Technology has transformed the way information enters the home. What once required many channels (telephony, mail service, television networks, newspapers etc.) and their accompanying objects (telephone, TV set, letters etc.) can now be achieved through the internet by just one object, the screen. The research argues that the enormous variety of the information landscape of the Internet cannot be expressed through the screen.  Further, the screen does not appeal to the complexities of the human senses beyond vision. The research explores this data landscape, then draws focus towards Open City data as a site for engagement. It asks what form might data manifested in the home take and how might it affect our relationship to the city?

This research seeks to design for transformation rather than to solve problems. Using a Reflective Transformative Design Process, information is generated through design action, as opposed to being predetermined at the beginning of the process. New technology has the potential to transform the world, but not in ways which we (can) know beforehand. Designs are conceived based on minimal information and then reflected upon at each stage of the iterative, non-linear process. Experiential prototypes are created and deployed with users in the home environment, qualitative feedback is collected through interviews and is used to reflect upon and reorient design development.

Through these modes of reflection, the research finds that data manifested in the home can produce an awareness of city activity. The research develops an open source platform for creating objects that interact with open city data designed to stimulate wider engagement in this space. With a focus on user experience, the research develops three interactive objects that propose alternate ways information can be experienced in the home.