Designing Domestic Technology Ryan Aipperspach and Celeste Roschuni CS 260 November 29, 2006.

Designing Domestic Technology

Ryan Aipperspach and Celeste Roschuni

CS 260November 29, 2006

The home is complicated…

Nurturing places discussionIssues to deal with in the homeNurturing technologies for the homeReflective Design (if time)Re-visiting other domains

Nurturing places

• What are your nurturing places?

• Why are they nurturing?

• Does everyone find the same things nurturing?

• What kind of technology do they involve?



Not every home is nurturing

• Melanie FriendNo Place Like Home: Echoes from Kosovo

• Interviews with and photos of Albanians in their homes

http://www.theconnection.org/shows/2002/04/20020409_b_main.asp

I hardly sleep at night, as I know that they may come at any moment. Even that bit of sleep I get is a

complete nightmare, full of frightening scenes with the police. Miradije Aliu, in her bedroom, 1994.

On June 14, two days after NATO arrived, we made our way back to Kosova. I was very frightened…I felt like it was doomsday. We saw a desert, a dead place, not a living soul anywhere, and lots of houses

burning...As we came through the front gate (of our house), everything smelled of ash and human waste. - Miradije Aliu, back home, 1999.

Then one of them took a butcher's knife and said, "Cut off his hand." I stretched out my hand, but he didn't do it. A second man pointed a

pistol at my eye and threatened to kill me....It has already been a year of my fear here, and as I've got a wife and three children, I can't leave.

So I stay at home, and every day I expect them to come back. - Anonymous, 1994.

I've only been on the street, with KFOR escort, three times in the past nine months; my wife came out only once. When my mother-in-law went shoping with KFOR, Albanian villagers shouted abuse at her: "Go to Serbia," "This [Kosovo] is not yours," "We are going to kill you." She hasn't gone out shopping since...Sometimes I see an Albanian friend pass by. Our eyes meet for a moment, and I can't see any animosity,

but we can't speak because it's dangerous for him. - I.S., Serb, age 45, Prizren, 2000.

Closer to home: domestic violence• In many countries, ¼ to ½ of women

report being physically abused by their partner (e.g. Texas: 39%)[World Bank Report, 1994]

• We’re often misinformed about the threat of violence– Men are under greater risk outside the home– But women are at a greater risk in private

places with people they know– Guidelines often emphasize safety outside the

home

L. Goldsack. A Haven in a Heartless World? in Chapman and Hockey (eds.) Ideal Homes?

Closer to home: domestic violence• “Privacy” is generally accepted as a virtue

of the modern home– But that makes domestic violence difficult to

discover– And many women are reluctant to report it

I never had violence in my life before, that’s why I hid it, I couldn’t understand it. It was such a shock to my system, like ‘this can’t be happening to me’ and you’re ashamed, you are ashamed for their actions.

L. Goldsack. A Haven in a Heartless World? in Chapman and Hockey (eds.) Ideal Homes?

Declining social capital

• Social Capital– “those tangible

substances [that] count for most in the daily lives of people: namely good will, fellowship, sympathy, and social intercourse among the individuals and families who make up a social unit” [L. J. Hanifan, 1916]

R. Putnam. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.


Average times entertained at home in the last year



“Our Whole Family Usually Eats Dinner Together” (Married Respondents Only)



• Social capital is correlated with– Education– Health

(mental & physical)

– Safety


Work

Sprawl

Other?

TV

GenerationalChange

TV Generation

“Guesstimated” Explanation for Civic Disengagement, 1965-2000

WWII (“The Greatest Generation”)

More timeat work

Distance betweenWork life

and home life

4 hours per day!

Homes for elders• Potential problems of

sheltered housing (retirement homes in England)– Small kitchen with space to

prepare meals for only 3 people

– Lack of space for visitors– “Protection” as the primary

concern of the housing– Lack of space for treasured

objects

• Suggests issues that are important to elders…

E. Fairhurst. Fitting a Quart into a Pint Pot: Making Space for Older People in Sheltered Housing. in Chapman and Hockey (eds.) Ideal Homes?



Nurturing technologies for the home• “… technologies that

support emotional relationships in the home, producing feelings of being comforted and cared about, technologies that help people thrive.”

[Elliott et al. 2006]

Health through computers

• Medical treatment– WebMD (self-administered)– Bar-code systems at hospital

for medicine dispensing– Brain-computer interfaces

• Weight management– Exercise “buddy” or “coach” on

exercise equipment– Wrist-top coaching

systems/Heartrate monitors– http://www.fitday.com

I-Living Assisted Living Architecture• Infrastructure for

dependable, secure assisted living technologies

• Scenarios– Activity Reminders: e.g.

taking medicine– Vital Sign Measurement– Personal Belonging

Localization– Personal Behavior

Profiling– Emergency Detection

Qixin Wang, et al. I-Living: An Open System Architecture for Assisted Living.

