designing educational games

There has recently been a great deal of interest in the potential of computer games to function as innovative educational tools. However, there is very little evidence of games fulfilling that potential. Indeed, the process of merging the disparate goals of education and games design appears problematic, and there are currently no practical guidelines for how to do so in a coherent manner. In this paper, we describe the successful, empirically validated teaching methods developed by behavioural psychologists and point out how they are uniquely suited to take advantage of the benefits that games offer to education. We conclude by proposing some practical steps for designing educational games, based on the techniques of Applied Behaviour Analysis. It is intended that this paper can both focus educational games designers on the features of games that are genuinely useful for education, and also introduce a successful form of teaching that this audience may not yet be familiar with

Storing, caring and sharing: Examining organisational practices around material stuff in the home

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Homes are a much discussed, but little empirically examined resource for action. Material stuff at home offer resources for social, organisational and individual activities that we routinely encounter and use on an everyday basis. Yet their purposes, storing and sharing practices of use and roles in social and organisational actions are hardly touched upon within Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) academic literature. As a consequence of this, there are critical gaps in understanding home organisation and management methods as a means of informing the design of novel technologies. This thesis is an examination of everyday routines in home, paying particular attention to tidying, storing, retrieving and sharing practices. To examine these practices at home, this thesis presents a combination of two qualitative studies using ethnographically oriented methods. Study one (Home’s Tidying up, Storing and Retrieving) concerns the topic of home storage in practice; investigating how householders create and use domestic storage practices and the methods used to manage their storage at home. Study two (Social Interaction around Shared Resources) concerns social interaction around shared resources, and the methods used to manage sharing practices at home. Semi-structured interviews, fieldwork observation, tour around a home, and a photo diary were undertaken to produce a ‘rich’ description of how householders collaborate in storing and sharing set of practices to manage their everyday routines. Several key finding emerged from the research, that are used to identify important implications for design of home organisational technologies, for example to support effective lightweight interactions, providing user controlled mechanism to make different levels of privacy protection for family members, offering effective awareness of family communications and notifications of the activities of other people around these organisation systems, and making available a range of flexible options for family members to access a shared resource. The thesis make the case that flexible systems should be designed allowing people to categorise things in different ways, and have the values of home asserted in technologies, considering factors such as emotion around the use of space in home organisation to make homes become the unique places that they are understood to be

Interactive Demand Shifting in the context of Domestic Micro-Generation

The combination of ubiquitous computing and emerging energy technologies is radically changing the home energy landscape. Domestic micro-generation, dominated by solar photovoltaic, is increasing at a rapid pace. This represents an opportunity for creating and altering energy behaviours. However, these transformations generate new challenges that we call the domestic energy gap: domestic electricity consumption and microgeneration are out of sync. Micro-generation is mainly uncontrollable production relying on weather while domestic energy consumption tends to happen mostly during the evening. This thesis focuses on understanding and supporting new domestic practices in the context of domestic solar electricity generation, looking at ‘Demand-Shifting’. Specifically, we look at how can digital tools leverage Demand-Shifting practices in the context of domestic micro-generation? Relying on a mixed-method approach, we provide a qualitative and quantitative answer with the collaboration of 38 participating households in several field studies including two spanning more than eight months. Through a deep investigation of laundry and electric mobility routines in the context of domestic micro-generation, we emphasised a natural engagement into Demand-Shifting which appeared as a complex and time-consuming task for participants which was not visible when we analysed their quantitative data. We revealed this complexity through Participatory Data Analyses, a method we designed to analyse the data in collaboration with the participating householders. This provided us with a comprehensive view of the relationship between domestic micro-generation and daily routines. Finally, we highlight the need for timely and contextual support through the deployment of interventions in-the-wild. Building on discussions of our findings in perspective of the literature, we propose a conceptual framework to support domestic interactive Demand-Shifting

Understanding the design of energy interventions to reduce end-user demand in organisational and domestic environments

