Design Vocabulary for Human–IoT Systems Communication

Digital devices and intelligent systems are becoming popular and ubiquitous all around us. However, they seldom provide sufficient feed-forwards and feedbacks to reassure users as to their current status and indicate what actions they are about to perform. In this study, we selected and analyzed nine concept videos on future IoT products/systems. Through systematic analysis of the interactions and communications of users with the machines and systems demonstrated in the films, we extracted 38 design vocabulary items and clustered them into 12 groups: Active, Request, Trigger functions, Approve, Reject, Notify, Recommend, Guide, Show problems, Express emotions, Exchange info, and Socialize. This framework can not only inspire designers to create self-explanatory intelligence, but also support developers to provide a language structure at different levels of the periphery of human attention. Through the enhancement of situated awareness, human–IoT system interaction can become more seamless and graceful.