To help busy dual-income families gain a feeling of control over their lives, we introduce the Person-Place-Time-View (PPTV) a calendar that promotes person, place and time to first class objects, visualizing where and when everyone in a family will be. In 2 experience prototyping studies parents report that they can make sense of the PPTV’s dense visual form. They also report that the PPTV provides them with high-level view of their day that can help them avoid creating impossible-to-complete plans. Surveys indicate that the PPTV helps parents feel more effective at their jobs as parents, and ultimately more in control of their lives.

The ubiquitous computation that underlies ambient intelligence offers an unprecedented framework for innovation to cycle between the Computer and Social Sciences. Commercial mobile phones effectively function as sensing platforms, effortlessly creating massive datasets. Machine learning and data mining provide powerful analytic lenses to observe and measure people in ways previously not possible. Examining data describing how routines support everyday activities, we can uncover new subjects for sensing and machine learning. I demonstrate the value of this approach using dual-income families. My studies of family logistics show that unexpected changes to plans cause parents the most anxiety. My data collection using mobile phones shows that that less than 20% of all days involve no unexpected changes. Interview studies show that family members sometimes need but do not have access to information about the plans and routines of other family members. Because family members do not document this information, they do not exist as resources family members can turn to when needed.

The complexities and costs of deploying Ubicomp applications seriously compromise our ability to evaluate such systems in the real world. To simplify Ubicomp deployment we introduce the robotic pseudopod (P.Pod), an actuator that acts on mechanical switches originally designed for human control only. P.Pods enable computational control of devices by hijacking their mechanical switches – a term we refer to as mechanical hijacking. P.Pods offer simple, low-cost, non-destructive computational access to installed hardware, enabling functional, real world Ubicomp deployments. In this paper, we illustrate how three P.Pod primitives, built with the Lego MindStorm NXT toolkit, can implement mechanical hijacking, facilitating real world Ubicomp deployments which otherwise require extensive changes to existing hardware or infrastructure. Lastly, we demonstrate the simplicity of P.Pods by observing two middle school classes build working smart home applications in 4 hours.

Part of being a parent is taking responsibility for arranging and supplying transportation of children between various events. Dual-income parents frequently develop routines to help manage transportation with a minimal amount of attention. On days when families deviate from their routines, effective logistics can often depend on knowledge of the routine location, availability and intentions of other family members. Since most families rarely document their routine activities, making that needed information unavailable, coordination breakdowns are much more likely to occur. To address this problem we demonstrate the feasibility of learning family routines using mobile phone GPS. We describe how we (1) detect pick-ups and drop- offs; (2) predict which parent will perform a future pick-up or drop-off; and (3) infer if a child will be left at an activity. We discuss how these routine models give digital calendars, reminder and location systems new capabilities to help prevent breakdowns, and improve family life.

By understanding how routines support people's everyday activities, we can uncover new subjects for sensing and machine learning. This new data creates new ways for end-user applications to support daily life. I demonstrate the value of this approach using dual-income families. My studies of family logistics shows that family members sometimes need but do not have access to information about the plans and routines of other family members. Because family members do not document this information, they do not exist as resources family members can turn to when needed. With only the GPS on commercial mobile phones, we can use machine learning and data mining to automatically document family logistical routines, and present that information to families to help them feel more in control of their lives.

My work looks to comprehend, and (re-)define the appropriate role of intelligent systems in the home. To explore this question, I have focused on routine learners in the context of dual-income family coordination. Families often depend on accurate information about one another’s routines to coordinate. When inaccurate, parents make plans that create conflicts, go to the wrong places, and even leave kids at their activities. Despite this important role, routines, are rarely documented, and so are not available to people for support, or to computational systems as input. My work demonstrates how unsupervised models of family routine can be learned using a single, lightweight sensor. The tacit knowledge of family routine can be captured and exploited by learning systems, providing a new kind of information stream that empowers families and computational systems alike with new capabilities.

Even though the coordination of kids’ activities is largely successful, the modern dual income family still regularly experiences breakdowns in their practices. Families often rely on routines to help them coordinate when plans prove less effective. Routines, however, are rarely documented, challenging to express in detail, and frequently evolving, making them cumbersome to manually describe and so largely unavailable to computational systems as input. This work proposes that this disconnect can be overcome, and argues that unsupervised models of family routine can be learned using a single, lightweight sensor. This way, the successful but tacit knowledge of the routine might be captured and exploited by learning systems, providing a new kind of information for families and computational systems alike. A method is proposed to develop a Bayesian Network to reason about the state of family coordination. This model relies on learned routines of pickup and drop- off at kids’ activities.

Researchers have detailed the importance of routines in how people live and work, while also cautioning system designers about the importance of people’s idiosyncratic behavior patterns and the challenges they would present to learning systems. We wish to take up their challenge, and offer a vision of how simple sensing technology could capture and model idiosyncratic routines, enabling applications to solve many real world problems. To identify how a simple routine learner can demonstrate this in support of family coordination, we conducted six months of nightly interviews with six families, focusing on how they make and execute plans. Our data reveals that only about 40% of events unfold in a routine manner. When deviations do occur, family members often need but do not have access to accurate information about their routines. With about 90% of their content concerning deviations, not routines, families do not rely on calendars to support them during these moments. We discuss how coordination tools, like calendars and reminder systems, would improve coordination and reduce stress when augmented with routine information, and how commercial mobile phones can support the automatic creation of routine models.

