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.