Designing Domestic Technology

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

The home is complicated… Nurturing places discussion Issues to deal with in the home Nurturing technologies for the home Reflective 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 itI 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.

Declining social capital Average times entertained at home in the last year R. Putnam. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.

Declining social capital “Our Whole Family Usually Eats Dinner Together” (Married Respondents Only) R. Putnam. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.

Distance between Work life and home life More timeat work WWII (“The Greatest Generation”) Work Sprawl Generational Change Other? 4 hours per day! TV Generation TV Declining social capital • Social capital is correlated with • Education • Health (mental & physical) • Safety “Guesstimated” Explanation for Civic Disengagement, 1965-2000 R. Putnam. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.

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]

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 Health through computers

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.

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 CBT

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

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

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

skip The home is complicated… Nurturing places discussion Issues to deal with in the home Nurturing technologies for the home Reflective Design (if time) Re-visiting other domains

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

Reflective Design • How? • Participatory Design • Value-Sensitive Design • Critical Design • Ludic Design • Critical Technical Practice • Reflection-in-Action P. Sengers, et al. Reflective Design. Proc. AARHUS ’05.

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

Value-Sensitive Design • Look at values more directly than Participatory Design • Conceptual investigation: use moral philosophy to identify fundamental values in play • Empirical investigation: uncover how stakeholders think and act w.r.t. values • Technical investigation: reveal the link between technical decisions and values they support or hinder P. Sengers, et al. Reflective Design. Proc. AARHUS ’05.

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

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

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

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 Designing for the home 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