Readings

There are no required texts for this course. Weekly readings are as follows.

Reading Summaries

For each assigned reading, you will complete a short reading reflection (200-300 words). This should summarize and critique the main points of the text, as well as draw connections to other texts and ideas introduced through this course.

Reading reflections are due weekly.

Week 1: Introduction to the IoT and Connected Products

Mark Weiser (1991) The computer for the 21st century. Scientific American, pp. 94–104.

Context: Weiser's paper is the cananonical introduction to the ubiqutious computing vision. Introduced in 1991, it explores paradigm shifts required for and future directions in computing that lead to the IoT and connected environments we're familiar with today.

Framing Questions:

Prolog, Chapter 1, and Chapter 4 from David Rose (2014) Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire and The Internet of Things, Scribner

Context: David Rose introduced some of the earliest commercially available internet appliances. He founded Ambient Devices and produced the ambient orb and umbrella and went on to found Vitality a company that produced a smart pill cap to help enhance adherance to medications. This book is design-centered exploring at the strategies, considerations, and approaches for successful interactions and the creation of beloved internet appliances.

Framing Questions:

Further Reading (Optional)

Week 2: Envisioning Connectivity in the Home

Genevieve Bell and Joseph Kaye, Designing Technology for Domestic Spaces: A Kitchen Manifesto, Gastronomica, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Spring 2002), pp. 46-62

Context: Genevieve Bell has written extensively on the need to considering the 'messiness' of the world around us, as well as social and cultural considerations, in today's IoT e.g. 'Divining a Digital Mess'. This paper explores the introduction of 'smart' domestic technology through the lens of the kitchen.

Framing Questions:

Bjorn Nansen, Luke van Ryn, Frank Vetere, Toni Robertson, Margot Brereton, and Paul Dourish. 2014. An internet of social things. In Proceedings of the 26th Australian Computer-Human Interaction Conference on Designing Futures: the Future of Design (OzCHI ‘14). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 87-96.

Context: A 2014 article that questions the need to reconsider the dominant IoT vision as objects talking to objects and include an emphasis on objects as important mediators and actors in social relationships.

Framing Questions:

Further Reading (Optional)

Week 3: Understanding Ambience

Nassim Jafarinaimi, Jodi Forlizzi, Amy Hurst, and John Zimmerman. 2005. Breakaway: an ambient display designed to change human behavior. In CHI ‘05 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ‘05). ACM, New York, NY, USA, 1945-1948.

Context: introduces a design case study for an ambient display that operates in the periphery.

Framing Questions:

Rogers Y, Hazlewood W, Marshall P, Dalton NS, Hertrich S, (2010) Ambient Influence: Can Twinkly Lights Lure and Abstract Representations Trigger Behavioral Change?, UbiComp 2010

Context: This paper presents a study of three ambient devices designed to persuade or change behavior in a workplace setting.

Framing Questions:

Further Reading (Optional)

Below is a series of examples of ambient interfaces and approaches

Week 4: Designing Smart Products

Chapter 5: Designing Meta Products, Sara Cordoba Rubino, Wimer Hazenburg, Menno Huisman (2011) Meta Products: Meaningful Design for our Connected World. BIS Publishers.

Context: Designing Meta Products considers how to design interactive product ecosystems in a world where information is entangled between many actors, services, spaces and contexts.

Framing Questions:

The Design of Enchantment - Part III, from David Rose (2014) Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire and The Internet of Things, Scribner.

Context: We return to Rose's text to explore how he envisions the design of Enchanted objects

Framing Questions:

Further Reading (Optional)

Week 5: Considering Connectivity

Context: Greenfield's 2006 book poses a series of short reflections on the (potential) impact of Ubiquitous computing. He critically examines the questions _we should ask_ of these technologies as they become more prevalent. It's a fascinating read and provides an excellent lens on the technical, moral, social and ethical considerations involved in designing and deploying IoT solutions.

Section 4: What are the Issues we need to be aware of, Adam Greenfield. 2006. Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing. Peachpit Press, Berkeley, CA, USA.

Framing Questions:

Section 7: How might we safeguard our prerogatives in an everyday world? Adam Greenfield. 2006. Everyware: The Dawning Age of Ubiquitous Computing. Peachpit Press, Berkeley, CA, USA.

Framing Questions:

Further Reading (Optional)

Week 6: Future Connections

Contextualizing Ubiquitous Computing, Chapter 2, Paul Dourish and Genevieve Bell, 2011. Divining a Digital Future: Mess and Mythology in Ubiquitous Computing, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Context: We revisit Week 1 and Weiser's UbiComp vision with 'a manifesto and partly a progress report' by Dourish and Bell. They critically reflect on the state of Ubicomp to explore what might and should come next.

Framing Questions:

Six Future Fantasies - from from David Rose (2014) Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire and The Internet of Things, Scribner.

Context: In the closing chapter of Rose's Enchanted Objects, he speculates on six ways internet appliances will change the way we encounter technology in our lives

Framing Questions:

Further Reading (Optional)