Rules of (household) engagement: technology as manager, assistant and intern

PurposePractitioners need to understand how households will engage with connected-home technologies or risk the failure of these innovations. Current theory does not offer sufficient explanation for how households will engage; hence, this paper aims to address an important gap by examining how households set “rules of engagement” for connected-home technologies in the context of electricity use and monitoring.Design/methodology/approachA review of the extant psychology, technology and engagement literature is conducted and yields two research questions for exploration. The research questions are addressed via 43 in-depth household interviews. Analysis includes thematic analysis and computerized text analysis.FindingsThe results include a typology of technology engagement (the “PIP typology”) and discuss three main roles for technology in assisting households: intern, assistant and manager. Key contributions are as follows: consumers in household settings may experience “compromised engagement” where the perceived middle option is selected even if no-one selected that option originally; households open to using connected-home technologies are often taking advantage of their ability to “delegate” engagement to technology, and because consumers humanize technology, they also expect technology to follow social roles and boundaries.Research limitations/implicationsFuture research may examine the PIP typology quantitatively and/or in different contexts and would benefit from a longitudinal study to examine how household technology engagement evolves. Four research propositions are provided, which may form the basis for future research.Practical implicationsRecommendations for practitioners are presented regarding the benefits of keeping consumers at the heart of connected-home technology goods and services. Specific design principles are provided.Originality/valueThis paper fulfills the need to understand how households will engage with connected-home technologies and the roles this technology may fulfill in the complex household service system.

More work for Brazilian mother: abrasileiramento da obra de Ruth Cowan

O presente trabalho visa realizar uma breve releitura de um capítulo da obra de Ruth Cowan, intitulado: “More work for mother: the ironies of household technology from the open hearth to the microwave”. Tendo como base de análise os mesmos sistemas tecnológicos utilizados por Cowan para demonstrar que o trabalho doméstico não foi facilitado pela tecnologia, objetivamos demonstrar como tal argumentação se daria caso levado em consideração a realidade brasileira, principalmente da mulher de classes mais baixas, criadas/domésticas das famílias da elite. Sob uma ótica pós-colonial, discutiremos brevemente o arranjo da família brasileira na virada do século XIX para o XX e analisaremos a inserção dos seguintes sistemas tecnológicos: alimentação, vestuário, assistência médica, transporte, água e energia, e seu reflexo no trabalho feminino, buscando dar ênfase no trabalho das criadas/domésticas. Concluímos primeiramente que, assim como nos EUA de Cowan, o trabalho feminino no Brasil não foi extinto ou facilitado com o surgimento dos novos sistemas tecnológicos, interpretação comumente feita, mas sim reorganizado; e que a desigualdade social, presente historicamente no Brasil, não só colabora com essa reorganização, variando com a posição social da mulher, como intensifica o trabalho para as mulheres de classes mais baixas.

More work for Brazilian mother: abrasileiramento da obra de Ruth Cowan

O presente trabalho visa realizar uma breve releitura de um capítulo da obra de Ruth Cowan, intitulado: “More work for mother: the ironies of household technology from the open hearth to the microwave”. Tendo como base de análise os mesmos sistemas tecnológicos utilizados por Cowan para demonstrar que o trabalho doméstico não foi facilitado pela tecnologia, objetivamos demonstrar como tal argumentação se daria caso levado em consideração a realidade brasileira, principalmente da mulher de classes mais baixas, criadas/domésticas das famílias da elite. Sob uma ótica pós-colonial, discutiremos brevemente o arranjo da família brasileira na virada do século XIX para o XX e analisaremos a inserção dos seguintes sistemas tecnológicos: alimentação, vestuário, assistência médica, transporte, água e energia, e seu reflexo no trabalho feminino, buscando dar ênfase no trabalho das criadas/domésticas. Concluímos primeiramente que, assim como nos EUA de Cowan, o trabalho feminino no Brasil não foi extinto ou facilitado com o surgimento dos novos sistemas tecnológicos, interpretação comumente feita, mas sim reorganizado; e que a desigualdade social, presente historicamente no Brasil, não só colabora com essa reorganização, variando com a posição social da mulher, como intensifica o trabalho para as mulheres de classes mais baixas.

Young children’s perceptions of ubiquitous computing and the Internet of Things

Ubiquitous computing (ubicomp) and the Internet of things (IoT) are turning into everyday household technology at an ever‐increasing pace, for example, in the form of connected toys. However, while ubicomp and IoT are changing and shaping children’s digital and technological landscape, not much is known about how children perceive these omnipresent and concealed forms of digital technology. This qualitatively oriented paper explores 3‐ to 6‐year‐old Finnish children’s perceptions of ubicomp and IoT via interviews and a design task. Initially, the children were skeptical toward the idea that tangible objects, such as toys, could be computer and/or Internet enabled. However, these perceptions were subject to change when children were introduced to a scientific conception of what computers and the Internet are and asked to apply their knowledge to a technological design task. Implications for early years digital literacy education are discussed in the paper.

Diet Quality of Farm and Nonfarm Households in the First Half of the Twentieth Century: The Roles of Technological Change and Women’s Work

ABSTRACTIn recent decades, dramatic increases in Americans’ obesity rates have led some nutrition activists to call for a return to the dietary norms of earlier times when homemakers spent more time in meal preparation. Using archival data from unique survey records gathered in Upstate New York in 1936 and 1952, we provide descriptive information on the quality of the diets using measures of the variety of foods served and a modified version of U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Healthy Eating Index. Our multivariate analyses focus in on the relationships between diet quality and sociodemographics, homemakers’ time use, and household technology. We conclude that the typical Upstate New York diet of the 1930s was not of high quality, but improvements had occurred by the early 1950s. Our multivariate analyses reveal that access to modern kitchen technology had a strong, positive association with diet quality while homemakers’ time devoted to food-related activities was only weakly linked.