The smart home as a place of control and security: an analysis of domestication of smart technologies for the making of a home

Home is variously conceived as place of security and control, of domestic practices and identity. Smart homes, in contrast, are often portrayed narrowly in technical or functional terms for their capacity to enhance comfort, convenience, energy management and security. Studies of smart homes that are concerned with control and security issues generally do so to improve usability of smart home technologies or to dismount barriers for broader adoption. In this study, I draw on the concept of home as a place of security and control to examine how people living in smart homes perceive and use the home technology to create and maintain a secure domestic space where they can feel in control of their environment. The findings suggest that how the relation between householders, smart home technology and external factors is imagined and experienced might be an important factor for whether people feel in control and secure in their homes.