Who's Hogging the Bandwidth: The Consequences of Revealing the Invisible in the Home

TitleWho's Hogging the Bandwidth: The Consequences of Revealing the Invisible in the Home
Publication TypeConference Papers
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsChetty M, Banks R, Harper R, Regan T, Sellen A, Gkantsidis C, Karagiannis T, Key P
Conference NameSIGCHI '10
Date Published2010///
PublisherACM
ISBN Number978-1-60558-929-9
Keywordsbandwidth monitoring, home broadband, home networks
Abstract

As more technologies enter the home, householders are burdened with the task of digital housekeeping-managing and sharing digital resources like bandwidth. In response to this, we created and evaluated a domestic tool for bandwidth management called Home Watcher. Our field trial showed that when resource contention amongst different household members is made visible, people's understanding of bandwidth changes and household politics are revealed. In this paper, we describe the consequences of showing real time resource usage in a home, and how this varies depending on the social make up of the household.

URLhttp://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1753326.1753423