Abstract
According to latest reports, the market for smart home products in Italy appears to be growing quicker than in other European countries. Continuous technological advances have lowered the price for entry products, allowing more families to acquire smart solutions. Meanwhile, after the pandemic situation of 2020, the importance of the domestic environment as a hybrid space where to conduct different activities that require smart and connected appliances has significantly grown. Ultimately, economic, and social instability has produced a higher awareness of energy consumption, bringing many users to question their lifestyle choices and look for smarter and greener solutions. The evolution of living conditions through the growth of smart technology in houses and apartments must be explored by interaction designers, to provide effective user experiences of smart artifacts, that need to seamlessly connect with one another and function together, within a complex, multimodal environment. Considering this, the paper presents the results of a quantitative study carried out at the end of 2021, through an online survey that was completed by 135 families. The data paint a picture of the network of interconnected products and appliances that cohabit the domestic environment together with human users and their animal companions. Through different analysis and visualizations, it is highlighted which rooms are “smarter”, how the ownership of a smart product leads to the acquisition of other products – thus building the network of non-human players –, and whether a difference in buying preferences may be found among single people and family units.
Keywords
human technology interaction, smart home, non-human players, survey
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.206
Citation
Vacanti, A.(2023) How smart is the Italian domestic environment? A quantitative study, in De Sainz Molestina, D., Galluzzo, L., Rizzo, F., Spallazzo, D. (eds.), IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design, 9-13 October, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.206
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
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How smart is the Italian domestic environment? A quantitative study
According to latest reports, the market for smart home products in Italy appears to be growing quicker than in other European countries. Continuous technological advances have lowered the price for entry products, allowing more families to acquire smart solutions. Meanwhile, after the pandemic situation of 2020, the importance of the domestic environment as a hybrid space where to conduct different activities that require smart and connected appliances has significantly grown. Ultimately, economic, and social instability has produced a higher awareness of energy consumption, bringing many users to question their lifestyle choices and look for smarter and greener solutions. The evolution of living conditions through the growth of smart technology in houses and apartments must be explored by interaction designers, to provide effective user experiences of smart artifacts, that need to seamlessly connect with one another and function together, within a complex, multimodal environment. Considering this, the paper presents the results of a quantitative study carried out at the end of 2021, through an online survey that was completed by 135 families. The data paint a picture of the network of interconnected products and appliances that cohabit the domestic environment together with human users and their animal companions. Through different analysis and visualizations, it is highlighted which rooms are “smarter”, how the ownership of a smart product leads to the acquisition of other products – thus building the network of non-human players –, and whether a difference in buying preferences may be found among single people and family units.