A Programming-By-Example Approach To Customising Digital Homes

… Systems published as …, 2006

Today netwo rked appliances and controllers are being incorporated into domestic environments via standards such as X10, Lonworks and IP. However, the future promises to revolutionise home technology by introducing distributed computing systems enabling non-technical home users to create their own virtual appliances and applications where appliance functionality can be shared. The future of do-it-yourself (DIY) home decoration may lie more in 'electronics and computing' than 'paint and wallpaper'. At the heart of this vision is the need for lay home users to be able to configure, program and command pervasive technolo gy for personal ends. In this chapter we describe three approaches to this challenge based on Task-Computing, Pervasive Interactive Programming (PiP) and theoretical work on combining, formalising and visualising these processes. In addition we report on user evaluations that demonstrate that non-expert home users find these methods to be simple, enjoyable and useful.

One of the striking aspects of world-wide-web is how it has empowered ordinary non-technical people to participate in a digital revolution by transforming the way services such as shopping, education and entertainment are offered and consumed. The proliferation of networked appliances, sensors and actuators, such as those found in digital homes heralds a similar ‘sea change’ in the capabilities of ordinary people to customise and utilise the electronic spaces they inhabit. By coordinating the actions of networked devices or services, it is possible for the environment to behave in a holistic and reactive manner to satisfy the occupants needs; creating an intelligent environment. Further, by deconstructing traditional home appliances into sets of more elemental network accessible services, it is possible to reconstruct either the original appliance or to create new user defined appliances by combining basic network services in novel ways; creating a so called virtual appliance. This principle can be extended to decompose and recompose software applications allowing users to create their own bespoke applications. Collectively, such user created entities are referred to as Meta – appliances or –applications, more generally abbreviated to MAps. Deconstruction and user customized MAps raise exciting possibilities for occupants of future intelligent environments, and sets significant research challenges [Chin 09]. For example, how can MAps be constructed and managed by ordinary non-expert home occupants? At one extreme it is possible to use artificial intelligence (AI) techniques and equipment, such as autonomous intelligent agents. These monitor an occupants habitual behaviour, modelling their behaviours, and creating rule-based profiles (self programming) so they can preemptively set the environment to what they anticipate the user would like [Augusto 06]. However, some people have privacy concerns about what is being recorded, when it is being recorded and to whom (or what) any information is communicated. These concerns are particularly acute with autonomous agents, in which people have little direct control. Such matters are especially sensitive when the technology is used in the private space of someone’s home. Frequently, endusers are given very little choice in setting-up digital home technology and are obliged to accept whatever is offered [Callaghan et-al 08]. Apart from the issues of privacy and trust, we argue that creativity is an essential and distinctive human quality, and that many people would enjoy the process of creating their own novel networked appliances and personalising their ’electronic spaces’, providing they can be shielded from unnecessary technical complexity. This has parallels to the common practice of people decorating their own homes with paintings, walls hangings, pictures, colour schemes and furniture. This rationale has led many researchers to investigate what is termed ‘end-user programming’, a methodology aimed at allowing non-technical people to personalise their own digital spaces with network enabled embedded-computer based devices. Historically, programming has only been accessible to well-qualified professionals, such as computer scientists, or the outcome of self-programming (learning) using autonomous intelligent agents. The challenge for achieving an end-user programming vision is to devise programming methodologies that are usable by non-technical people. In this chapter we begin by reviewing current research into end-user programming systems, especially those for the home. We describe approaches that range from transposing conventional programming constructs into graphical or physical iconic objects, to those that adopt radically new programming metaphors. By way of an example of these new approaches, we describe a novel end-user programming approach developed at the University of Essex called Pervasiveinteractive- Programming (PiP) (UK patent No. GB0523246.7) and a service coordination model known as Meta-Appliances/Applications (MAps). We report on an evaluation of user experiences using PiP in a digital home, the University of Essex iSpace. We conclude this chapter by reflecting on the main findings of our work.

Our homes are rapidly being filled with diverse types of products ranging from simple lighting systems to sophisticated entertainment systems, all adding to the functionality and convenience available to the home user. In this paper we introduce a variant of end-user programming in the form of a toolcalled PiP that empowers non technical end users to be able to “program” the functionality of their personal pervasive computing environments to suit their particular needs. The paper also includes a user evaluation that shows end-users find this approach to be a useable and enjoyable experience.

2004

This paper presents the development of a lightweight component model that allows user to manage the introduction and arrangement of new interactive services and devices in the home. Interaction techniques developed through userparticipation enable household members -rather than designers -to configure and reconfigure interactive devices and services to meet local needs. As part of this we have developed a tablet-based editor that discovers available ubiquitous components and presents these to users as jigsaw pieces that can be dynamically recombined. We conclude by considering the broad implications for the design of interactive domestic environments suggested by our approach.

In this paper we introduce a vision for a new type of domestic appliance, a soft-appliance, constructed from aggregations of elementary network services. The vision is based on the possibility of ‘deconstructing’, logically, conventional home appliances such as TVs into their elemental functions which may then be combined in novel ways with other deconstructed services to generate soft-appliance of a person’s own choosing. Additionally our aim is to describe the computer science challenges involved in fulfilling this vision. An essential component of this vision is a concept called a MAp (metaappliance/ application); a semantic data template that describes the soft or virtual-appliance that can be instantiated by manufacturers and end-users in a way that redefines the nature of an appliance and which can be created, owned and traded. We also present a socio-technical framework to motivate the discussion of this research agenda, especially the use of the agent technology that would be needed to realise this vision.