Energy demand is on the rise globally due to unchecked factors such as population growth, lifestyle choices, and the industrialization of developing countries. Governments are investing in technologies for efficient and renewable energy in an attempt to secure energy for the future over current dependencies on fossil fuels, but the development costs are high, and the rate of developed technologies is projected to fall far short of meeting global requirements. Overshadowing this growing appetite for energy is the global issue of climate change, igniting the scientific and humanitarian debate over the use of fossil fuels and a need for renewable energy, presenting a societal problem of generating clean, sustainable and secure energy for future generations. As part of understanding how society can make positive changes to daily practices around energy use, many governments have turned to behaviour change, or ‘nudge’ units, that research work on changing energy consumption behaviours. The importance of this is underlined by a focus on reducing end-user energy demand (EUED) by providing contextual energy feedback, interwoven with behaviour change strategies, in both residential and organizational sectors. EUED in large organisations and small-medium enterprises (SMEs) accounts for a significant proportion of a nation’s energy requirements. In Europe, the services sector saw a 34% growth in EUED in the period 1990-2012, with computers and other appliances in the office substantially contributing to this. In the UK, for example, 13% of total energy consumed in 2011-2012 was within the services sector, which accounts for services and business, while the residential sector consumed 30% of total consumption. Given a lack of academic HCI research in the organisational energy intervention space when comparted to domestic, the principle research undertaken in this thesis was to understand employee energy consumption practices and attitudes in the workplace, through a combination of qualitative enquiry and analysis. Additionally, alternative forms of feedback such as aversive stimuli are often ignored in the HCI literature, with favour focused on positive feedback alone as a means for behaviour change. The work in this thesis presents findings on the design implications and considerations that inform the design of in-the-field organisational energy interventions that integrate feedback and antecedent behaviour contingencies. Additionally, research is undertaken in understanding the design of aversive feedback as part of domestic energy interventions. A significant contribution is made to the HCI sustainability literature on understanding the workplace energy intervention design space, and a contribution made on how aversive feedback can in fact be a useful and engaging method for the domestic environment

Storing, caring and sharing : examining organisational practices around material stuff in the home

Homes are a much discussed, but little empirically examined resource for action. Material stuff at home offer resources for social, organisational and individual activities that we routinely encounter and use on an everyday basis. Yet their purposes, storing and sharing practices of use and roles in social and organisational actions are hardly touched upon within Human Computer Interaction (HCI) and Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) academic literature. As a consequence of this, there are critical gaps in understanding home organisation and management methods as a means of informing the design of novel technologies. This thesis is an examination of everyday routines in home, paying particular attention to tidying, storing, retrieving and sharing practices. To examine these practices at home, this thesis presents a combination of two qualitative studies using ethnographically oriented methods. Study one (Home’s Tidying up, Storing and Retrieving) concerns the topic of home storage in practice; investigating how householders create and use domestic storage practices and the methods used to manage their storage at home. Study two (Social Interaction around Shared Resources) concerns social interaction around shared resources, and the methods used to manage sharing practices at home. Semi-structured interviews, fieldwork observation, tour around a home, and a photo diary were undertaken to produce a ‘rich’ description of how householders collaborate in storing and sharing set of practices to manage their everyday routines. Several key finding emerged from the research, that are used to identify important implications for design of home organisational technologies, for example to support effective lightweight interactions, providing user controlled mechanism to make different levels of privacy protection for family members, offering effective awareness of family communications and notifications of the activities of other people around these organisation systems, and making available a range of flexible options for family members to access a shared resource. The thesis make the case that flexible systems should be designed allowing people to categorise things in different ways, and have the values of home asserted in technologies, considering factors such as emotion around the use of space in home organisation to make homes become the unique places that they are understood to be.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

On the hunt for feedback: Vibrotactile feedback in interactive electronic music performances

The expressivity of musical performance is highly dependent on the feedback relationship between the performer and the instrument. Despite current advances in music technology, performers still struggle to retain the same expressive nuances of acoustic instruments. The capacity of performative musical expression in technologically-driven music is mitigated by the limitations of controllers and other sensor-based devices used in the performance of such music. Due to their physical properties, such devices and components are unable to provide mainly the haptic and vibrotactile experience between the instrument and the user, thus breaking the link with traditional musical performance. Such limitations are apparent to performers, suggesting often the existence of an unnatural barrier between the technology and the performer. The thesis proposes the use of vibrotactile feedback as means to enhance performer’s expressivity and creativity in technology mediated performances and situate vibrotactile feedback as part of the tradition of instrumental musical playing. Achieved through the use of small controllable electric motors, vibrotactile feedback can nourish communicative pathways between the performer and technology, a relationship that is otherwise limited or non-existing. The ability to experience an instrument's communicative response can significantly improve the performer-instrument relationship, and in turn the music performed. Through a series of case studies, compositions and performances, the dissertation suggests ways in which vibrotactile feedback may be applied to enhance the experience between the technology and the performer. As a result performers are able to develop expressive nuances and have better control of the technology during performance

Opening the electrome : redefining home for energy studies through design practice

