Presenting the networked home: a content analysis of promotion material of Ambient Intelligence applications

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) for the home uses information and communication technologies to make users’ everyday life more comfortable. AmI is still in its developmental phase and is headed towards the first stages of diffusion. \ud Characteristics of AmI design can be observed, among others, in the promotion material of initial producers. A literature study revealed that AmI originally envisioned a central role for the user, convenience that AmI offers them and that attention should be paid to critical policy issues such as privacy and a potential loss of freedom. A content analysis of current promotion material of several high-tech companies revealed that these original ideas are not all reflected in the material. Attributes which were used most in the promotion material were ‘connectedness’, ‘control’, ‘easiness’ and ‘personalization’. An analysis of the pictures in the promotion material showed that almost half of the pictures contained no humans but appliances. These results only partly correspond to the original vision on AmI, since the emphasis is now on technology. The results represent a serious problem, since both users, as well as critical policy issues are underexposed in the current promotion material

Smart homes and their users:a systematic analysis and key challenges

Published research on smart homes and their users is growing exponentially, yet a clear understanding of who these users are and how they might use smart home technologies is missing from a field being overwhelmingly pushed by technology developers. Through a systematic analysis of peer-reviewed literature on smart homes and their users, this paper takes stock of the dominant research themes and the linkages and disconnects between them. Key findings within each of nine themes are analysed, grouped into three: (1) views of the smart home-functional, instrumental, socio-technical; (2) users and the use of the smart home-prospective users, interactions and decisions, using technologies in the home; and (3) challenges for realising the smart home-hardware and software, design, domestication. These themes are integrated into an organising framework for future research that identifies the presence or absence of cross-cutting relationships between different understandings of smart homes and their users. The usefulness of the organising framework is illustrated in relation to two major concerns-privacy and control-that have been narrowly interpreted to date, precluding deeper insights and potential solutions. Future research on smart homes and their users can benefit by exploring and developing cross-cutting relationships between the research themes identified

Intelligent energy saving in the home: a user centred design perspective

Intelligent homes have been a vision for decades, with the ‘Home of the Future’ promising an automated, sophisticated place to live, packed with technology that responds to our every need. With a new focus on energy saving, intelligent homes are again being heralded as the way to a low carbon future. However, history demonstrates that people may not find the proposed technology simple to use, with issues of control, compatibility, trust and accessibility making this a problematic approach. This chapter discusses the potential for intelligent energy saving in the home and explores the human factors that create pitfalls to the successful roll out of smart energy saving devices. The importance of understanding the user needs as a critical success factor and the role of user centred design in the development of intelligent products, services and systems is outlined. Whilst focused on the domestic sector, there are learnings relevant to all buildings where there are users

Smart Kitchens for People with Cognitive Impairments: A Qualitative Study of Design Requirements

Individuals with cognitive impairments currently leverage extensive human resources during their transitions from assisted living to independent living. In Western Europe, many government-supported volunteer organizations provide sheltered living facilities; supervised environments in which people with cognitive impairments collaboratively learn daily living skills. In this paper, we describe communal cooking practices in sheltered living facilities and identify opportunities for supporting these with interactive technology to reduce volunteer workload. We conducted two contextual observations of twelve people with cognitive impairments cooking in sheltered living facilities and supplemented this data through interviews with four employees and volunteers who supervise them. Through thematic analysis, we identified four themes to inform design requirements for communal cooking activities: Work organization, community, supervision, and practicalities. Based on these, we present five design implications for assistive systems in kitchens for people with cognitive deficiencies

Methodology for the integration of information, communication and automation technologies in housing rehabilitation

This paper addresses the integration of Information, Communication and Automation Technologies (ICAT) in the dwelling space in order to meet the user’s needs. We describe an ongoing PhD research which deals with the rehabilitation of the existing housing stock in order to fulfil the new needs of dwellers in the current Information Society as well as the impact of the integration of ICAT in dwellings. For this purpose we establish a rehabilitation methodology which enables architects to fulfil the client’s needs and requirements in home automation, from the beginning of the architectural process. This will enable the creation of a compatible and properly integrated ICAT infrastructure in homes,paving the way for ambient intelligence and promoting sustainable strategies at the environmental and social levels.The research described in this paper project was funded by the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) with grant SFRH / BD / 18225 / 2004

Designing for the Ubiquitous Computing era: towards the reinvention of everyday objects and the creation of new user experiences

Researchers of the Ubiquitous Computing community (Ubicomp) have been pursuing the vision of a world where technologies and services permeates every object of our lives for years. With components getting smaller, cheaper and more powerful, it has become possible to manufacture connected objects capable of interacting with resources of the World Wide Web. This opens up the possibility for researchers and practitioners to consider information as a design material and objects as platforms for services. By allowing users to personalize, complement or repurpose the functions of their objects, such services have a great impact on the way artifacts are designed. Designing for the Ubiquitous Era requires modifying our practice and reinforcing collaboration between disciplines at every steps of the creation process. In this article, we discuss the need to reinvent objects and to investigate the tools supporting the creation of rich services’ experiences

Smart home technologies in Europe: a critical review of concepts, benefits, risks and policies

