There is an increasing interest and demand to design and evaluate technologies for everyday domestic life and mobile contexts. Yet many of the methods commonly taught and used in the fields of human-computer interaction and user experience design were created as a means to study and design for workplace contexts and activities. Translating them to other situations is often not a trivial task. This means that studying and designing for everyday life outside of the workplace is increasingly challenging and requires new methods or alterations to existing methods. In this talk, Dr. Neustaedter will describe and explore the way he and his research group have appropriated and extended common user experience design and research methods for the creation and evaluation of domestic and ubiquitous technologies. Here he will offer a candid discussion of what works well and what does not work well by exploring a number of their projects including, video conferencing in domestic settings, wearables for flight attendants, location-based games, and telepresence robots.

1. lessons from home
dr. carman neustaedter
school of interactive arts and technology
simon fraser university

2. the message
be flexible; be real; be rigorous.

3. connecting people across distance

4. frail technologies

5. life is complex

6. breaching experiments

7. the message
be flexible; be real; be rigorous.

8. be flexible
adapt commonly used methods as the
situation requires it.
create new ones when needed.

9. be real
study real, not fake, contexts.

10. be rigorous
go deep, not shallow. don’t cut corners.

12. projects
video in the home
telepresence robots
human proxies

18. research questions
when is the technology useful?
when is the technology not useful?
what privacy concerns emerge?

19. challenges
multiple locations over distance
frail technology
invasive; privacy concerns

20. Michelle’s home office Gerry’s home office
Beth’s family room Carol’s kitchen counter

21. interviews over video chat

22. confessional videos

23. autobiographical design

24. lessons
real homes = real and complex usage
compare external usage to our own

25. projects
video in the home
telepresence robots
human proxies

27. conferences are important in the
research community

30. attendance is not always easy
accessibility challenges
travel restrictions (e.g., new baby, visa)
time restrictions
cost restrictions

31. Suitable Technologies - Beams

32. Suitable Technologies - Beams

36. CHI 2016
3700 local attendees
143,000 square feet
33 remote attendees from around the world

38. challenges
lots of participants in many locations
frail technology (WiFi problems)
disrupting social norms

39. ad hoc observations

40. ad hoc observations

41. ad hoc observations

42. instant messaging backchannel

43. beam focus groups

44. daily diary

45. self-captured media

46. lessons
distributed observations can work
disruption of social norms raises design
questions

47. projects
video in the home
telepresence robots
human proxies

48. distance learning

49. distance learning

51. arrested development
larry middleman
george senior

52. arrested development

54. potential benefits
accessibility challenges
sick, poor health
lazy

55. human proxy via google glass

57. challenges
finding a willing class
participants in two locations
frail technology (WiFi problems)
disrupting social norms

58. ‘self-usage’: my own class

59. ad-hoc observations

60. post-class interviews

61. lessons
‘crazy’ ideas may actually hold promise
disruption of social norms raises design
questions

62. the message
be flexible; be real; be rigorous.

64. clab.iat.sfu.ca
@dr_carmster
lessonsfromhome.org