Evolving Needs in IoT Control and Accountability

Abstract

A key issue for smart home systems is supporting non-expert users in their management. Whereas feedback design on use cases (such as energy feedback) have gained attention, current approaches to providing awareness on the system state typically provide a rather technical view. Long-term investigations of the practices and resources needed for maintaining Do-It-Yourself smart home systems, are particularly scarce. We report on a design case study in which we equipped 12 households with DIY smart home systems for two years and studied participants' strategies for maintaining system awareness, from learning about its workings to monitoring its behavior. We find that people's needs regarding system accountability changed over time. Their privacy needs were also affected over the same period. We found that participants initially looked for in-depth awareness information from the dedicated web-based dashboard. In the later phases of appropriation, however, their interaction and information needs shifted towards management by exception on mobile or ambient displays -- only focusing on the system when things were 'going wrong'. In terms of system accountability, we find that a system's self-declaration should focus on being socially meaningful rather than technically complete, for instance by relating itself to people's activities and the home routines.