The work to make a home network work

• ESCW '05

Recently, households have begun to adopt networking technologies to interconnect devices within the home. Yet little is known about the consequences for households of setting up and living with these complex networks, nor the impact of such technologies on the routines of the home. In this paper, we report findings from an empirical study of households containing complex networks of computer and audio/visual technologies. In particular, we show how complex networks are themselves sites for coordination work required for householders to use and manage their networks. We describe how households have taken up many configurations of these technologies simultaneously, how notions of individuality and collectivity are embedded in household routines and in the network and how these clash, and also how coordination difficulties hinder the administration, maintenance, and troubleshooting of the home network. We conclude by discussing the collaborative work among householders that is required to make the home network work, how that work is made more difficult by the tension between invisibility and comprehensibility of the network itself, and why this tension creates an integration paradox in domestic technology.

citation

Grinter, R. E. ; Ducheneaut, N. ; Edwards, W. K. ; Newman, M. The work to make a home network work. 9th European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (ESCW '05); 2005 September 18-22; Paris; France.