A "smart" house can automate most electrical devices
in a home as well as control input devices (such as regulating
water flow in taps etc). In considering what to automate
it is important that the user is not encouraged to be dependent.
Systems should encourage independence whenever possible.
Automation for automation's sake is a bad idea. It is
best to consider how the person lives and what activities
they do before embarking on any designs. Ideally any system
should support and augment these activities. Systems
that are clumsily designed will change the way the user
lives their lives, by changing the routines and activity
patterns.
Systems
also need to be aesthetic, discrete, and blend into
the fabric of the home. Unfortunately, many devices look
ugly, space age perhaps, but ugly, when actually put in
a person's home. Therefore consider the best position for
ugly devices and attempt to hide them at all times without
impeding their effectiveness or operational capabilities.
Systems
are required to be dynamic, modifying to the changing needs
of the user. This means they also need to be reconfigurable,
so that the operation of a device is not static. They also
need to be upgradeable, in order to keep up with
current technologies and the latest protocol advancements.
They also need to be repairable. Systems that crash and
cannot be repaired for a considerable time are worse than
no system at all. A system that is down means that a user
is not able to live their life in the most appropriate manner,
this is like taking away a person's walking stick for a
considerable time. Clearly technology should be reliable
and dependable, working all the time, in the manner
it is supposed to work and in the manner the user expects
it to work.
This
leads to the point that a crucial part of the designers
brief is managing expectations. Often people have
little or no expectations of technology until it is explained
to them, and once this is done, their expectations become
unreal, wanting all the devices in the world and all
tasks to be automated. Clearly this is not practical
in most cases.
Managing expectations and clearly stating what the technology
will and will not do is essential.
