Peekaboo Cam:

Studying Transition of Home Ecologies

2018-now "Awareness of Things" Project

Design Research, Tu/Eindhoven, NL

Research Team: Yu-Ting Cheng, Mathias Funk, Rung-Huei Liang, Lin-Lin Chen

“What would happen?

If every human being on earth disappeared?

This isn’t the story of how we might vanish.

It is the story of what happens to the world we leave behind.”

(Life After People, 2008)

#1 PeekabooCam: Designing an Observational Camera for Home Ecologies Concerning Privacy

Abstract

The home is a rich context for design research to study things and the Everyday. However, home is also a place of utmost privacy for most people. To better understand this context through an observational artefact without impacting privacy, we designed the Peekaboo cam that enables inhabitants to control their data release actively or passively. The Peekaboo cam is an observational research camera with a coverable lens. We validate in a field study in two homes for 14 days. The resulting photo streams provide qualitative insights on Everyday things in transition. We suggest four design guidelines for observational artefacts for home ecologies.

2019. Pictorial. DIS conference

Author Version PDF