For many years technology researchers have promised a smart home that, through an awareness of people’s activities and intents, will provide the appropriate assistance to improve human experience. However, before people will accept intelligent technology into their homes and their lives, they must feel they have control over it (Norman 1994). To address this issue, social researchers have been conducting ethnographic research on families, looking for opportunities where technology can best provide assistance. At the same time, technology researchers studying “end user programming” have focused on how people can control devices in their homes. We observe an interesting disconnect between the two approaches–the ethnographic work reveals that families desire to “feel in control of their lives,” more than in control of their devices. Our work attempts to bridge the divide between these two research communities by exploring the role a smart home can play in the life of a dual-income family. If we first understand the roles a smart home can play, we can then more appropriately choose how to provide families with the control they desire, extending the control of devices to incorporate the control of their lives families say they need.

While the user-centered design methods we bring from human-computer interaction to ubicomp help sketch ideas and refine prototypes, few tools or techniques help explore divergent design concepts, reflect on their merits, and come to a new understanding of design opportunities and ways to address them. We present Speed Dating, a design method for rapidly exploring application concepts and their interactions and contextual dimensions without requiring any technology implementation. Situated between sketching and prototyping, Speed Dating structures comparison of concepts, helping identify and understand contextual risk factors and develop approaches to address them. We illustrate how to use Speed Dating by applying it to our research on the smart home and dual-income families, and highlight our findings from using this method.

Dual-income families experience stress as they attempt to manage the conflicting responsibilities of work, school, home, and enrichment activities. Opportunities exist for technology to provide support in managing their children's activities, helping parents feel more in control of their lives. In this paper, we explore opportunities to support children's activities. Based on our contextual fieldwork with dual-income families, we suggest a concept of the Smart Bag, which addresses two design opportunities: (i) a reminder system that helps people remember their schedules and what they need to take, and (ii) a reminder system that allows parents to engage in parenting.

For many years technology researchers have promised a smart home that will provide the appropriate assistance to improve human experience. While technology researchers have focused on how people can control devices in their homes, our ethnographic research and findings by other social scientists have revealed that families want more control over their lives. We believe a smart home should provide families with a feeling of control over their lives: being relieved from breakdowns in their daily routines, and getting emotional satisfaction from the things they value – identity, time, and relationships. In this paper, we explore the roles that a smart home can play for families to regain control over their lives. We present our human-centered design research on dual- income families and suggest insights about the potential roles of a smart home based on this research.

Seeking to be sensitive to users, smart home researchers have focused on the concept of control. They attempt to allow users to gain control over their lives by framing the problem as one of end-user programming. But families are not users as we typically conceive them, and a large body of ethno- graphic research shows how their activities and routines do not map well to programming tasks. End-user programming ultimately provides control of de- vices. But families want more control of their lives. In this paper, we explore this disconnect. Using grounded contextual fieldwork with dual-income families, we describe the control that families want, and suggest seven design principles that will help end-user programming systems deliver that control.

Much smart home research has produced work that chooses to enhance the home experience by providing more control over domestic devices. Our work with dual-income families suggests that more than devices, families want more control over their lives. We argue that a smart home might help provide that assistance to families in two ways: (1) by helping families navigate the complex network of activities in which they participate; and (2) by providing families more emotional satisfaction from the things they value – their time, their relationships, and their identity. In this position paper, we discuss these two service alternatives, and describe how life control provides a pathway to a nurturing home environment.

The majority of smart home research has focused on novel technical artifacts, but has overlooked the issues surrounding social relationships in the home. We argue in favor of research that is sensitive to and functions within the social constraints of dual income family homes. This paper describes our grounded contextual fieldwork with real families in their homes, and identifies socially-aware concepts smart home systems will need to address.

Researchers developing Ubicomp applications often must make ill-informed but irrevocable decisions early in the design process. While desktop computing researchers have multiple methods at their disposal to manage the risk involved in these decisions, the complexity of Ubicomp research affords few alternatives. We suggest that Ubicomp research faces a poverty of effective design process. We explore alternatives that might supplement existing de-sign processes so that designers can make decisions from positions of information. This suggests an opportunity to develop both tools and techniques that support early-stage evaluation

Substantial stumbling blocks confront computer-illiterate elders. We introduce a novel user interface technology to lower these start up costs: the book as user interface, or BUI. Book pages contain both step-by-step instructions and tangible controls, turning a complex interaction into a walk-up-and-use scenario. The system expands support past the technical artifact to a go-to relationship. ElderMail users designate an internet-savvy trusted friend or relative to help with complex tasks. In this paper, we conduct a preliminary evaluation of a BUI-based email system, and report our findings. While research has augmented paper artifacts to provide alternate access into the digital world, we find that elders use the BUI as a way to circumvent the digital world.

Clever invention and profound creativity are no substitute for marketability. In order to make money, an idea must offer something so valuable people actually part with their money to own it. Even a great visionary cannot create a product so revolutionary as to escape the fundamental laws of commerce: to identify, build, and sell products people will pay for.

Stuck in an aesthetic vacuum, professional designers got so hung-up on their perception of artistic value they neglected practical realities and marketing utility. Most web patrons pay us to seduce customers into choosing one product over another – its called “marketing.” It is a strategic pursuit aimed at enhancing the relationship between client and customer. Art, design, animation, video and sound have no marketing value if they don’t lube that deal.

Design directly impacts business. Strong design excites and compels. Generic design condemns you to anonymity. Off- target design sends the wrong message. Cheap design is a turnoff. Bottom line: Design can make or break the sale.

If the web is to become a valuable tool for branding and marketing, companies (and the marketing firms they employ) must return to the communication basics. They must let go of bad habits and assumptions about the web, refresh themselves on the rudiments of communication, practice the art of seduction, and learn how to turn interest into action. Only then, will companies be able to tap the expansive and unique value of the Internet, and stop blowing their annual marketing budget with no results.