Feedback and Energy Consumption

I came across this interesting paper by Sarah Darby on feedback associated with energy use. A good overview of the research and methods, with lots of good references to the core literature. See http://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/research/energy/electric-metering.php.

Embedded Expertise

WSJ, 4/10/09, W13, has an interesting article about embedded instructions/education in machines and devices -- essentially machines that talk to you to help you accomplish tasks. The driver is that people are searching for other channels of communcation from devices rather than just staring at a screen.

Embedded Customer Education

An interesting WSJ article (4/10/09, W13) by Christine Rosen explores "Machines That Won't Shut Up," an essay on the plethora of new technogies that are embedding speech, or even text-to-speech capabilities. The purpose of this embedded speech is not only educational (in terms of the machines explaining how something works), but performance-oriented as well, such as reading your email, notifying you of tasks. Regarding their usage in cars, the author suggests that these devices pose a significant distraction hazard, even if they are "hands free".

This article reflects the customer expertise model in our book, in terms of Embedded Tools, in which expertise is embedded in products in the form of textual, visual, or auditory prompts.