Putting the gender back in digital housekeeping

Rode, Jennifer A.; Poole, Erika Shehan

doi:10.1145/3196839.3196845

Cited by 40 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…However, this resulted in the robot "banging on the door because it's charged itself and it's ready to go back to work." In this and other ways, participants described the need to undertake additional 'digital housekeeping' [65,77,81] to supervise the robotic vacuum, despite the associated reduction in physical labor required to clean foors. Ken explained the work involved as follows:…”

Section: Vacuumingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Isn't this Marvelous”

Strengers

Duque

Mortimer

et al. 2022

Designing Interactive Systems Conference

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HCI research involving older adults has typically focused on improving technology skills, mobility and health outcomes. Technology for positive ageing emphasizing creativity, inquisitiveness and resourcefulness is less commonly explored. This article builds on this research to contribute an understanding of the importance of curiosity, play and experimentation in supporting positive wellbeing outcomes for older adults living with smart home devices. The research was conducted in regional Australia by an aged care provider and two universities. Twenty-three households participated in the interdisciplinary in-home ethnographic and technological smart device trial that included voice assistants, robotic vacuums, smart kettles and smart lights. The article discusses routines and interactions involving these devices, which resulted in wellbeing outcomes that built participants' digital living skills. These fndings inform concluding recommendations about how to design smart home devices, aged care programs and services involving emerging technologies, to support positive ageing.

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Section: Vacuumingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Isn't this Marvelous”

Strengers

Duque

Mortimer

et al. 2022

Designing Interactive Systems Conference

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show abstract

“…Gibson and colleagues have used the concept of bricolage to account for the ways in which people use non-conventional tools or methods to adapt old and new technologies to their own everyday health needs and preferences (Gibson et al, 2013). Beyond healthcare, studies of smart home technologies originating from the social sciences and HCI emphasise how people seek ‘small conveniences’ (Strengers et al, 2019), ‘aesthetic pleasures’ (Strengers and Nicholls, 2018), greater control over their routines and lives (Hargreaves and Wilson, 2017), a more modern lifestyle (Mennicken and Huang, 2012), experimentation, tinkering and ‘hacking’ opportunities (Mennicken and Huang, 2012; Rode and Poole, 2018; Strengers and Nicholls, 2018) or ‘protection, productivity and pleasure’ (Strengers et al, 2019).…”

Section: Approaching Older People and Smart Home Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automation, wellbeing and Digital Voice Assistants: Older people and Google devices

Duque

Pink

Strengers

et al. 2021

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Med

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Digital Voice Assistants (DVAs) like Google Home provide automated news, media and other content directly into the home. In this article, we outline how Google Home’s content delivery can support the wellbeing and independence of older people. We argue that automated media provided by DVAs enrols older people in a dialectic relationship with the automated content and feminised conversation they deliver, uniquely performed within people’s own everyday life circumstances. We demonstrate this by drawing on ethnographic insights generated during a trial of smart home technologies with older Australian households who are ‘ageing in place’ in regional New South Wales. For most participants, the trial was their first encounter with DVAs and the modes of media and content delivery including for music, news, weather, trivia, jokes, facts and images. While DVAs bring new experiences via content, communication and companionship, they are also subverted, ignored or transformed as people improvise to make them ‘fit’ within their homes and lives. These dynamics underpin how DVAs, automated content delivery and user’s interactions can support people’s sense of wellness and their independent daily practices at home.

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“…From the perspective of the design process, Tolmie et al (2007) argue that digital housekeeping is the ‘work to make the home network work’. Rode and Poole (2018) argue that generally, studies on technology maintenance practices in the household do not consider the role of gender. However, the examples of scholarship that consider gendered dimensions emphasise how the labour associated with digital technologies can be a form of expertise that is unevenly distributed in the home.…”

Section: ‘Digital Housekeeping’ and Gendered Divisions Of Labourmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered and generational dynamics of domestic automations

Sinanan

Horst

2021

Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Med

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Automation in the home is often presented as a value neutral process which makes life easier, more efficient and more productive. As recent research on the introduction of domestic technologies has revealed, these technologies are rarely value neutral and often work to reinforce gender dynamics in the household. This article examines the gendered and generational dimensions of how smart and automated technologies are being integrated into homes. Drawing upon 3 years research conducted between 2015 and 2017 in 11 households in Melbourne, Australia, we examine how households manage the storing and transfer of digital material and digital devices (images, videos and files from smartphones, tablets and laptops). Digital materials move within households and between different family members, and these processes are governed by often unstated rules, including changes in the life course. By examining the relationships between gendered and generational roles and automation in the household, we highlight the importance of smaller scale interpersonal relationships, which influences the negotiation of automation in emotionally laden contexts of families. Automated decision making may both support and challenge gendered norms around technology ownership and management.

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Putting the gender back in digital housekeeping

Cited by 40 publications

References 43 publications

“Isn't this Marvelous”

“Isn't this Marvelous”

Automation, wellbeing and Digital Voice Assistants: Older people and Google devices

Gendered and generational dynamics of domestic automations

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