Happiness With CBT

• CBT is Cognitive Behavior Therapy

• Mood Gym– Treat depression– Coupled with educational site

BluePages

• Livinglifetothefull.com– Reduce stress– Increase activity– Overcome sleep problems– And more!

Happiness With Biofeedback• HeartMath

– Heart rhythm feedback to help achieve “coherence”

– Stress and clarity of thought– Congestive heart failure

• EEG Neurofeedback– ADD/ADHD and Autism– Anxiety, even PTSD– Epilepsy– OCD and Depression– Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

• Other types of feedback– Constipation– Stress– Headaches/migraines

Happiness With Emotional Interaction

“Overcoming Depression”– C. 1995 simulated therapy program– Objections

• that therapy requires the presence of a person• that nonverbal communication is not possible with a

computer• that computers are dehumanizing to the client

• Are these objections still valid? Will they always be?

L Newall, L Hall. Using Empathic Agents to Prevent and Treat Depression in Adolescents


“Prototypes of interactive computer systems have been built that can begin to detect and

label aspects of human emotional expression, and that respond to users experiencing

frustration and other negative emotions with emotionally supportive interactions,

demonstrating components of human skills such as active listening, empathy, and

sympathy…This paper clarifies the philosophy of this new approach to human–computer interaction: deliberately recognising and

responding to an individual user's emotions in ways, that help users meet their needs.”

R. W. Picard and J. Klein. Computers that recognize and respond to user emotion: theoretical and practical implications. Interacting with Computers v14, issue 2.


R. W. Picard and J. Klein. Computers that recognize and respond to user emotion: theoretical and practical implications. Interacting with Computers v14, issue 2.

• ELIZA and A.L.I.C.E• Home Horoscope• Key Table

– Pick up on emotions through pressure– Turned more into a toy or pet

• Taking HCI to the next level in everyday applications– Simulated empathy to calm

frustration– Use emotional cues to improve

service to the user– Kismet Robot investigates human-

robot interactions• Empathic Agents to treat childhood

learning disorders (Autism, ADD, etc)

Discussion

What role does/should the display of emotion play in technology? Is it central, unnecessary, … ?



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Reflective Design

• “As designers, we are left to wonder: what values, attitudes, and ways of looking at the world are we unconsciously building into our technology, and what are their effects?”

P. Sengers, et al. Reflective Design. Proc. AARHUS ’05.

Reflective Design

• What?– Critical reflection: “bringing unconscious

aspects of experience to conscious awareness, thereby making them available for conscious choice.”

• Why?– “Critical reflection is crucial to both individual

freedom and our quality of life in society as a whole, since without it, we unthinkingly adopt attitudes, practices, values, and identities we might not consciously espouse.”


Reflective Design

• How?– Participatory Design– Value-Sensitive Design– Critical Design– Ludic Design– Critical Technical Practice– Reflection-in-Action


Participatory Design

• Common in HCI: Involve users in the design process (user-centered design)

• Specifically, focus on the needs of multiple constituencies


http://www.infodesign.com.au/usabilityresources/design/images/workshop.gif

Value-Sensitive Design

• Look at values more directly than Participatory Design

1. Conceptual investigation: use moral philosophy to identify fundamental values in play

2. Empirical investigation: uncover how stakeholders think and act w.r.t. values

3. Technical investigation: reveal the link between technical decisions and values they support or hinder


Critical Design

• Also known as “design probes”

• Create “value fictions”: assume existing technology but explore new values

• E.g., Electro-draught Excluder, which deflects stray electromagnetic fields[Dunne and Raby]

http://www.dunneandraby.co.uk/ [Placebo]


Critical Technical Practice

• Consider the metaphors of a field; uncover what the metaphors marginalize– E.g., the focus in AI on creating

“artificial intelligence”

• Change the metaphors and build a new technology embodying the alternative view


Discussion

What values are encoded in the I-Living example? How do they relate to the reading about sheltered housing?



Designing for the home• Issues we’ve

discussed– Displacement or

Invasion– Safety and Violence– Social Capital– Aging

• Other domains from class– Education technology– CSCW– Speech– Context-Awareness– Web 2.0– Games– 3D/VR– Smart Homes

Pick a domain and an issue in the home (listed above or other). Design a technological artifact

drawing from that domain to address the domestic issue.

Flickr credits

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/wiseacre/302697685/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/victorgeere/232971313/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/johncarleton/33052669/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/iguanajo/8504383/• http://www.flickr.com/photos/joachim/65222107/

Designing Domestic Technology Ryan Aipperspach and Celeste Roschuni CS 260 November 29, 2006.

Documents

home nurturing technologies

modern home

domains slide

home reflective design

domestic violence privacy

domestic violence difficult

private places

women report