Investigating Genres and Perspectives in HCI Research on the Home

The home and domestic experiences have been studied from multiple points of view and disciplines, with an array of methodologies in the past twenty-five years in HCI. Given the attention to the home and the volume of research, what further areas of research might there be? Based on a critical analysis of 121 works on the topic, we present seven genres of domestic technology research in HCI: social routines in the home, ongoing domestic practices, the home as a testing ground, smart homes, contested values of a home, the home as a site for interpretation, and speculative visions of the home. We articulate dominant research perspectives in HCI, and we offer two complementary perspectives about how to investigate the domestic experience in future research: the material perspective and the first person perspective

Investigating Genres and Perspectives in HCI Research on the Home

ABSTRACT The home and domestic experiences have been studied from multiple points of view and disciplines, with an array of methodologies in the past twenty-five years in HCI. Given the attention to the home and the volume of research, what further areas of research might there be? Based on a critical analysis of 121 works on the topic, we present seven genres of domestic technology research in HCI: social routines in the home, ongoing domestic practices, the home as a testing ground, smart homes, contested values of a home, the home as a site for interpretation, and speculative visions of the home. We articulate dominant research perspectives in HCI, and we offer two complementary perspectives about how to investigate the domestic experience in future research: the material perspective and the first person perspective

Household routines: identifying contextual cues for energy related activities

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Behind the Lens: A Visual Exploration of Epistemological Commitments in HCI Research on the Home

   In this pictorial, we propose an alternative approach to investigating human-computer interaction (HCI) researchers’ epistemological commitments in research on the home. While researchers’ commitments can be discussed through textual aspects of their research, in this pictorial we conduct a pattern analysis of visual elements as a productive way to further inquire into such kinds of commitments. By analyzing visual elements from 121 works in HCI research on the home, we identify seven types of observers, which can be associated with epistemological commitments in research. We also propose two new complementary observers: the absent observer and the protagonist observer

Pre-installation challenges: classifying barriers to the introduction of smart home technology

Increasing technological developments indicate potential for a variety of improvements in the domestic environment. As part of an interdisciplinary research project, this study interviewed households prior to the installation of smart home technologies (SHTs) in order to identify critical issues at the pre-installation phase. Semi-structured interviews took place in 16 houses before the installation of SHTs, when a range of smart sensors and controls were presented to households for the first time. At this stage, they started to make key decisions about which devices to use, where to install, and how to position them. Participants mentioned diverse issues surrounding the introduction of SHTs. To guide the qualitative analysis, an organizing framework for research on smart homes and their users was used. This paper indicates that, even though participants appreciate the functional aspects of SHTs and the possibilities of a better living, their concerns related to technology (hardware & software), design (acceptability & usability) and spaces (home as complex places) are numerous. These results complement the existing literature (which focuses more on the use phase) with the perceived enablers and barriers prior to the installation of SHTs

Building a Tiny house from waste

This paper contributes to the understanding of how critical reflection can be applied to sustainability. This was accomplished by tracing the progression of a tiny-house project over time and the associated activities, which involved sourcing secondhand and discarded materials. We are a group of researchers and practitioners who worked together to explore and challenge the established norms of sustainability in housing practices: who is building, what is being built, with what materials, and through which processes. The use of discarded materials as resources for building a tiny house came to be decisive in shaping a platform for inclusion and sustainable practices. While the most common practice of building involves buying the materials needed at a lumber yard, working with discarded and secondhand materials requires time and flexibility. Tools play a central role in adapting random waste to specific purposes, a process that also demands skills in handling tools creatively. Additionally, gathering, organizing, and cleaning are activities that should be given special attention when working with these types of materials. In this paper, we explain how we reinjected waste materials into the production chain and how our work contributes to sustainable development from environmental and social perspectives. The argument for sustainability in our research revolves around exploring processes that include more groups in society and alternative ways of organizing the resources available

Living In A Prototype: A Reconfigured Space

In this paper, we present a twenty-three months autobiographical design project of converting a Mercedes Sprinter van into a camper van. This project allows us to investigate the complexities and nuances of a case where people engage in a process of making, transforming and adapting a space they live in. This example opens a radically different and productive context for revisiting concepts that are currently at the center of human-computer interaction (HCI) research: ubiquitous computing, home automation, smart homes, and the Internet of Things. We offer six qualities characterizing the evolving relationship between the makers and the lived-in environment: the van. We conclude with a discussion on the two themes of living in a reconfigured home and prototype qualities in a reconfigured space, and a critical reflection around the theme of the invariably unfinished home

Interacting with Masculinities: A Scoping Review

Gender is a hot topic in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). Work has run the gamut, from assessing how we embed gender in our computational creations to correcting systemic sexism, online and off. While gender is often framed around women and femininities, we must recognize the genderful nature of humanity, acknowledge the evasiveness of men and masculinities, and avoid burdening women and genderful folk as the central actors and targets of change. Indeed, critical voices have called for a shift in focus to masculinities, not only in terms of privilege, power, and patriarchal harms, but also participation, plurality, and transformation. To this end, I present a 30-year history of masculinities in HCI work through a scoping review of 126 papers published to the ACM Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI) conference proceedings. I offer a primer and agenda grounded in the CHI and extant literatures to direct future work.Comment: 12 page

TaskCam: Designing and Testing an Open Tool for Cultural Probes Studies

TaskCams are simple digital cameras intended to serve as a tool for Cultural Probe studies and made available by the Interaction Research Studio via open-source distribution. In conjunction with an associated website, instructions and videos, they represent a novel strategy for disseminating and facilitating a research methodology. At the same time, they provide a myriad of options for customisation and modification, allowing researchers to adopt and adapt them to their needs. In the first part of this paper, the design team describes the rationale and design of the TaskCams and the tactics developed to make them publicly available. In the second part, the story is taken up by designers from the Everyday Design Studio, who assembled their own TaskCams and customised them extensively for a Cultural Probe study they ran for an ongoing project. Rather than discussing the results of their study, we focus on how their experiences reveal some of the issues both in producing and using open-source products such as these. These suggest the potential of TaskCams to support design-led user studies more generally