Smart home technologies refer to devices that provide some degree of digitally connected, automated, or enhanced services to building occupants. Smart homes have become central in recent technology and policy discussions about energy efficiency, climate change, and the sustainability of buildings. Nevertheless, do they truly promote sustainability goals? In addition, what sorts of benefits, risks, and policies do they entail? Based on an extensive original dataset involving expert interviews, site visits to retailers, and a comprehensive review of the literature, this study critically examines the promise and peril of smart home technologies. Drawing on original data collected in the United Kingdom, which has access to European markets, the study first examines definitions of smart homes before offering a new classification involving 13 categories of smart technology covering 267 specific options commercially available from 113 companies. It situates these different technology classes alongside six degrees or levels of smartness, from the basic or traditional home to the fully automated and sentient home. It then elaborates on the 13 distinct benefits smart homes offer alongside 17 risks and barriers, before introducing seven policy recommendations from the material. It lastly suggests three areas of future research on the demographics and practices of actual smart home adopters, rethinking the duality of “control,” and looking beyond “homes” towards socio-technical systems, practices, and justice

Smart kitchen for Ambient Assisted Living

El envejecimiento de la población es una realidad en todos los países desarrollados. Las predicciones de crecimiento de esta población son alarmantes, planteando un reto para los servicios sociales y sanitarios. Las personas ancianas padecen diversas discapacidades que se van acentuando con la edad, siendo más propensas a sufrir accidentes domésticos, presentando problemas para realizar tareas cotidianas, etc. Esta situación conlleva a una pérdida paulatina de capacidades que en muchas ocasiones acaba con la vida autónoma de la persona. En este contexto, las Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación (TIC) aplicadas al entorno doméstico pueden jugar un papel importante, permitiendo que las personas ancianas vivan más tiempo, de forma independiente en su propio hogar, presentando, por tanto, una alternativa a la hospitalización o institucionalización de las mismas. Este trabajo da un paso más en este sentido, presentando el diseño y desarrollo de un Ambiente Inteligente en la cocina, que ayuda a las personas ancianas y/o con discapacidad a desempeñar sus actividades de la vida diaria de una forma más fácil y sencilla. Esta tesis realiza sus principales aportaciones en dos campos: El metodológico y el tecnológico. Por un lado se presenta una metodología sistemática para extraer necesidades de colectivos específicos a fin de mejorar la información disponible por el equipo de diseño del producto, servicio o sistema. Esta metodología se basa en el estudio de la interacción Hombre-Máquina en base a los paradigmas y modelos existentes y el modelado y descripción de las capacidades del usuario en la misma utilizado el lenguaje estandarizado propuesto en la Clasificación Internacional del Funcionamiento, de la Discapacidad y de la Salud (CIF). Adicionalmente, se plantea el problema de la evaluación tecnológica, diseñando la metodología de evaluación de la tecnología con la finalidad de conocer su accesibilidad, funcionalidad y usabilidad del sistema desarrollado y aplicándola a 61 usuarios y 31 profesionales de la gerontología. Desde un punto de vista técnico, se afronta el diseño de un ambiente asistido inteligente (Ambient Assisted Living, AAL) en la cocina, planteando y definiendo la arquitectura del sistema. Esta arquitectura, basada en OSGi (Open Services Gateway initiative), oferta un sistema modular, con altas capacidades de interoperabilidad y escalabilidad. Además, se diseña e implementa una red de sensores distribuida en el entorno con el fin de obtener la mayor información posible del contexto, presentando distintos algoritmos para obtener información de alto nivel: detección de caídas o localización. Todos los dispositivos presentes en el entorno han sido modelados utilizando la taxonomía propuesta en OSGi4AmI, extendiendo la misma a los electrodomésticos más habituales de la cocina. Finalmente, se presenta el diseño e implementación de la inteligencia del sistema, que en función de la información procedente del contexto y de las capacidades del usuario da soporte a las principales actividades de la vida diaria (AVD) en la cocina

European Perspectives on the Information Society: Annual Monitoring Synthesis and Emerging Trend Updates

This report is one of the outcomes of the EPIS06 Project ¿ European Perspectives on the Information Society ¿ carried out by the ETEPS (European Techno-Economic Policy Support) network in cooperation with the Joint Research Centre Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC IPTS) with the aim of providing strategic intelligence to policy makers by taking a prospective view on the evolution of ICT. This report combines the Annual Monitoring Synthesis (AMS) Report and five Emerging Trend Updates (ETU). It forms one of the main building blocks of the project, establishing an observatory of trends in technology and business evolutions of ICT. More particularly, the Annual Monitoring Synthesis Report (AMS Report) aims to identify new ICT-related developments likely to have a significant impact on the future of the Information Society, both in terms of growth and jobs for Europe and R&D policy prioritisation. By scanning and monitoring recent major foresight exercises and industrial technology roadmaps, as well as other future-oriented analysis and policy papers, the AMS attempts to detect early signals and possible disruptive forces so as to enable timely policy responses and anticipate potential challenges for policy makers. The AMS is structured along six main themes which emerged as a result of the analysis: - Convergence of infrastructures, - Human-computer convergence ¿ technologies for direct human computer interaction, - Pervasive or ubiquitous computing and ambient intelligence, - The future of the Internet, - Citizens¿ concerns, - Working life. A structured overview with a summary of each of the foresights, roadmaps and other sources studied is presented in the AMS report annex. In addition, five Emerging Trends Updates (ETU) present the results of focused briefs on emerging themes of interest for policy making, covering the following topics: - ETU1 on the state-of-the-art of the creative content sector, - ETU2 on ICT and the offshoring of services, - ETU3 on ICT and the role of ICTs as enablers for energy efficiency, - ETU4 on ICT tools and services in intelligent domestic and personal environments, - ETU5 on ICT and privacy in the Knowledge Society ¿ the case of search engines.JRC.J.4-Information Societ