Design semantics of connections in a smart home environment

As the environments in which we live become more intelligent— through more computational power, embedded sensors and network connections between the devices that reside in the environment—there is a risk of leaving its users clueless about what is going on. User interaction changes from interaction with a single device into interaction with a larger system— an ecology of things. Physical things are becoming mediators between the physical world and the digital, invisible world that is inside and behind them. The work we present in this article is part of ongoing academic research on using explicit design semantics to convey abstracted models of connections between devices in a smart home environment. This enables users to understand and construct meaningful mental models of the smart environment and interact with it accordingly. We illustrate our findings by presenting a demonstrator that gives users physical control over invisible, wireless connections between devices in a home entertainment scenario

Technology Overload: Is There a Technological Panacea?

While developments in technology have made computing and electronics ubiquitous and wearable, they have also given rise to a plethora of devices each delivering a special functionality. Numerous appliances and gadgets may overwhelm us, leading to Technology Overload, the cognitive and physical burden placed on human beings due to usage of multiple devices for everyday activities. While research into the design of devices has concentrated on making each separate feature/ functionality of a device more efficient and effective, (such as enhancing the resolution of cameras or improving the portability of a mobile phone) or integrating a few functionalities at a time (such as PDA-phones, cell phone-cameras etc), little work has been done to systematically determine which features and functionalities should be placed in which device/s in order to reduce technology overload. This paper discusses technology overload and explores the implications of current and proposed solutions to help ease it