1,723,280 research outputs found
Fixing the alignment: an exploration of budgeting practices in the home
No full textBudgeting is an important means of controlling ones finances and reducing debt. This paper outlines our work towards designing more user centred technology for individual and household budgeting. Based on an ethnographically informed study with 15 participants, we highlight a misalignment between people's actual budgeting practices and those supported by off-the-shelf budgeting aids. In addressing this misalignment we outline three tenets that may be incorporated into future work in this area. These include (1) catering for the different phases of engagement with technology; (2) catering for the practices of hiding and limiting access to money, and; (3) integrating materiality into technical solution
Fostering collaboration in the management of family finances
No full textManaging finances is a practice carried out daily in homes across the world. Despite this, the practice is not yet a strong focus for HCI work in the home. This paper looks specifically at the ways that families organise and manage their finances. Based on a process of in-situ qualitative interviews, we find that money management is often a collaborative process in the family and occurs in a similar way to other household tasks; as part of existing divisions of domestic labour. Participating families reflected upon the creative and often low-tech systems they used to manage their finances and ideas they had for 'ideal' technologies that would better help them organise their money. This paper presents ideas for fostering collaboration around family finances. Design propositions are made towards a Family Holiday Expense Tracker and family-situated bill payment reminder, both of which aim to encourage whole-of-family collaboration around money management and better including children in what is, at-present, an activity they are largely excluded from
Modeling wing tank flammability:
No full textAn investigation into the fire safety of a wing fuel tank has been performed to aid in the effort to eliminate or reduce the possibility of a wing fuel tank explosion in a commercial aircraft. A computational model is built to predict the generation of flammable mixtures in the ullage of wing fuel tanks. The model predicts the flammability evolution within the tank based on in-flight conditions of a wing fuel tank. The model is validated through supporting experiments performed in an altitude chamber, the wind tunnel facility as well as data obtained from flight tests. The results from the experiments are compared to the computational results. Computational results from the altitude chamber follow the general trend of the experimental results, but produce them at a different flash point. This is due to the replenishment of species with lower flash point at the surface of the fuel which emulates the flash point of the entire fuel to be lower. Experimental results for the aluminum wing tests from the wind tunnel experiments are in good agreement with the computational results as well.
A simpler model is developed from a program that calculates fuel air ratio within the ullage of fuel tanks in order to reduce the required number of inputs to the model. This model is applied to the data sets for the experiments performed in the altitude chamber and wind tunnel. For the tests conducted in the altitude chamber, the correlation estimates the hydrocarbon concentrations extremely well during ascent and descent. During the on-ground condition the estimation is good, but not as accurate as the ascent or descent conditions. For the tests conducted in the wind tunnel, the computational values follow the general trend of the experimental values, but the computational values estimates the total hydrocarbon concentration approximately 10% lower than the experimental value consistently.
Flammability studies are also performed in order to track the effects of temperature, pressure, and oxygen concentration on the upper and lower flammability limits. For the temperature and pressure profiles considered in this work, it is found that the temperature and pressure effects on the flammability limits are minimal. In contrast, the oxygen concentration has a significant effect on the flammability limits of the vapor; the flammable region narrows with a decrease in oxygen concentration.M.S.Includes bibliographical references (p. 100-101)by Dhaval D. Dadi
More than just food: field visits to an emergency relief centre
No full textEmergency relief centres provide financial, housing, food and other types of support to families and individuals who experience financial hardship. These centres are non-profit, often government supported organizations that rely on the help of their volunteers and social workers. This paper reports on our preliminary findings from field visits to one such centre called Communify, in the inner west of Brisbane, Australia. Communify runs an emergency food relief facility for people who find themselves in a crisis or temporarily unable to afford groceries. Over a period of five months, we did several field visits to the centre and carried out 21 short in-situ interviews, with a mix of Communify clients and volunteers. Our results shed light on people's experiences of financial hardship and their interactions with the emergency relief centre. In particular, issues related to their perceived values and stigmas associated with their experiences are highlighted in our findings. We identify opportunities for design that can empower people struggling with financial hardship
Social organization of household finance: understanding artful financial systems in the home
No full textIn this paper we discuss results of a field study focused on understanding the ways money and financial issues are handled within family settings. Families develop 'systems' or methods through which they coordinate and manage their everyday financial activities. Through an analysis of our fieldwork data collected from fifteen families, we provide several examples of such systems, highlighting their qualities and illustrating how such systems come to support the handling of financial activities in the home. Our results show that these systems are developed with a careful consideration of familial values, relationships and routines; and incorporate the use of physical and digital tools. Consequently, we suggest that design should consider the use and non-use of technology when supporting household financial management, taking into account the richness of families' existing organically formed practices surrounding financial systems. Finally, our findings point to the fact that financial management in the domestic setting is socially organized and is closely connected to supporting everyday household activities
Aesthetics of Mundane Interactions
Get PDFJohn Dewey’s pragmatist aesthetics is used as a conceptual basis for designing new technologies that support staff-members’ mundane social interactions in an academic department. From this perspective, aesthetics is seen as a broader phenomenon that encompasses experiential aspects of staff-members’ everyday lives and not only a look-&-feel aspect
Privacy in the new era of visible and sharable energy-use information
No full textA new era of visible and sharable electricity information is emerging. Where eco-feedback is installed, households can now visualise many aspects of their energy consumption and share this information with others through Internet platforms such as social media. Despite providing users with many affordances, eco-feedback information can make public previously private actions from within the intimate setting of the family home. This paper represents a study focussing specifically on the privacy aspects of nascent ways for viewing and sharing this new stream of personal information. It explores the nuances of privacy related to eco-feedback both within and beyond the family home. While electricity consumption information may not be considered private itself, the household practices which eco-feedback systems makes visible may be private. We show that breaches of privacy can occur in unexpected ways and have the potential to cause distress. The paper concludes with some suggestions for how to realise the benefits of sharing energy consumption information whist effectively maintaining individuals{'} conceptions of adequate privacy
Exploring motivations of young adults to participate in physical activities
No full textThis paper investigates the motivations of young adults aged 18 to 24 years to participate in physical activities and how technology might best support this motivation. Motivational factors were studied through contextual interviews, an adapted cultural probe activity and a survey with a group of young adults currently active in sports. From our preliminary findings we determine that staying healthy, achieving specific goals and socialising represent key motivational factors for young adults to be active in sports, but also, that exercise is not considered a high priority in their daily lives. A link between the motivation of achieving specific goals and a technology to measure and track activities was established. The study concludes with three implications for the design of technology to motivate young adults to participate in sports
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