Relinking the weak link. Building resilient digital households through interdisciplinary and multilevel exploration and intervention.

Smart devices, Big Data, Internet of Things, algorithms, and surveillance technologies are increasingly present in today’s digitally connected home. These technologies are sold to households with promises of better healthcare, convenience, comfort, leisure, security, and environmental sustainability. However, they have transformed the home into a “hub” for risks and vulnerabilities. RELINK aims to develop knowledge, tools, and strategies for addressing the risks and vulnerabilities related to the use of digitally connected technologies as well as key societal services and functions accessed from the home. The project adopts a multidisciplinary mixed-method approach using ethnography, surveys, data analytics, visualization, and co-design methods to, a) understand consumers everyday uses, experiences and attitudes towards risks and vulnerabilities of IoT, b) map technological and social infrastructures of consumer household IoT and the scope of digital vulnerabilities, c) develop current and future scenarios for anticipated risks and opportunities of technologies in connected households, and d) devise a toolkit that enables households to ensure security in the use of technologies. Relink has engaged in a series of dissemination and impact related actions in different ways. The project has integrated it’s results into education at OsloMet by contributing to a course STKD6610 Technology and Society II. The project has also recruited and supervised a group of students to write a bachelor’s thesis, published a journal article, and participated in a conference. Key results of the project include: a peer reviewed article in the journal, International Journal of Qualitative Methods (IJQM); A paper presented at the conference Everyday Life in Digitalized Worlds - on private lives and sociality in a digital era; A bachelor’s thesis report; and a research report.

The RELINK project aims to develop frameworks, tools and scenarios that address current and future risk and safety issues related Internet of Things (IoT) in connected homes and households. The project will a) conduct in-depth studies of households to understand consumers’ everyday uses, experiences and attitudes towards risks and vulnerabilities of IoT, b) map out the overall technological and social infrastructures of consumer household IoT and the scope of digital vulnerabilities, c) develop and deploy a set of current and future scenarios depicting possible risks and opportunities of technologies in connected households, and d) devise a toolkit that enables households to ensure security in the use of household technologies. The toolkit will include online resources, personal data protection risk assessment and awareness tools, guidelines and training modules. The scenarios will use narratives and fictional elements designed to encourage citizen and cross-sector reflection on security, technology and the future of the connected household. The project will adopt a multidisciplinary mixed-method approach using ethnography, surveys, data analytics, visualization, and co-design methods. The project will put in place a comprehensive strategy for communication, knowledge sharing and dissemination through an online portal, and academic and public outreach engagements. It will also develop a policy recommendation framework for societal impact.