Clothespins that notify you when the laundry is dry or socks that keep track of how many times they were washed indicate how shortsightedly IoT could be executed. Being smart, however, IoT has a lot more potential if we do not take technology as the starting point of designing. The main argument of this project is that we can create meaningful and empowering smart products through putting users’ needs and context in the center, as well as carefully designing the form, behavior, and intelligence of these products.

This project aims to develop a model with its supplementary design tools and methods for designing smart products for human empowerment. By following a research-through-design methodology, the project intends to tackle which forms, intelligence and behaviors respond to the needs of users and contexts, and under which conditions and to what extent the users are willing to delegate control to smart products.

Empowerment, in the context of this project, is defined as extending people’s skills and knowledge, adding to their autonomy and self-esteem, allowing for new capabilities (Schneider et al., 2018). Products that ‘have information processing capabilities and are connected to the internet’ fall under the description of smart products in this proposal.

This connectedness and intelligence allow smart products to be situated (recognize the context they are in), personalized (tailor themselves to the users’ needs), adaptive (change from interactions with users), pro-active (anticipate users’ plans), and autonomous (make decisions). In other words, smart products are agents that are capable of action and making an impact on users’ lives; and eventually, empower them.

Nazli Cila, researcher at the Digital Life Centre and involved in this project, has already made an initial attempt to develop a theoretical angle focusing on the agency of smart products to discuss their design and use (Cila et al., 2017; Giaccardi et al., 2016). Yet more work is needed to develop and validate hands-on guidelines, methods, and tools that designers can use for creating meaningful smart products and designing their agency, as well as good demonstrators on how smart products can empower people. This is the intended outcome of this project.

Publications

Things as Co-ethnographers: Implications of a Thing Perspective for Design and Anthropology

(2016 )Elisa Giaccardi, Chris Speed, Nazli Cila & Melissa CaldwellDesign Anthropological Futures

Thing Ethnography: Doing Design Research with Non-Humans

(2016 )Elisa Giaccardi, Nazli Cila, Chris Speed & Melissa CaldwellProceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference on Designing Interactive Systems (DIS ’16)

Products as Agents: Metaphors for Designing the Products of the IoT Age

(2017 )Nazli Cila, Iskander Smit, Elisa Giaccardi, & Ben KröseProceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

Near future cities of things: addressing dilemmas through design fiction

(2018 )Maria Luce Lupetti, Nazli Cila & Iskander SmitNordiCHI ’18 Proceedings of the 10th Nordic Conference on Human-Computer Interaction

Project duration

1 Apr 2019 -1 Apr 2021

Researchers

dr Nazli Cila

prof. dr Ben Kröse

Ben Schouten

Funding

Regieorgaan SIA HBO Post Doc

Partners

The interactive living room is being developed by various small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) that have technology that can contribute to the above goal. In addition, HAN, HvA, Fontys and TU / e are involved as knowledge partners in the project.

The aim of the project is two-fold:
- An approach for the development of interactive building components (development of a toolbox)
- One innovative and interactive space (the interactive living room), tested in two living labs.

The first living lab will serve as a technical test in which the first prototype can be improved. The second living lab is in DrieGasthuizenGroep, where a second prototype is installed and where the reaction, acceptance and the effect on residents, care and informal care can be viewed. This public partner is involved in the entire design process, so that the input and needs of these different stakeholders are introduced early in the process. This iterative process will ultimately not lead alone to an interactive living room that better meets the needs of the user, but also to a better acceptance for implementation in practice.

The project ‘The interactive living room – Guiding Environment’ is a SIA-RAAK SME project (secretary: HAN).

Read here the article ‘Intelligent systeem verbetert wooncomfort kwetsbare ouderen’ , Installatie Journaal, 11 januari 2021.

Image & Video

Project duration

10 Mar 2018 -1 Mar 2020

Project manager

Architecture in Health (HAN)

Researchers

dr Michel Oey

dr Nazli Cila

Saskia Robben

Sergio Bondietti

Funding

SIA RAAK

Partners

• Architecture in Health (Hogeschool Arnhem Nijmegen)
• Nora
• Simaxx
• Connective Floors BV
• Energy Floors
• Sherpa
• Sherpa
• DrieGasthuizenGroep