A Network of One’s Own: Struggles to Domesticate the Internet

This thesis is a design research practice-led inquiry into the domesticated Internet. It first seeks to complicate simplistic corporate and academic visions by naming some of the struggles it encounters – not least to assert a private home and network of one's own. It is argued that a century of domestic technologies has emphasised invisibility, ubiquity, and automation in ways that obscure a network of exploited people and finite resources. Furthermore, these technological ambitions are met through machine surveillance, in ways newly enabled by the domesticated Internet, that threaten the privacy of the home. In response, this thesis seeks some practical ways to design alternatives that assert a network of one's own and makes the work it implicates visible. The methodological approach is broadly Research Through Design supplemented by a practice described as designerly hacking through which hidden technical potential is revealed and given meaning. Two empirical studies are described that together make an account of the technical possibility and social reality of the networked home: an autobiographical technical exploration of the author's home and network with the making of hacks and Research Products privately and in public; and a cultural probe engagement with six rented households surfacing contemporary accounts of the domesticated Internet and in particular the challenges and opportunities of wireless networking. Together this yields a series of technical and social insights for design and two forms are offered to communicate these: a framework for understanding change in the networked home (The Stuff of Home) and a set of 30 design patterns for a network of one's own; each invites different analyses. The conclusion then draws together the multiple threads developed through this thesis and offers some reflection on the complexity of doing contemporary technical design work

Ritual Machines

Poster presentation on the outputs of the collaborative (RCA and Newcastle University) research though design project Family Rituals 2.

Metadating: Exploring the Romance and Future of Personal Data

We introduce Metadating -- a future-focused research and speed-dating event where single participants were invited to "explore the romance of personal data". Participants created "data profiles" about themselves, and used these to "date" other participants. In the rich context of dating, we study how personal data is used conversationally to communicate and illustrate identity. We note the manner in which participants carefully curated their profiles, expressing ambiguity before detail, illustration before accuracy. Our findings proposition a set of data services and features, each concerned with representing and curating data in new ways, beyond a focus on purely rational or analytic relationships with a quantified self. Through this, we build on emerging interest in "lived informatics" and raise questions about the experience and social reality of a "data-driven life"

Family Rituals @.0 Ritual Machine 'Anticipation'

Bespoke technology has been designed and built for Hywel and Jasper, to create moments of reflection for them: allowing discussion about thier work/life balance and their attitudes to working away from home

Baseline monitoring gastropods in the intertidal zone of Qatar - target species and bioindicators for hyper-thermic and hyper-saline Conditions

The Arabian Gulf is subjected to some of the most intense sea water temperatures and salinity levels in the world. In an attempt to understand the distribution and species composition of gastropod assemblages which live in these hyper-thermic and hyper-saline conditions a rapid assessment survey was undertaken along the intertidal zone of Qatar. The research revealed an obvious geographical temperature/salinity gradient between sites on the southeast and southwest coastlines. Water temperatures of 34°C and salinities ranging from 39.9 to 56.8ppt were recorded in-situ. There was detectable change in gastropod assemblage composition in accordance with this gradient. The abundance and diversity of live species decreased as temperature and salinity rose while high densities of dead species were recorded at sites where extremes of temperatures and salinities were documented. Ceritidiopsila conica was the dominant species at sites which experienced the most extreme conditions and has value as a recognized bio-indicator of high temperature/salinity environments within the region

Family Rituals 2.0

The notion of family is broad (and changing) and encompasses a variety of different social structures beyond the classic conception of the nuclear family yet it is a cornerstone of our social worlds. Even as many in ‘Western’ society follow the trend of isolated living, in single occupant dwellings, for most people, notions of home are intimately tied to notions of family. We form familial bonds (regardless of traditional notions of kinship), with those with whom we live. The rise of network society and the pervasiveness of digital technologies has however, meant that the boundaries between our working and domestic lives are becoming increasingly blurred. The impacts of this on home and family life are being further exacerbated by changes in our patterns of living, which are pushing us towards increased mobility and itinerant domesticity. Increasingly, life is marked by significant periods of absence from home and family, and increasingly we may turn to digital technologies to help us mediate that absence. Arguably, a core element of domestic life is its ritualistic aspects, which are important features of the functional and emotional landscape of the home. Wolin and Bennett (1984) have defined family ritual as “a symbolic form of communication that, owing to the satisfaction that family members experience through its repetition, is acted out in a systematic fashion over time.” Family Rituals 2.0 sought to understand the ritual activities that families engage in during periods of remote working, and to speculate on the potential roles of technology in mediating complex working family lives

On Speculative Enactments

Speculative Enactments are a novel approach to speculative design research with participants. They invite the empirical analysis of participants acting amidst speculative but consequential circumstances. HCI as a broadly pragmatic, experience-centered, and participant-focused field is well placed to innovate methods that invite first-hand interaction and experience with speculative design projects. We discuss three case studies of this approach in practice, based on our own work: Runner Spotters, Metadating and a Quantified Wedding. In distinguishing Speculative Enactments we offer not just practical guidelines, but a set of conceptual resources for researchers and practitioners to critique the different contributions that speculative approaches can make to HCI discourse

Decline in oyster populations in traditional fishing grounds; is habitat damage by static fishing gear a contributory factor in ecosystem degradation?

The territorial waters of Qatar once supported dense assemblages of the pearl oyster Pinctada radiata. The oysters settled on a patchy network of limestone platforms (hairãt) and provided a suite of ecosystem services to the surrounding marine environment. Commercially important fish species are associated with hairãt and as a result, industrial fishing with traps focused on these areas. This study has shown that heavily-fished areas are presently in a state which can be considered non-favorable to conservation while areas closed to fishing are recovering. It is probable that an increase in fishing activity using traditional Gargoor traps and grapple retrieval are responsible for the current ecological status of the hairãt. The intensity in trap fishing appears to be having a detrimental effect on species such as corals, sea grasses and oysters. The decline in the standing stock of oysters is dramatic with an estimated reduction ratio of 580:1 between 2002 and 2016. As fishing damage appears to be a significant contributor to these losses, measures such as spatial protection of productive shallow offshore habitats and restriction on fishing effort are urgently required to address the decline. Strategic oyster stock enhancement through the re-seeding of selected areas could boost the recovery of damaged hairãt as P. radiata ecosystem services return.Qatar National Research Foundation, National Priorities Research programme project NPRP-6-1680-4-02

Open design at the intersection of making and manufacturing

This one-day workshop aims to consider the opportunities for HCI at the intersection of maker culture and professional, industrial manufacturing. In particular, we are interested in exploring how the concept of “open design” could help support productive interactions between professional manufacturers and non-professional makers. Our proposal builds on momentum established by previous related workshops (including one at CHI2016) and aims to respond critically to several key industry and government reports published in 2015-2016 on the ‘maker movement’