The usability problem for home appliances: engineers caused it, engineers can fix it!

Abstract

Ordinary people already have great difficulty using the advanced features of digitally enabled household appliances, and the problem grows worse with time as more customization and programming features are added. This usability problem cannot be solved using the tiny displays and limited control buttons typically found on such devices. In this talk I will describe a new type of collaborative interface in which the appliance actively helps the user, especially with complex features that are only used occasionally. This interface provides a consistent and pervasive mechanism for answering the who-what-where-when-why-how questions that often cause users to consult a manual, call a help line, or simply give up. A crucial aspect of the interface architecture is the use of home networking to share a physically large and computationally powerful display among multiple appliances.