Research into IT is largely rooted in the world of work. Whether it be
'office automation' or 'workplace studies', most research has two main
aims - to improve efficiency and thus productivity. The ideal of the
'smart' home, in which all chores are eliminated by hi-tech wizardry,
likewise regards the home as a place of utility. But that is to take a
crude view of both utility and the home. And such views are not merely
simplistic, but dangerous. While they promise to 'liberate' home
dwellers, they actually threaten to confine them - practically,
socially, and imaginatively.
The Domestic experience takes three complementary research perspectives
on the home. The computer scientists see it practically, in terms of
the electronic infrastructure: how it is configured, how controlled,
how changed. The ethnographers see it as a social construct, created
through routine co-ordination and adaptation. The designers are
interested in imaginative and cultural possiblities, and see the home
as a place where we are free to explore deeply personal values. These
views were relatively distinct throughout the first half of the IRC,
but they are now meshing more closely to provide an integrated set of
systems, experiences, and studies.
Our initial work spanned Probe studies and conceptual designs,
culminating in a family of designs that rely on sensing the weight of
objects placed on surfaces. The weight furniture explored how we could
enrich the experience of home life through three complementary
approaches. Long-term trials of the pieces in individual homes revealed
the practical ways in which people could incorporate these experiences
in their daily lives.
Our current work focuses on creating experiences that depend on
networked components - some technical, some not - within the home. In
addition, where the weight furniture emphasized re-presentation and
reflection on activities within the home, our current work on the
Curious Home is focused on how the home's boundaries may be extended to
other spaces, peoples and homes.
