Invisible work: An ambient system for awareness and reflection of household tasks

Abstract

Household tasks have been described as the invisible work carried out in the home. Their coordination and especially negotiating a fair and transparent distribution of these tasks between different members of a household is a significant challenge in the busy lives of many people. The persuasive system presented in this paper, Choreflect, aims to address this issue by making the inhabitants' contributions to household work more visible. The prototype uses distributed ambient displays in the home to enable household members to track household tasks, which are then visualized by the system. A four week study of the system carried out in two shared apartments and two family households showed that the system fostered a rise in awareness about this invisible work by showing users their own and other inhabitants' contributions. The multiple ambient displays situated in the participants homes enabled opportunities for reflection and motivated an increased engagement in household tasks. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.