Home Informatics and Telematics

Information, Technology and Society

This volume is composed of the best papers submitted to the HOIT2000 conference held in Wolverhampton, U. K. in June 2000. The conference, entitled "IT at home: Virtual influences on everyday life", and the papers reflect the wide variety of these influences that are coming to bear on our everyday experience, be it through the increasing use of computers or the rapid development of new telecommunications systems. The conference has been organised by IFIP Working Group 9. 3 - Home-Oriented Informatics and Telematics (HOIJ) , in association with IFIP Working Group 13. 2- Methodology for user-centred system design. This gives a broad range of topics that are within the sphere of interest of the participants and the authors of the papers. The disciplines involved in the study of this subject area are varied composing computing, telecommunications, psychology, sociology, business studies and others. The conference is the second in a series of HOlT conferences, the first being held in Copenhagen in 1994. The subject is now more mature with the various disciplines being increasingly interested in the home as a research domain. The various technical developments over the time since the first conference have also had a profound effect on the way in which people communicate both in the home and at work. The rise in the use of the Internet has changed the way in which many people view communication and access to information sources.