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Proposal: Internet of Things

As a former Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) PhD student, I would be interested in a Q&A site for researchers and practitioners in HCI (or interaction design, ... or whatever umbrella term people would feel comfortable with). Internet of Things (or pervasive computing, or ubiquitous computing) is very much just a subset of this broader topic. I do not feel scoping a Q&A site this much would be beneficial. Who is active in IoT and not some other kind of interaction research/development as well? Sites should be created to aggregate a community first, not solely to discuss a currently hot topic.

I would instantly commit to such a broader site, but not to this narrow topic. Do note, that this would imply some overlap with User Experience, which currently seems predominantly focused on GUI design practitioners.

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    "I would instantly commit to such a broader site, but not to this narrow topic." Why do think the topic is too narrow? Or, what make you think HCI/UX is ruled out? – Eirik M Aug 25 '16 at 7:05
  • Does this question suggest that a better name for the proposed site would be "Using Things Of The Internet" to reflect it being a user group rather than something including the R&D side of things. – TafT Oct 4 '16 at 15:52
  • @TafT No, although I don't fully understand what you are implying. To clarify, I am saying that most HCI researchers and practitioners are aware about IoT and a big proportion is working with it. Thus in case a broader scope would be needed (which I recommend), HCI would be a suitable bigger scope encompassing IoT. But, I would be fine with any other bigger 'field' which would encompass basically 'interaction design'. Currently, the best SE site fitting this purpose is UX, and most of your questions are most likely welcome there. – Steven Jeuris Oct 4 '16 at 16:10
  • @StevenJeuris I am asking if there is a need to differentiate between the researchers and practitioners questions and the end-users questions. The Internet is full of lots of people asking why their house is cold when their heating is on. There are fewer people asking whether sourcing micro-climate weather data for predictive heating is a good idea and what API's people recommend. If those groups of Q&A people are different, should their be seperate Q&A sites for them. How do you differentiate the sites? – TafT Oct 4 '16 at 16:40
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    @TafT Okay, I understand your point now, but the answer remains 'no', that is not what this question is about. If you want to discuss this I suggest you start a new discussion post; it seems like a relevant discussion to have for the IoT proposal. P.s. Superuser tailors to end-users, and there is even a meta post on it for IoT. – Steven Jeuris Oct 4 '16 at 16:53
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I kind of doubt mixing HCI research into a site that seems to be mostly oriented towards consumers troubleshooting their IoT devices and/or looking for product recommendations is going to be constructive. Frankly I don't this this site has identified a scope focused enough to survive, throwing in R&D to broaden it more won't help.

It sounds like HCI might be something to propose on its own. Have you considered that?

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