Making Connections: Designing for Home Networking

Visions of domestic computing often imply the presence of a home network that seamlessly connects devices together and allows applications to share media within the home or with others connected to the Internet. We have not yet reached the stage where this scenario is straightforward for the average consumer who may not be technology savvy. To realize this vision, we need to make home networks usable for the average user by understanding which devices users want to connect together and why. Furthermore, we need to understand how problem solving occurs when devices do not connect together or to the Internet. We review different techniques for studying the home; highlighting the aspects that pertain to understanding home networking. Next, we describe our upcoming project which builds on previous work investigating the complexities of home networking. We outline our approach and conclude with alternative suggestions for learning more about home networking. Author