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Who uses smart home technologies? Representations of users by the smart home industry

Panel: 6. Appliances, product policy and ICT

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Tom Hargreaves, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom
Charlie Wilson, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom

Abstract

Through ambient intelligence and automated control systems, smart homes have been presented as a key means by which households can optimize their use of energy-consuming appliances to save energy and money. Whilst the adoption of smart home technologies and their appropriation within everyday lives is critical to their overall success, to date visions of smart homes have been strongly driven by technology push and have not been based on a clear understanding of user benefits, nor have users been engaged with in any clear or systematic way. There is thus an important need to understand how smart home users are being represented within these technology-driven visions. The paper presents the results of a content analysis of industry-produced smart home marketing materials that focussed on representations of the technology itself, its users, and of technology-user interactions. The content analysis was based on a coding template derived from a systematic review of the academic literature on smart homes and their users. Key findings include:

-differences in opinion around whether user practices are stable and predictable or involve substantial variability and unpredictability;

-consensus around the modular development of smart homes within existing homes through additional and integrated (rather than replacement) technologies;

-a lack of attention to within household interactions and the possibility of multiple users with divergent technology preferences;

-an assumption that user decision-making is mainly rational, centred on information-processing;

-consensus on the design of user interfaces as mobile, familiar, intuitive, and visible;

-ambiguity regarding potential tension between control and empowerment as opposed to automation.

The paper concludes that industry visions of smart homes are more convergent than academic research suggests, particularly around issues of user decisions and interaction, trust and confidentiality, and control and automation.

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