An exploratory study to design constrained engagement in smart heating systems

Smart heating systems that leverage complex models of user preferences and energy consumption within the home and the wider network in order to make intelligent heating decisions have started to be adopted in homes. While heating systems that allow the user to directly manipulate the heating schedule and temperature have been investigated in some detail, little is known about how to strike a balance between encouraging users to interact with the system but not to demand too much of their attention, what research has termed “constrained engagement” with calm technology. In this exploratory study, we investigated how participants responded to a number of scenarios involving a novel smart heating system in order to support controllability, intelligibility and user experience as part of a constrained engagement approach. We focused in particular on when participants wanted to engage with the smart heating system and how explanations from the system could influence user engagement. Our study contributes a better understanding of users' expectations towards smart heating systems that can form the basis of improved user interfaces.

Content

Author and article information

Contributors

Simonas Skrebe

Simone Stumpf

Conference

Publication date: July 2017

Publication date (Print): July 2017

Pages: 1-11

Affiliations

[0001]Centre for HCI Design, City, University of London

Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB

Article

DOI: 10.14236/ewic/HCI2017.47

SO-VID: 630615dc-fbd3-4770-8d28-6b446aed471c

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Conference name: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA 2017)

Conference acronym: EVA

Conference number:

Conference location: London, UK

Conference date: 11 – 13 July 2017

Conference sponsor: Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)

Conference theme: Electronic Visualisation and the Arts

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1477-9358 BCS Learning & Development

Self URI (article page): https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.14236/ewic/HCI2017.47

Self URI (journal page): https://ewic.bcs.org/

references

A.T. AlanM. ShannE. CostanzaS. RamchurnS. Seuken 2016 It is too hot: an in-situ study of three designs for heating. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM
A. AlanE. CostanzaJ. FischerS.D. RamchurnT. RoddenN.R. Jennings 2014 A field study of human-agent interaction for electricity tariff switching. In: Proceedings of the 2014 international conference on Autonomous agents and multi-agent systems. International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multi Agent Systems 965 972
V. BraunV. Clarke 2006 Using thematic analysis in psychology Qualitative research in psychology, 3 2 77 101
H. Cramer 2012 Personalized and autonomous are already everywhere; let's focus on awareness over trust Workshop on End-User Interactions with Intelligent and Autonomous Systems SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
E. CostanzaJ.E. FischerJ.A. ColleyT. RoddenS.D. RamchurnN.R. Jennings 2014 Doing the laundry with agents: a field trial of a future smart energy system in the home. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM 813 822
C.L. CorritoreB. KracherS. Wiedenbeck 2003 On-line trust: concepts, evolving themes, a model International Journal of HumanComputer Studies, 58 6 737 758
J.E. FischerRodden CrabtreeJ.A. T.,ColleyE. CostanzaM.O. JewellSarvapali D. Ramchurn 2016 "Just whack it on until it gets hot": Working with IoT Data in the Home. In: Proceedings of Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM 5933 5944
S. GregorI. Benbasat 1999 Explanations from intelligent systems: Theoretical foundations and implications for practice MIS Quarterly 497 530
K.A. HoffM. Bashir 2015 Trust in automation integrating empirical evidence on factors that influence trust Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 57 3 407 434
D. HollidayS. WilsonS. Stumpf 2016 User Trust in Intelligent Systems: A Journey Over Time. In: Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces. ACM 164 168
E. Horvitz 1999 Principles of mixed-initiative user interfaces. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM 159 166
KizilcecR.F How Much Information?: Effects of Transparency on Trust in an Algorithmic Interface 2016 Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM 2390 2395
T. KuleszaS. StumpfM. BurnettW.K. WongY. RicheT. MooreI. OberstA. ShinselK. McIntosh 2010 Explanatory debugging: Supporting end-user debugging of machine-learned programs Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and HumanCentric Computing IEEE 41 48
T. KuleszaS. StumpfM. BurnettI. Kwan 2012 Tell me more?: The effects of mental model soundness on personalizing an intelligent agent Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems ACM 1 10
T. KuleszaM. BurnettW.-K. WongS. Stumpf 2015 Principles of Explanatory Debugging to Personalize Interactive Machine Learning Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces ACM
J.D. LeeK.A. See 2004 Trust in automation: Designing for appropriate reliance Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 46 1 50 80
B.Y. LimA.K. DeyD. Avrahami 2009 Why and why not explanations improve the intelligibility of context-aware intelligent systems Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems ACM 2119 2128
R. ParasuramanV. Riley 1997 Humans and automation: Use, misuse, disuse, abuse Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39 2 230 253
R. ParasuramanT.B. SheridanC.D. Wickens 2000 A model for types and levels of human interaction with automation IEEE Transactions on systems, man, and cybernetics-Part A: Systems and Humans 30 3 286 297
J. PierceE. Paulos 2012 Beyond energy monitors: interaction, energy, and emerging energy systems Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems ACM 665 674
T.A. RoddenJ.E. FischerN. PantidiK. BachourS. Moran 2013 At home with agents: exploring attitudes towards future smart energy infrastructures Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems ACM 1173 1182
B. Shneiderman 2007 Human responsibility for autonomous agents Intelligent Systems, 22 2 IEEE 60 61
M. TohidiW. BuxtonR. BaeckerA. Sellen 2006 User sketches: a quick, inexpensive, and effective way to elicit more reflective user feedback Proceedings of the 4th Nordic conference on Human-computer interaction: changing roles ACM 105 114
Mark WeiserJ.S. Brown 1997 The coming age of calm technology Beyond calculation. New York Springer 75 85
R. YangM.W. Newman 2012 Living with an intelligent thermostat: advanced control for heating and cooling systems. Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Conference on Ubiquitous Computing ACM 1102 1107
R. YangM.W. Newman 2013 Learning from a learning thermostat: lessons for intelligent systems for the home Proceedings of the 2013 ACM international joint conference on Pervasive and ubiquitous computing ACM 93 102

