Designing for systems of smart things

The Internet of Things has been a success for enterprises and several industrial sectors, but not yet a success for end users in home environments at the fringe of the cloud. Many studies reveal that beyond the initial amazement, connected devices add little value over their unconnected siblings, focus on too narrow use cases in mostly hypothetical scenarios, often fail to provide a good out-of-the-box experience, and are not able to learn and adapt in a meaningful way to our complex contextualized realities. Indeed, what is available commercially often feels like reiterating technological innovation over actually progressing human capabilities and addressing important needs.
This special issue started from the observation that after years of struggling to gain a foothold, designing for systems has finally found its place and area of application in design for the Internet of Things (IoT). Designing for systems and design for devices connecting into the Internet of Things have been explored not only in recent years, but already some years ago, when ubiquitous computing and later ambient intelligence emerged. While core insights remain valid, technologies have matured and spread significantly over recent years, bringing connected devices and services into the homes and direct proximity of end users...