Author: Dr Leslie Haddon
School of Cultural and Community Studies
University of Sussex
Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QN
UK
In essence intelligent homes offer new ways of controlling appliances. This may be in the form of remote control from within or from outside the home or through enhanced programmability where several devices could operate in conjunction. An example would be where a system remembers previous patterns of appliance usage and can turn lights on and off, draw curtains and even turn TVs and radios on and off to convey the impression that somebody is home. Other examples include monitoring and controlling appliances via the phone, lights which are programmed to come on if intruders or smoke are detected, or washing machines which can start up when electricity tariffs are low.
In practice the option of remotely controlling and programming appliances have been achievable for some decades provided enough electronics and later computer power were utilised. But until the late 1970s, the high costs involved of such developments prohibited any commercial mass market product. Nevertheless, the availability of the technology spawned a range of demonstration houses over the last 25 years, both at exhibitions and as enthusiastic individuals, either computer experts or the wealthy, managed to wire up their homes to achieve the type of control now offered by home systems . Meanwhile, from the mid-1960s Governments such as British one have subsidised remote control products for the severely disabled where the high costs and inconvenience of wiring could be justified.
Innovation in control technology in general has involved slow incremental steps rather than major technical breakthroughs, and so over the years we have seen a number of products being developed and sold which offer some of the functionality of the current more sophisticated systems. For example, X-10 units using the electric mains as a medium for simple control of appliances have been deployed by hobbyists since the 1970s and microcomputers have enabled some enthusiasts to achieve elementary forms of control. In more mainstream markets, the infra-red remote controls for operating the television and later other equipment provided one early, and now ubiquitous, example of a control product. Timers have allowed us to pre-program cookers, VCRs and heating systems. Sensors for security and lighting products have appeared, for example, in the lights which come on when someone approaches a house. Thermostats are routinely used for temperature control.
In sum, if accepted by consumers intelligent homes could ultimately prove to be very profitable for a whole range of producers - including builders, telecom equipment suppliers and telecos and cable companies - who could offer services relating to the system. What is probably unique about the case of home systems is the sheer number and diversity of actors who have collaborated and negotiated to varying degrees and who have had to learn to deal with each other’s frame of reference and interests. Many of those interviewed in my own research certainly claimed that it was a beneficial learning experience and that it sometimes spurred inter-firm collaboration in other spheres. It might be interesting to follow up the question of whether this exposure to other perspectives influenced different firm’s perceptions of consumers or made them re-conceptualise what was possible and so to formulate new product configurations. But at the same time that enormous diversity has also sometimes led to conflicts of interest over matters such as design and standards, and it may have well have slowed some developments where so many interested parties had to be consulted - or won over.
Read the full paper
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/whosWho/LeslieHaddon/EMTELHA.pdf
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