Is My Home Smart or Just Connected?

Abstract

The smart home market will approach 40 billion USD (United States dollars) by 2020 and household penetration to reach 47.40% in 2023. Experts say that we will move from turning lights on and off by giving a voice assistant commands to a smart home that collects, analyzes and acts upon information, turning our smart devices into intelligent homes. As homes become more intelligent with the use of artificial intelligence (AI), will the inhabitants understand what that might mean and what makes a device or home smart? Between February and June of 2019, we conducted semi-structured interviews of 40 smart home consumers to understand their perceptions of smart homes. During the interview we asked them what the Internet of Things (IoT) meant, what makes a smart device, what makes a smart home. Overall, participants were unfamiliar with the term IoT. We coded the responses with major codes. Reasons that participants said made devices smart: they were connected to the internet, were programmable, and had some type of learning component (e.g., natural language processing, machine learning, learn over time). Participants said the following made homes smart: have smart devices, connected, made life easier, were programmable and they could control devices in the home. Only a few participants included learning into their descriptions of smart homes. As smart devices and smart homes mature into an intelligent home driven by artificial intelligence, it is critical for consumers to understand the implications of use.

Appendix A Usability of IoT Interview Questions

SECTION A: Terminology

You may have heard the term “internet of things,” or IoT for short. Can you talk a little about what you think the internet of things is?

What about devices makes them “smart?”

What does it mean to have a smart home?

What do you think is the relationship between internet of things and “smart” devices?

SECTION B: Purchase and General Use

For people with more than one smart device in their household:

You indicated that you have more than one smart home device. When answering the interview questions, please talk about your overall or general experiences with your devices. So, there’s no need to answer a question separately for every device you own. However, if you had any particularly notable or different experiences with specific devices, please do mention those.

For Decision-makers:

Why did you decide to purchase the smart home devices?

[If participant doesn’t mention sources of information:]

In general, how did you learn about the devices before you bought them?

What hesitations, if any, did you have about getting the devices?

For Everyone:

How do you use your smart home devices?

How do you access the devices – remotely with an app, while physically in the home, or both?

How do others in your household use the smart home devices?

• If you happen to know, how do they access the devices – remotely, while physically in the home, or both?

What do you like most about the devices?

• What are the benefits, if any, of having these devices?

What do you like least or dislike about the devices?

How have your opinions or expectations of the devices changed, if at all, from the time you first used them until now?

In what ways, if any, have you changed your behaviors because of your smart home devices?

• Positive behavior changes? Negative behavior changes?

• In what ways, if any, have you become reliant on your smart home devices?

What concerns, if any, do you have about the devices?

• [Depending on whether they access the devices remotely or physically:]

How might the concerns be different depending on how you access the device, for example if you access it remotely through a mobile app or if you have to be physically present to access the device?

What do the other members of your household think about the smart home devices?

Have you had visitors to the home who have had to use the smart home devices?

• [If yes:] How did they use the devices?

• What did they think?

What smart home devices, if any, have you had in the past, but are no longer using?

• What are the reasons for no longer using this device?

What devices would you like to get in the future? Why?

SECTION C: Installation and Troubleshooting

Who installed the smart home devices?

Who administers (configures or maintains) the smart home devices?

For Installers:

In general, what was your experience with the installation of the devices?

• What went well?

• What didn’t go as well?

• How did you determine that the installation was successfully completed?

• Have you ever had to reinstall a device? If so, what were the reasons for the reinstallation?

[If have more than one device:] What has been your experience adding additional devices to the home?

For DIYers:

In the screening questionnaire you indicated that you build your own smart home devices or platforms or that you create custom extensions for your devices.

Can you tell me more about what you’ve done?

For Administrators:

What configuration changes, if any, have you made to the devices since installation?

• [If participant makes configuration changes:] How often do you make changes?

Let’s now talk about manufacturer updates to your devices. These could be updates that fix known issues or updates to the next version of software or firmware. How do you know that updates are available or needed?

• How are updates done on your device - automatically or do you have to initiate them?

[If manual initiation:]

• How often do you check for updates?

• How do you decide whether to update or not update?

What things, if any, would you like to be able to do with the devices, but haven’t? Why?

For Everyone:

How do you try to figure out how to do something with your devices?

• What sources do you consult or use?

What kinds of problems, if any, have you encountered while using your smart home devices?

• How did you go about trying to resolve those problems?

SECTION D: Privacy

What type of information, if any, do you think the devices are collecting?

How do you know that? [If not sure how to answer:] For example, are you making an educated guess based on past experiences, did you read a privacy policy for the device, or did you read about this somewhere?

[Skip rest of questions in this section if the participant thinks the devices don’t collect any information.]

Where do you think that information goes?

Which of this information, if any, would you consider to be personal?

What are your concerns, if any, about how information is collected, stored, and used?

• In what ways, if any, have you acted to minimize or alleviate some of those concerns?

• What kinds of actions would you like to be able to take to address your concerns, but haven’t, don’t know how, or are not sure that you can?

What are your concerns, if any, about who can see your information or monitor your usage patterns with the devices? [if YES ask for clarification: for example, employees of companies/manufacturers, other household members, hackers].

In what ways, if any, does your device or the device manufacturer provide a means to control or manage what information is collected and how it is shared?

Who do you think is responsible for protecting the privacy of information collected by your smart home device?

• What are the reasons you think they are responsible?

SECTION E: Security

For this next set of questions, when I am talking about security, I don’t mean physical security like someone breaking into your home. Rather, I’m referring to how the devices protect your information from people who might try to access your devices without your permission or even someone in your household who might do something purposefully or accidentally.

What are your concerns, if any, about the security of your devices?

• In what ways, if any, have you acted to minimize or alleviate some of those concerns?

• What kinds of actions would you like to be able to take to address your concerns, but haven’t, don’t know how, or are not sure that you can?

Who do you think is responsible for the security of your smart home devices? Why?

What restrictions, if any, are placed on who in your household can use the devices and what they can do?

How do you authenticate to or get into any apps associated with the device? [If not sure how to answer:] for example, password, PIN, fingerprint, face recognition.

• What issues or problems, if any, have you experienced with authentication?

Does more than one person in your household use an app to access the same device?

• What concerns, if any, do you have with multiple people having access to the app?

• Does more than one person use the same account and authentication (like a pass word or PIN) to access the app?

  • [If yes:] What concerns, if any, do you have with sharing the same account and authentication information?

SECTION F: SAFETY

For the next two questions, when I talk about safety, I’m referring to the physical safety and well-being of the people and items in your household.

In what ways, if any, do you think the devices contribute to safety?

In what ways, if any, do you think the devices might pose a safety risk?

SECTION G: Conclusion

Is there anything else you’d like to add related to anything we’ve talked about?