Hello All,

I have three responses to the "IoT House" idea, which range from the
skeptical to the fully engaged... Take your choice!

(1) I have sympathy with Jean-Noël's instinct that the IoT House could
be an intrusive environment that respects neither privacy, resource
consumption, nor biological processes. We should remain critical while
we investigate.

(2) The idea of an IoT House misses the key feature of IoT - which is
its connecting, communicating nature. Doesn't drawing a boundary at
"house" miss the point fundamentally? Perhaps a better way to examine a
"slice" of IoT would be not a physical location, but a "day in the life"
of IoT.

This would show how "the house" is no longer isolated from the
supermarket, the media conglomorate, the electricity supplier, the waste
disposal system. This perspective would show how patterns of behaviour
change - maybe our IoT "day-in-the-lifer" would neither work from home,
NOR from the office - but use third spaces to meet and interact. Or
would they tend not to move from their office chair? How would they
work, communicate, shop, travel?

Would IoT impact on their habits and behaviours? (Note how the cellphone
has changed social behaviour - now people are less willing to arrange
and commit to social gatherings, and are more happy to drift unplanned
through social time in the urban space. And even when their body is
physically present, sometimes their attention is elsewhere).

(3) I have a suggestion for the IoT House - how about abandoning 220
volt (or 110 volt) electricity supply altogether and replace all power
outlets with 5 volt USB outlets in the walls? With new power-saving
technologies, 5 volts should be enough for anyone! (And for hotels, of
course, there is the appealing opportunity to surveil attached devices.)
This could be an interesting design challenge for energetic home
appliances - maybe they could be powered by other systems.

Best regards,

James

P.S. Interesting that we're referring to an IoT "house" rather than an
IoT "home". Does this reflect a suspicion that we associate IoT with
impersonal structures (houses), not welcoming, friendly, safe, private
spaces (homes)?
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