Proactive voice assistants (VAs) in smart homes predict users’ needs and autonomously take action by controlling smart devices and initiating voice-based features to support users’ various activities. Previous studies on proactive systems have primarily focused on determining action based on contextual information, such as user activities, physiological state, or mobile usage. However, there is a lack of research that considers user agency in VAs’ proactive actions, which empowers users to express their dynamic needs and preferences and promotes a sense of control. Thus, our study aims to explore verbal communication through which VAs can proactively take action while respecting user agency. To delve into communication between a proactive VA and a user, we used the Wizard of Oz method to set up a smart home environment, allowing controllable devices and unrestrained communication. This paper proposes design implications for the communication strategies of proactive VAs that respect user agency.
doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642193
This paper reports on a research through design (RtD) inquiry into public perceptions of transparency of Internet of Things (IoT) sensors increasingly deployed within urban neighborhoods as part of smart city programs. In particular, we report on the results of three participatory design workshops during which 40 New York City residents used physical signage as a medium for materializing transparency concerns about several sensors. We found that people’s concerns went beyond making sensors more transparent but instead sought to reveal the technology’s interconnected social, political, and economic processes. Building from these findings, we highlight the opportunities to move from treating transparency as an object to treating it as an ongoing activity. We argue that this move opens opportunities for designers and policy-makers to provide meaningful and actionable transparency of smart cities.
doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3641931
Data collection without proper consent is a growing concern as smart home devices gain prevalence. It is especially difficult to obtain consent from incidental users because they may be unaware or feel pressured to consent. To understand what appropriate consent means in smart homes, we conducted an online survey (N=360) covering 6 common consent facets: freely given, revertible, informed, enthusiastic, specific, and unburdensome. We study how these facets affect perceived acceptability of data collection and how users would allocate responsibility for obtaining consent. Our results show that all facets have meaningful impacts on perceived acceptability of data collection, and eroding freely given had the greatest impact. Device owners were considered the most responsible for obtaining consent. Based on these findings, we provide recommendations for users, device manufacturers, and policymakers to improve consent practices in smart homes, such as designing consent interfaces that prioritize multiple facets of consent.
doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642288
Controlling smart homes via vendor-specific apps on smartphones is cumbersome. Augmented Reality (AR) offers a promising alternative by enabling direct interactions with Internet of Things (IoT) devices. However, using AR for smart home control requires knowledge of each device's 3D position. In this paper, we introduce and evaluate three concepts for identifying IoT device positions with varying degrees of automation. Our mixed-methods laboratory study with 28 participants revealed that, despite being recognized as the most efficient option, the majority of participants opted against a fast, fully automated detection, favoring a balance between efficiency and perceived autonomy and control. We link this decision to psychological needs grounded in self-determination theory and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each alternative, motivating a user-adaptive solution. Additionally, we observed a “wow-effect” in response to AR interaction for smart homes, suggesting potential benefits of a human-centric approach to the smart home of the future.
doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3642862
The rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) in shared spaces has led to an increasing demand for sharing IoT devices among multiple users. Yet, existing IoT platforms often fall short by offering an all-or-nothing approach to access control, not only posing security risks but also inhibiting the growth of the shared IoT ecosystem. This paper introduces FLUID-IoT, a framework that enables flexible and granular multi-user access control, even down to the User Interface (UI) component level. Leveraging a multi-user UI distribution technique, FLUID-IoT transforms existing IoT apps into centralized hubs that selectively distribute UI components to users based on their permission levels. Our performance evaluation, encompassing coverage, latency, and memory consumption, affirm that FLUID-IoT can be seamlessly integrated with existing IoT platforms and offers adequate performance for daily IoT scenarios. An in-lab user study further supports that the framework is intuitive and user-friendly, requiring minimal training for efficient utilization.
doi.org/10.1145/3613904.3641991