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Co-designing Community-based Sharing of Smarthome Devices for the Purpose of Co-monitoring In-home Emergencies

Leena Alghamdi, Mamtaj Akter, Jess Kropczynski, Pamela Wisniewski, Heather Lipford

TL;DR

The paper investigates whether trusted emergency contacts outside the home can co-monitor smarthome devices to improve in-home emergency responses. Using 26 co-design interviews with 50 device owners, it reveals significant perceived benefits in safety, rapid response, and threat verification, alongside major privacy and security concerns. The study derives design guidelines emphasizing granular, time- and device-specific access, transparent activity logs, noticeable emergency notifications, and safeguards against misuse, aiming to enable collaborative monitoring while protecting owners' privacy. It highlights the need for trauma-informed considerations and cautions that real-world deployment will require careful balancing of safety benefits with privacy/security risks as smarthome ecosystems expand.

Abstract

We conducted 26 co-design interviews with 50 smarthome device owners to understand the perceived benefits, drawbacks, and design considerations for developing a smarthome system that facilitates co-monitoring with emergency contacts who live outside of one's home. Participants felt that such a system would help ensure their personal safety, safeguard from material loss, and give them peace of mind by ensuring quick response and verifying potential threats. However, they also expressed concerns regarding privacy, overburdening others, and other potential threats, such as unauthorized access and security breaches. To alleviate these concerns, participants designed for flexible and granular access control and fail-safe back-up features. Our study reveals why peer-based co-monitoring of smarthomes for emergencies may be beneficial but also difficult to implement. Based on the insights gained from our study, we provide recommendations for designing technologies that facilitate such co-monitoring while mitigating its risks.

Co-designing Community-based Sharing of Smarthome Devices for the Purpose of Co-monitoring In-home Emergencies

TL;DR

The paper investigates whether trusted emergency contacts outside the home can co-monitor smarthome devices to improve in-home emergency responses. Using 26 co-design interviews with 50 device owners, it reveals significant perceived benefits in safety, rapid response, and threat verification, alongside major privacy and security concerns. The study derives design guidelines emphasizing granular, time- and device-specific access, transparent activity logs, noticeable emergency notifications, and safeguards against misuse, aiming to enable collaborative monitoring while protecting owners' privacy. It highlights the need for trauma-informed considerations and cautions that real-world deployment will require careful balancing of safety benefits with privacy/security risks as smarthome ecosystems expand.

Abstract

We conducted 26 co-design interviews with 50 smarthome device owners to understand the perceived benefits, drawbacks, and design considerations for developing a smarthome system that facilitates co-monitoring with emergency contacts who live outside of one's home. Participants felt that such a system would help ensure their personal safety, safeguard from material loss, and give them peace of mind by ensuring quick response and verifying potential threats. However, they also expressed concerns regarding privacy, overburdening others, and other potential threats, such as unauthorized access and security breaches. To alleviate these concerns, participants designed for flexible and granular access control and fail-safe back-up features. Our study reveals why peer-based co-monitoring of smarthomes for emergencies may be beneficial but also difficult to implement. Based on the insights gained from our study, we provide recommendations for designing technologies that facilitate such co-monitoring while mitigating its risks.
Paper Structure (34 sections, 5 figures, 2 tables)

This paper contains 34 sections, 5 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Background
  3. Benefits and challenges of using smarthome systems for emergency monitoring
  4. Smarthome systems access controls
  5. Sharing smarthome devices beyond the home for emergency monitoring
  6. Methods
  7. Participants and recruitment
  8. Study Procedure
  9. Initial interviews
  10. Hypothetical scenarios
  11. Co-design session
  12. Data analysis approach
  13. Results
  14. Potential motivations and benefits of sharing smarthome devices for in-home emergency co-monitoring (RQ1)
  15. Provides a sense of safety and security
  16. ...and 19 more sections

Figures (5)

  • Figure 1: Smarthome sharing features for emergencies: (a) Set a Time Access designed by Pair G21, (b) Specific Device Access for Specific People designed by Pair G1, and (c) Revoke Access feature designed by Pair G4
  • Figure 2: Security features for smarthome sharing in emergencies: (a) Users' Locations designed by Pair G13, (b) Active Users Status designed by Pair G21, and (c) Change Confirmation designed by Pair G17
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