This design thesis presents a field-based practice as inquiry, for prototyping, and as a form of discrete activism. It builds on four prior approaches from design, art and architecture: Empathic Design, Interrogative Design, Relational Aesthetics and Critical Regionalism. Positioning the thesis as an issue-based design study, it is presented as a piece of practice-based energy research. It approaches domestic energy use measures as information and conceptualizes such measures as holding both an ecological and an informational concern. This coupling within domestic energy use measures becomes the subject for design practice. Based on this coupling, referring to on-going changes within domestic energy systems and viewing the home from three different theoretical positions, the thesis presents a hypothetical construct of the home, referring to it as the Electrome. Against this background, the study introduces its first field-based research within the Indian domestic context. Using interviews and design exercises with Indian apartment residents, the study demonstrates that as dwellers give meanings to their domestic appliances, artefacts and electro-home, these artefacts contain and hold a number of social relations. In this context, the flow of energy into domestic appliances, artefacts and the home allows energy use to be seen as information. When such information is combined with the social relations inferred from domestic artefacts, a conception of dwelling with data emerges. This is presented as a characteristic of the Electrome. Proceeding with two further field studies, the design practice prototypes a series of domestic services based on energy information, resulting in making people’s private energy use information public. By “opening” the private energy use measures of appliances, artefacts and the home by design, the practice firstly infers and presents the social relations and orders contained within the homes and their inherent intertwining with everyday energy practices. Secondly, the opening of energy use measures as design practice presents how otherwise latent larger social concerns that go beyond the walls of the home emerge. Then, calling for a difference at the scale of the electro as a universal technology, in order to negotiate control of the material agency within everyday dwelling, the design practice demonstrates a design tactic termed the de-electrofication of data. With these results from the design practice as inquiry, for prototyping, and as activism, the thesis demonstrates that practicing design can generate multiple agendas as coherent action.Tämä suunnittelun alaan kuuluva tutkielma esittelee suunnittelumallin, jonka toteutus kentällä koostuu kolmesta osasta: kyselystä, prototyypin tai ideoiden testauskonseptin luomisesta ja eräänlaisesta yksilön aktivismista. Se rakentuu neljälle aiemmalle muotoilussa, taiteessa ja arkkitehtuurissa käytetylle lähestymistavalle, jotka ovat empaattinen suunnittelu, interrogatiivinen suunnittelu, relaatioestetiikka ja kriittinen regionalismi. Tutkielma on luonteeltaan ongelmalähtöinen suunnittelututkimus. Se esitetään energiatutkimustyönä, joka perustuu käytännön toteutukseen. Siinä kotitalouden energiankulutuksen mittauksia käsitellään informaationa ja samalla kiinnitetään huomiota siihen, että näihin mittauksiin liittyy ympäristö- ja informaationäkökohtia. Tapa, jolla nämä näkökulmat yhdistetään kotitalouden energiankulutusmittauksiin, otetaan suunnittelukäytännön pohjaksi. Tutkielmassa nojaudutaan tähän yhteyteen, otetaan huomioon jatkuvat muutokset kotitalouksien energiajärjestelmissä ja tarkastellaan kotitaloutta kolmesta eri teoreettisesta näkökulmasta. Näin tarkasteltuun kotitalouteen viitataan termillä elektromi (engl. Electrome). Tutkimuksessa toteutetaan ensimmäinen tälle taustalle rakentuva kenttätutkimus intialaisissa kotitalouksissa. Tutkimus hyödyntää intialaisten asuinhuoneistojen asukkaiden haastatteluja ja heidän kanssaan tehtyjä suunnitteluharjoituksia ja osoittaa niiden pohjalta, että kun asukkaat antavat merkityksiä kodinkoneilleen, laitteilleen ja kodilleen sähkövirtojen, -laitteiden ja niiden käytön muodostamana kokonaisuutena (electro-home), nämä kodinkoneet ja laitteet ilmentävät useita erilaisia sosiaalisia suhteita. Tässä kontekstissa kodinkoneisiin, laitteisiin ja kotitalouteen virtaava energia mahdollistaa sen, että energian käyttöä voidaan tarkastella informaationa. Kun tämä informaatio yhdistetään kodin laitteista johdettuihin sosiaalisiin suhteisiin, nousee esiin tietoasumisen (dwelling with data) käsite. Tämä esitetään elektromin ominaispiirteenä. Työtä jatketaan vielä kahdella muulla kenttätutkimuksella: suunnittelumallilla testataan energiainformaatioon pohjautuvia kotipalveluita, minkä tuloksena ihmisten yksityinen energiankulutus tulee julkiseksi. Mallissa ”avataan” kodinkoneiden, laitteiden ja kodin yksityiset energiamittaukset suunnittelun avulla. Tällöin malli ensinnäkin paljastaa ja tuo näkyväksi kotiin sisältyvät sosiaaliset suhteet ja rakenteet ja niiden punoutumisen jokapäiväisiin energiankäyttötapoihin. Toiseksi energiankulutusmittaukset avaava suunnittelumalli tuo esiin, kuinka muuten piilossa pysyvät, kotoa yhteiskuntaan laajemmin vaikuttavat sosiaaliset näkökulmat syntyvät. Suunnittelumalli vaatii elektro-määrän muutosta universaalilla teknologialla synnyttääkseen uudet voimasuhteet aineellisen todellisuuden hallinnalle ja esittelee suunnittelutaktiikan, jota kutsumme tiedon de-electrofikaatioksi (de-electrofication). Kyselystä, prototypoinnista ja aktivismista saatujen tulosten pohjalta tutkielma esittää, että suunnittelu voi luoda useita erilaisia yhtenäisen toiminnan ohjelmia