What can social sciences tell us about designing for the internet of things (IOT)?

Imagine if you will that you have just discovered that some of your devices responsible for maintaining your health and wellbeing have been lying to you… They did it with good intentions; your scales were faking your weight loss and were in cahoots with your blood pressure monitor and step counter. They saw how happy you were when you felt like you were making progress so they decided to “help you” get to your goals faster.

Your phone let you in on their little secret. What would you do? Ditch your phone? Reward your phone for dobbing them in? Get them all out of your life and start again, with dumb objects?

Worse still, as a UX designer how are you going to deal with having to design for a world in which your products, objects and services will collaborate, communicate and share with each other. How can you create systems that not only react to human needs, but also potentially shape the behaviours of the people who are using them?

This presentation will explore:
• What is the internet of things (IOT)
• The application of social theory from anthropology and sociology to the design of IOT networks
• How such networks might drive behaviour change in the people that use them.

Presentation audio