Thesis Summary This thesis' primary concern is that of human interaction with entertainment, information and communication technology in the home. Its aim is to explore the situated realities of living with so-called ubiquitous computing technology through the study of an equivalent form of technology - entertainment, information and communication technologies. The thesis explores what entertainment, information and communication technologies are found in the home, how they get there and how they are incorporated into everyday life. The thesis takes an historical and theoretical look at the emergence of the ubiquitous computing paradigm and the growing interest in designing entertainment, information and communication technologies for the home. Through an in-depth qualitative study of five households in the UK conducted during a period of significant life-change, the thesis explores the ad-hoc nature of contemporary home ubiquitous computing environments. Using the conceptual framework of domestication theory as its starting point, the study analyzes the moral, economic, social, material and practical dimensions to owning, using and maintaining an ad-hoc entertainment, information and communication environment using specific empirical examples drawn from ethnographic data. Such an account of technology in the home provides for a necessary and contemporary view of living with ubicomp in the 21 st Century in the UK, a perspective that reveals just how involving (practically, financially and emotionally) living with technologies can actually be. As consumer interest in computing devices for gaming, communicating and information- gathering grows, ubiquitous computing visions articulated in research labs have been slow to understand the generative nature of home technology environments. The thesis provides not only empirical insights that have implications for the design of new ubiquitous computing devices and infrastructures for the home but also argues that a sociological study of the everyday realities of living with technology can provide the . field of ubiquitous computing research with the heuristic tools by which it can understand the everyday 'messiness' of technology appropriation, incorporation and use.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:555949 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Ely, Philip |
| Publisher | University of Surrey |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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