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] A.T. AlanM. ShannE. CostanzaS. RamchurnS. Seuken 2016 It is too hot: an in-situ study of three designs for heating. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM

[2] A. AlanE. CostanzaJ. FischerS.D. RamchurnT. RoddenN.R. Jennings 2014 A field study of human-agent interaction for electricity tariff switching. In: Proceedings of the 2014 international conference on Autonomous agents and multi-agent systems. International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multi Agent Systems 965 972

[3] V. BraunV. Clarke 2006 Using thematic analysis in psychology Qualitative research in psychology, 3 2 77 101

[4] H. Cramer 2012 Personalized and autonomous are already everywhere; let's focus on awareness over trust Workshop on End-User Interactions with Intelligent and Autonomous Systems SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems

[5] E. CostanzaJ.E. FischerJ.A. ColleyT. RoddenS.D. RamchurnN.R. Jennings 2014 Doing the laundry with agents: a field trial of a future smart energy system in the home. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM 813 822

[6] C.L. CorritoreB. KracherS. Wiedenbeck 2003 On-line trust: concepts, evolving themes, a model International Journal of HumanComputer Studies, 58 6 737 758

[7] J.E. FischerRodden CrabtreeJ.A. T.,ColleyE. CostanzaM.O. JewellSarvapali D. Ramchurn 2016 "Just whack it on until it gets hot": Working with IoT Data in the Home. In: Proceedings of Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM 5933 5944

[8] S. GregorI. Benbasat 1999 Explanations from intelligent systems: Theoretical foundations and implications for practice MIS Quarterly 497 530

[9] K.A. HoffM. Bashir 2015 Trust in automation integrating empirical evidence on factors that influence trust Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society, 57 3 407 434

[10] D. HollidayS. WilsonS. Stumpf 2016 User Trust in Intelligent Systems: A Journey Over Time. In: Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces. ACM 164 168

[11] E. Horvitz 1999 Principles of mixed-initiative user interfaces. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM 159 166

[12] KizilcecR.F How Much Information?: Effects of Transparency on Trust in an Algorithmic Interface 2016 Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM 2390 2395

[13] T. KuleszaS. StumpfM. BurnettW.K. WongY. RicheT. MooreI. OberstA. ShinselK. McIntosh 2010 Explanatory debugging: Supporting end-user debugging of machine-learned programs Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Visual Languages and HumanCentric Computing IEEE 41 48

[14] T. KuleszaS. StumpfM. BurnettI. Kwan 2012 Tell me more?: The effects of mental model soundness on personalizing an intelligent agent Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems ACM 1 10

[15] T. KuleszaM. BurnettW.-K. WongS. Stumpf 2015 Principles of Explanatory Debugging to Personalize Interactive Machine Learning Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces ACM

[16] J.D. LeeK.A. See 2004 Trust in automation: Designing for appropriate reliance Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 46 1 50 80

[17] B.Y. LimA.K. DeyD. Avrahami 2009 Why and why not explanations improve the intelligibility of context-aware intelligent systems Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems ACM 2119 2128

[18] R. ParasuramanV. Riley 1997 Humans and automation: Use, misuse, disuse, abuse Human Factors: The Journal of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39 2 230 253

[19] R. ParasuramanT.B. SheridanC.D. Wickens 2000 A model for types and levels of human interaction with automation IEEE Transactions on systems, man, and cybernetics-Part A: Systems and Humans 30 3 286 297

[20] J. PierceE. Paulos 2012 Beyond energy monitors: interaction, energy, and emerging energy systems Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems ACM 665 674

[21] T.A. RoddenJ.E. FischerN. PantidiK. BachourS. Moran 2013 At home with agents: exploring attitudes towards future smart energy infrastructures Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems ACM 1173 1182

[22] B. Shneiderman 2007 Human responsibility for autonomous agents Intelligent Systems, 22 2 IEEE 60 61

[23] M. TohidiW. BuxtonR. BaeckerA. Sellen 2006 User sketches: a quick, inexpensive, and effective way to elicit more reflective user feedback Proceedings of the 4th Nordic conference on Human-computer interaction: changing roles ACM 105 114

[24] Mark WeiserJ.S. Brown 1997 The coming age of calm technology Beyond calculation. New York Springer 75 85

[25] R. YangM.W. Newman 2012 Living with an intelligent thermostat: advanced control for heating and cooling systems. Proceedings of the 2012 ACM Conference on Ubiquitous Computing ACM 1102 1107

[26] R. YangM.W. Newman 2013 Learning from a learning thermostat: lessons for intelligent systems for the home Proceedings of the 2013 ACM international joint conference on Pervasive and ubiquitous computing ACM 93 102

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