Home Automation

Abstract

Like energy, home automation technologies have an ambiguous status in everyday practice. They are not, in themselves, a material technology, but rather a device or capability that attaches itself to other technologies, such as air-conditioners, pool pumps, washing machines and thermostats. They are characterised by their invisibility and immateriality, where they are intended to passively and silently operate in the background of everyday life. However, automation technologies can have highly visible effects, bringing new meanings, materialities and skills to everyday practices, and enabling their movement in time and space. In this chapter I put energy to one side, and focus on the ‘work’ intended for these innocuous devices, the visions of control they seek to embody, and the ways in which they are integrated into, or rejected from, everyday practice.