Digital complexity in the home: new departures in understanding user experiences?

In the transition towards living environments that are permeated with integrated computing technologies, there will be greater emphasis on understanding how individuals make sense of and manage multiple technologies and rapid change in their everyday lives. This paper describes a small scale feasibility study that looked at user perceptions of introducing the latest internet based telephony services alongside standard PSTN in the home. The study was carried out with multiple sets of participants in a fully equipped living space designed as a flexible test bed for new home technologies. It provided an opportunity to explore and adapt a theoretical perspective called Dervin´s Sense- Making [2] in order to shed light on user experiences. Example findings are given and the potential value of both the test environment and the Sense-Making approach are discussed and conclusions drawn.