Publications
1. Alternative Avenues for IoT: Designing for Non-Stereotypical Homes
Info
Alternative Avenues for IoT: Designing for Non-Stereotypical Homes.
Desjardins, A., Viny, J.E., Key, C., Johnston, N.
In Proc. CHI'19, New York, ACM Press, in press. (acceptance rate: 23.8%)
*ACM CHI 2019 Honorable Mention Award (2019)
Abstract
We report on the findings of a co-speculative research through- design study that investigates alternative visions of the Internet of Things for the home (IoT). We worked with 16 people living in non-stereotypical homes to develop situated and personal concepts attuned to their home. As a prompt for co-speculation and discussion, we created handmade booklets where we took turns overlaying sketched design concepts on top of photos taken with participants in their homes. Our findings reveal new avenues for the design of IoT systems such as: acknowledging the porous boundaries of the home, exposing neighborly relations, exploring diverse timescales, revisiting agency in the home, and embracing imaginary and potential uses. We invite human-computer interaction and design researchers to use these new avenues as starting points to broaden current assumptions embedded in design and research practices for domestic technologies.
2. IoT Data in the Home: Observing Entanglements and Drawing New Encounters
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IoT Data in the Home: Observing Entanglements and Drawing New Encounters
Desjardins, A., Biggs, H. Key, C. Viny, J.E.
In Proc. CHI'20, New York, ACM Press, in press. (acceptance rate: 24.3%)
Abstract
Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for the home are gaining in popularity, generating exponential data byproducts. Yet, everyday relationships between home dwellers and domestic IoT data often remain secondary interactions, preventing deeper understanding and awareness of data tracked in the home. Our paper offers a design ethnography and design inquiry which examine these human-data entanglements. Findings from working with 10 inhabitants who interact with their IoT data illustrate five characteristics of current data encounters: manifesting, inquiring, exposing, repositioning, and broadening. In response, we used speculative sketches to refine, refract and complicate these encounters. We argue that data do not have to be laborious, tidy or the byproduct of a service, but rather lively and affecting. We further suggest new modes of engagement with data which expand or step away from selfimprovement and reflection: through diverse acts of noticing, by allowing data to remain invisible, and by embracing imaginative practices.
3. Investigating Opaque Infrastructures: The Desktop Odometer
Info
Investigating Opaque Infrastructures: The Desktop Odometer
Viny, J.E., Desjardins, A.
In Proc. DIS'20, New York, ACM Press, in press.
Abstract
This demo presents the Desktop Odometer, a device that shows users the distance they travel when browsing the web, by tracking the total miles between their current location and the server from where they are requesting information. Upon connecting the Desktop Odometer to their computer via a web browser extension, users are able to see how far information travels while surfing the web in real-time. This new ability to ‘see’ how far information has to physically travel gives users an opportunity to grapple with and reflect on the physicality of the Internet’s infrastructure, which otherwise may remain opaque.
4. Investigating Opaque Infrastructures With Discursive Design
Info
Investigating Opaque Infrastructures with Discursive Design
Viny, J.E.
In Proc. Masters Thesis, University of Washington, Seattle
Abstract
The information we access on the Internet appears immediately but usually lives far away. A search for “holiday decorations” might take you from a server in Montana to India to Northeastern Canada. The Desktop Odometer is a device that shows users the distance they travel when browsing the web by tracking the total miles between their current location and the server from which they are requesting information. Upon connecting the Desktop Odometer to their computer via a web browser extension, users are able to see how far information travels while surfing the web in real time.
The Desktop Odometer is a Discursive Design artifact that allows users to observe certain aspects of the Internet’s elaborate and largely opaque infrastructure in relation to how they use it. Recognizing the vast distances information travels while one navigates the web brings this facet of the Internet into the foreground of a user’s experience.
I describe the three approaches I used to investigate opaque infrastructures: the first was making the Desktop Odometer itself, the second was selling the Desktop Odometer on Amazon.com as a way to elicit user-generated feedback about the inner workings of the Internet, and the third was gaining firsthand experience of the seller’s side of Amazon.com.
5. Examining Opaque Infrastructures with the Desktop Odometer
Info
Examining Opaque Infrastructures with the Desktop Odometer
Viny, J.E., Copper, M. L., Desjardins, A.
In Proc. DIS'21, New York, ACM Press, in press.
Abstract
The information we access on the Internet appears immediately but usually lives far away. The Desktop Odometer is a device that shows users the distance they travel when browsing the web by tracking the total miles between their current location and the server from which they are requesting information. In this work, we investigated internet infrastructures by designing and producing Desktop Odometers, selling them on Amazon.com, and receiving customer reviews. We present our analysis of customer reviews which reveal how customers describe their understandings of internet infrastructures after using the device. We also recount our RtD approach to making the device; we describe frictions we encountered when navigating other opaque infrastructures in our fabrication process such as the Google Play store. Finally, we reflect on our use of Amazon.com and customer reviews as a method to engage participants in discussion about internet infrastructure through the sale and review process.