Abstract
We draw on ethnographic studies to understand the collaborative nature of network policies or rules in domestic settings. We outline the technical nature of network policy in enterprise domains and how this contrasts with the social or collaborative nature of rules in everyday life. We then consider the deployment of network control and policy system interfaces in domestic settings, highlighting the ways in which household members collaboratively exploited these to support network governance. Our results suggest that an important feature of network policy in domestic contexts is that rules about network activity are shaped by and answerable to the moral reasoning that governs domestic life. This reframes our understanding of how rules are oriented to and used in the home and has significant implications for the design of home network policy systems.
Highlights
Domestic wireless networks have become a mundane feature of a great many homes, routinely established by Internet Service Providers as part of the set up of broadband connections
Our results suggest that an important feature of network policy in domestic contexts is that rules about network activity are shaped by and answerable to the moral reasoning that governs domestic life
We have presented an exploration of network policy in domestic settings, highlighting the ways in which network rules need to be understood as inherently social phenomena that are irremediably tied to the moral ordering of domestic life and conduct within the home
Summary
Domestic wireless networks have become a mundane feature of a great many homes, routinely established by Internet Service Providers as part of the set up of broadband connections. The probes provide two different kinds of interfaces for effecting network policy: one, the Comic Strip interface, which enables users to write network rules; and the other the Control Panel interface, which affords a means of network governance that “more closely mimics how households manage access and sharing with social relations and rules” [4]. The probes share strong similarities with the functionality provided by Eden insofar as they enable membership management, access control, network monitoring, and QoS policy. They reach out beyond the lab to understand network governance ‘in the wild’. The challenge, is one of understanding how the rules of the home might be articulated and used to define the rules of the network
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