Recently, households have begun to adopt networking technologies to interconnect devices within the home. Yet little is known about the consequences for households of setting up and living with these complex networks, nor the impact of such technologies on the routines of the home. In this paper, we report findings from an empirical study of households containing complex networks of computer and audio/visual technologies. Our study finds that home networks require significant household effort not just to coordinate their use, but also their set up and maintenance. We also show how the coordination around networking has to be worked into the routines of the home and the householders.

https://www.cc.gatech.edu/~keith/pubs/ecscw05-homenet.pdf

The work to make a home network work

Purpose – As innovative forms of information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as broadband internet are being adopted, the equitable distribution of ICTs has become an issue of concern. These apprehensions are being attributed to social exclusion that could arise due to the limited internet use among citizens with lower incomes or educational levels. This research aims to examine the impact of socio‐economic determinants, such as age, gender, education, income and occupation, on the adoption of broadband.Design/methodology/approach – A survey research approach was employed to achieve the overall aim of this research. The empirical data of the socio‐economic variables was collected employing a postal survey in the UK.Findings – The findings of this research suggest that in terms of broadband adoption, except for gender, all the other socio‐economic variables, including age, education, occupation and income, significantly helped to explain differences between the adopters and non‐adopters of broad...

Socio‐economic determinants of broadband adoption

Research on the adoption of mobile services in everyday life contexts have shown how important entertainment and self-expressiveness are to the users’ adoption of these services. However, as illustrated by the variables of the much applied TAM model, utilitarian motivations are still focused in ICT-adoption research. Mobile parking services may be used as a “crucial test” of the importance of utilitarian versus nonutilitarian motivations in the adoption of mobile services. In a field study, 459 trial users of mobile parking services were studied using a TAM model extended with the motivational influence of self-expressiveness. The results show that even if mobile parking services have been designed to meet the functional needs of the parking car driver, both the derived motivations of self-expressiveness and the extrinsic motivations of usefulness are important in explaining trial users’ adoption of these services.

https://domino.fov.uni-mb.si/proceedings.nsf/0/2e6a4fdaccbe501fc1256ea2002e0617/$FILE/50Peders.pdf

Usefulness and Self-Expressiveness: Extending TAM to Explain the Adoption of a Mobile Parking Service

Householders are increasingly adopting home networking as a solution to the demands created by the presence of multiple computers, devices, and the desire to access the Internet. However, current network solutions are derived from the world of work (and initially the military) and provide poor support for the needs of the home. We present the key findings to emerge from empirical studies of home networks in the UK and US. The studies reveal two key kinds of work that effective home networking relies upon: one, the technical work of setting up and maintaining the home network, and the other, the collaborative and socially organized work of the home which the network is embedded in and supports. The two are thoroughly intertwined and rely upon one another for their realization, yet neither is adequately supported by current networking technologies and applications. Explication of the “work to make the home network work” opens up the design space for the continued integration of the home network in domestic life and elaboration of future support. Key issues for development include the development of networking facilities that do not require advanced networking knowledge, that are flexible and support the local social order of the home and the evolution of its routines, and which ultimately make the home network visible and accountable to household members.

The ins and outs of home networking: The case for useful and usable domestic networking

This research paper reports an empirical investigation of the attitudinal and control factors influencing broadband adoption in private residences. The aim of this research was to identify the challenges in terms of demand that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) face when deploying broadband. The study was conducted using a mail survey on a total of 172 household consumers from the London borough of Hillingdon. The survey was based upon the Theory of Planned Behaviour, the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behaviour and the Model of Adoption of Technology in the Household. This research indicates that broadband adoption in the household is driven by relative advantages such as faster access, utility outcomes, such as the uses of broadband for work purposes, and hedonic outcomes such as to use of broadband for entertainment. The main factors for non-adopters were high costs and lack of needs. The eventual adoption of broadband by consumers is not only an industry concern, but a government aim as well. Therefore ...

Investigating Factors Influencing Adoption of Broadband in the Household

This paper reports analysis of a range of survey, interview and usage-log data on the level of use of broadband Internet by households in the UK and Europe. It discusses the (few) discernable differences between PSTN and broadband Internet users in mid 2001. The analysis suggests that, while there are few socio-economic and demographic differences, broadband users tend to use a wider range of applications, access them more frequently and for longer. However, because most broadband users have been, on average, users of the Internet for longer than PSTN users, these effects may be to do with their Internet competencies rather than the nature of broadband Internet itself. The paper also suggests that the interaction of speed, flat rate and 'always-on' is a key feature of broadband and a key value model to the user. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the usage patterns of these early adopters for current and future portal, application and service investment strategy.

Domesticating Broadband — What Consumers Really Do with Flat-Rate, Always-On and Fast Internet Access

This paper provides a summary of a research programme at BTexact Technologies which is aimed at helping a technology innovation company to ground its innovations, to see opportunities for the exploitation of its technologies, and to create socio-technical visions which can help to drive technological innovation itself. As a by-product, the programme has also created strategic knowledge that is of critical importance to public and private policy/decision makers alike. This research is a key part of BTexact Technologies' approach to the creation of and response to disruptive technologies. Understanding ‘usage by people’ is absolutely critical to figuring out what is disruptive about technologies, why this is so, and therefore how to make money out of them. Since this is critical to several of BTexact's core competencies (and to those of its customers), the value of the research reported here is self-evident both to BTexact and to its customers. Without it, they will only ever make money by accident, a strategy that shareholders do not seem to find amusing.

Digital Living — People-Centred Innovation and Strategy

The broadband revolution, or access to the Internet via high-speed connections, has been hailed as the future of the Internet. This chapter has provided a picture of the current 'state of play' in the domestication of broadband Internet access in Europe. It has done so by bringing together several different data sources, each of which provides a distinct but complementary view of what people do with broadband Internet. It has been seen that broadband Internet users differ only marginally from PSTN Internet users but that the differences may be commercially significant. This summary highlights the finding that broadband Internet users tend to be more experienced and technologically competent.

C. Gale

Papers

Domesticating Broadband — What Consumers Really Do with Flat-Rate, Always-On and Fast Internet Access

Digital Living — People-Centred Innovation and Strategy

Domesticating Broadband - What Really Matters to Consumers